Tuvaluan
Facts
- Language: Tuvaluan
- Alternate names: Ellice, Ellicean, Tuvalu
- Language code: tvl
- Language family: Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Oceanic, Central Pacific linkage, Tokelau-Fijian, Polynesian, Nuclear Polynesian, Ellicean
- Number of speakers: 10700
- Vulnerability: Vulnerable [Read more...]
- Script:
More information:
Introduction
Tuvaluan is a language of Tuvalu. It is spoken in Tuvalu, 7 of the 9 inhabited islands. Also in Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand.
Dialects
North Tuvaluan (Nanumanga, Nanumea, Niutao), South Tuvaluan (Funafuti, Nukufetau, Nukulaelae, Vaitupu). Not intelligible with Samoan (See: Samoan). Formerly used as mission language. Intelligible of Tokelau (See: Tokelauan). Southern dialect is official.
The Tuvaluan Verb
Verblist
- kakau
- nnofo
- nofo
- sili
- tuku
- agi, puhi -- to blow
- alati -- to scratch
- anu, puaki, puhi -- to spit
- apa, pei, tupe -- to throw
- eva, kopa, lele -- to fly
- fa/fau, lii, lii/lii, noa, noanoa -- to tie up, fasten
- fai, faipati, taku -- to say
- fakalilo, fuu, mmuni, mumuni -- to hide
- fakapale, moe ki lalo -- to lie down
- fakatau mai, tata -- to buy
- fana -- to shoot
- fe/fete/, fefete, fu/fula, fufula -- to swell
- fili -- to choose
- gaegae, maanava, mapu -- to breathe
- gau, gugu, lamu, mama -- to chew
- haele, saale -- to walk
- haga -- to work
- hapole, hee, mataku -- to fear
- hau, mai -- to come
- he/hele/, ihi, kati, motu, talai -- to cut, hack
- higa, too -- to fall
- ho/hoka/, huki, tui, velo -- to stab, pierce
- hogi, hohoŋi, mahogi -- to sniff, smell
- homo, tupu -- to grow
- hua, lofia, tafe -- to flow
- hue, mafela, ta/tala, tatala -- to open, uncover
- ihi, ma/faa -- to split
- iloa, kkafi, matau -- to know, be knowledgeable
- inu -- to drink
- k/kamo/, kaiaa -- to steal
- kai -- to eat
- kakau -- to swim
- kake -- to climb
- kata -- to laugh
- keli, kenu, koli -- to dig
- kilo, lavea, pula -- to see
- kukumi, lomi, tau -- to squeeze
- lagona, logo -- to hear
- lagona, maafaufau, manatu -- to think
- lau, tau -- to count
- lua -- to vomit
- maavaava, maavava -- to yawn
- mate -- to die, be dead
- mimiti -- to suck
- miti, moemiti -- to dream
- moe -- to sleep
- nofo, noho -- to sit
- ola -- to live, be alive
- paa, patu, taa, tuki -- to hit
- puke, tago -- to hold
- taa mate -- to kill
- tafu, tugia, tutu, tuugina -- to burn
- tagi -- to cry
- takapili, ui -- to turn
- tu/tuli -- to hunt
- tui -- to sew
- tuki, tukituki -- to pound, beat
- tunu -- to cook
- tuu -- to stand