Samoan language
| Samoan | |
|---|---|
| Gagana fa'a Sāmoa | |
| Native to | Samoan Islands |
| Ethnicity | Samoans |
|
Native speakers
|
510,000 (2015) |
|
Austronesian
|
|
|
Latin (Samoan alphabet) Samoan Braille |
|
| Official status | |
|
Official language in
|
 Samoa American Samoa
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | sm |
| ISO 639-2 | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | samo1305 |
| Linguasphere | 39-CAO-a |
Samoan (Gagana fa'a Sāmoa or Gagana Sāmoa — IPA: [ŋaˈŋana ˈsaːmʊa]) is the language of the Samoan Islands, comprising the Independent State of Samoa and the United States territory of American Samoa. It is an official language — alongside English — in both jurisdictions.
Samoan, a Polynesian language, is the first language for most of the Samoa Islands' population of about 246,000 people. With many Samoan people living in other countries, the total number of speakers worldwide is estimated at 510,000 in 2015. It is the third most widely spoken language in New Zealand, where more than 2% of the population - 86,000 people - were able to speak it as of 2013.
The language is notable for the phonological differences between formal and informal speech as well as a ceremonial form used in Samoan oratory.
Samoan is an analytic, isolating language and a member of the Austronesian family, and more specifically the Samoic branch of the Polynesian subphylum. It is closely related to other Polynesian languages with many shared cognate words such as ali'i, 'ava, atua, tapu and numerals as well as in the name of gods in mythology.
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Wikipedia