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language
Fijian is an Austronesian language of the Malayo-Polynesian family spoken in
Fiji. It has 350,000 first-language speakers, which is less than half the
population of Fiji, but another 200,000 speak it as a second language. The 1997
Constitution established Fijian as an official language of Fiji, along with
English and Hindustani, and there is discussion about establishing it as the
"national language", though English and Hindustani would remain official. Fijian
is a VOS language.
Phonology
The consonant phonemes of Fijian are as shown in the following table:
Bilabial Labiodental Dental and
alveolar Palatal Velar Labiovelar
Plosive (p) mb t nd k ŋg
Nasal m n ŋ
Fricative β (f) s ð (x)
Trill r
Prenasalized trill nr
Approximant j w
Lateral approximant l
The sounds [p f] occur only in loanwords from other languages. The sounds [x h]
only occur in certain regions of the country.
The vowel phonemes are:
Monophthongs Short Long
Front Back Front Back
Close i u iː uː
Mid e o eː oː
Open a aː
Diphthongs Closing
to [i] Closing
to [u]
First component is [i] iu
First component is [e] ei eu
First component is [o] oi ou
First component is [a] ai au
Orthography
The Fijian alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet and consists of the following
letters.
A B C D E F G I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y
a b c d e f g i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w y
Among the consonants, there is almost a one-to-one correspondence between
letters and phonemes:
b = [mb]
c = [ð]
d = [nd]
f = [f]
g = [ŋ]
j = [x]
k = [k]
l = [l]
m = [m]
n = [n]
p = [p]
q = [ŋɡ]
r = [r]
s = [s]
t = [t]
v = [β]
w = [w]
y = [j]
In addition, the digraph dr stands for postalveolar [n̠d̠], sometimes trilled [n̠d̠r̠]
for some people or in careful pronunciation.
The vowel letters a e i o u have roughly their IPA values, but the vowel length
contrast is not usually indicated in writing, except in dictionaries and
textbooks for learners of the language, where it is indicated by a macron over
the vowel in question.
Word stress falls on any long vowel or diphthong, or the penultimate vowel in an
accent unit, which may be either two or three moras in length: tū [ˈtuː]
'stand', kau [ˈkau] 'wood', gone [ˈŋone] 'child', tagane [taˈŋane] 'male'. In
longer words, the last accent unit is emphasized; the accented vowels in
preceding units are perceived as having secondary accent: itukutuku [iˌtukuˈtuku]
'story', kedatou [ˌkendaˈtou] 'we (3)'.
Syntax
The normal Fijian word order is VOS (Verb Object Subject):
E rai-c-a (1) na no-na (2) vale (3) na gone (4).
3-sg.-sub. see-trans.-3-sg.-obj. (1) the 3-sg.-poss. (2) house (3) the child
(4).
(The child sees his house.)
The national language debate
National language debate in Fiji
In May and June 2005, a number of prominent Fiji Islanders called for the status
of Fijian to be upgraded. It was not an official language before the adoption of
the 1997 Constitution, which made it co-official with English and Hindustani. It
is still not a compulsory subject in schools, however; the present Education
Minister, Ro Teimumu Kepa, has endorsed calls for it to be made so, as has Great
Council of Chiefs Chairman Ratu Ovini Bokini. Similar calls came from Misiwini
Qereqeretabua, the Director of the Institute of Fijian Language and Culture, and
from Apolonia Tamata, a linguistics lecturer at Suva’s University of the South
Pacific, who both said that recognition of the Fijian language is essential to
the nation’s basic identity, as a unifying factor in Fiji’s multicultural
society.
Fiji Labour Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry also endorsed the call for Fijian to
be made a national language and a compulsory school subject, provided that the
same status be given to Hindi—a position echoed by Krishna Vilas of the National
Reconciliation Committee.
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