Wallisian language
| Wallisian | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Spoken in |
Wallis and Futuna , New Caledonia | |
| speaker | at least 20,000 | |
| Linguistic classification |
|
|
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-3 | ||
The Wallisian or ʻuveanic language (own name Fakaʻuvea , French. Wallisien ) is the autochthonous language of the Wallis archipelago with the main island of Uvéa (French also Wallis , Wallisian. ʻUvea ), which belongs to the French overseas territory of Wallis and Futuna in the South Pacific .
Wallisian belongs to the Core Polynesian group within the Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family . It is related to, but not identical to, Futunic (its own name is Fakafutuna , French: futunien ), the language of Futuna , the second main island in the overseas territory.
In Wallis and Futuna, Wallisian is spoken as their mother tongue by around 10,000 of the approximately 15,000 inhabitants , the rest are speakers of Futunian and a few hundred French native speakers, mostly of European origin. There are at least as many speakers in the French overseas territory of New Caledonia , where around 18,000 emigrants from Wallis and Futuna live who have generally retained their languages.
Web links
- Information on the languages of Wallis and Futuna (French)
- Information on the language policy situation in Wallis and Futuna (French)
- Ethnologue report for Wallisian