Wallis and Futuna Languages

Wallis and Futuna

Languages

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Description

Wallis and Futuna, officially the Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands, is a French island collectivity in the South Pacific, situated between Tuvalu to the northwest, Fiji to the southwest, Tonga to the southeast, Samoa to the east, and Tokelau to the northeast.

Languages spoken on Wallis and Futuna, according to the 2018 census:

• 59.1% Wallisian
• 27.9% Futunan
• 12.7% French
  • On Wallis Island:
    • 82.2% Wallisian
    • 15.6% French
    • 1.9% Futunan
  • On Futuna:
    • 94.5% Futunan
    • 5.3% French
    • 0.2% Wallisian

Wallisian, or ʻUvean

• It is the Polynesian language spoken on Wallis Island (also known as ʻUvea).
• The language is also known as East Uvean to distinguish it from the related West Uvean language spoken on the outlier island of Ouvéa near New Caledonia.
• The closest language to Wallisian is Niuafo'ou.
• It is also closely related to Tongan, though part of the Samoic branch, and has borrowed from Tongan due to the Tongan invasion of the island in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Futunan or Futunian

• It is the Polynesian language spoken on Futuna (and Alofi).
• The term East-Futunan is also used to distinguish it from the related West Futunan (Futuna-Aniwan) spoken on the outlier islands of Futuna and Aniwa in Vanuatu.
• The language is closely related to other Western Polynesian languages, Fagauvea, Wallisian, Tongan, Samoan, Tokelau, and Niuafo’ou.
• This language is a member of the diminishing set of native Pacific languages, it is classified as endangered.

Word List(s)

Futunan

• A Few Words (Lexicon)

French

• French Genealogical Word List
• Most Common French Words (1000MostCommonWords)
• Useful French phrases (Omniglot)
• A Few Words (Lexicon)

Wallisian

• A Few Words (Lexicon)

French	Wallisian	Futunan	English
Bienvenue	Malo te fagona	Malo le fai folau	Welcome
Bonjour	Malo	Malo	Hello
Demain	Apogi’pogi	Apogipogi	Tomorrow
Enfant	Tamasi’i ; toe	Toe	Child
Femme, fille	Fafine, taahine	Fafine, taine	Woman
Hier	Anafi	Nanafi	Yesterday
Île	Motu	Motu	Island
Mari / Homme	Ohoana / Tagata	Avaga / Tagata	Husband, man
Merci	Malo tou ofa	Malo le alofa	Thank
Non	Oho	Eai	No
Oui	Ei	Eio	Yes
Au revoir	Nofola / Alula / Tata	Nofola / Anola / Tata	Goodbye
Bonne nuit	Moe la	Moe la	Good night
Comment vas-tu ?	Eke lelei pe ?	Eke malie fai ?	How are you ?
S’il te plaît	Fakalelei siou loto	Fakamalie lou loto	Please

Alphabet and Pronunciation

Futunan

• Futunan Alphabet and Pronunciation (Wikipedia)
• Futunan Alphabet and Pronunciation (Omniglot)

French

• French Alphabet and Pronunciation (Omniglot)
• French Alphabet and Pronunciation (Wikipedia)

The French alphabet is based on the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet, uppercase and lowercase, with five diacritics and two orthographic ligatures.

Letter	Name	Phonetic Alphabet	Diacritics and ligatures
A	a	/a/	Àà, Ââ, Ææ
B	bé	/be/
C	cé	/se/	Çç
D	dé	/de/
E	e	/ə/	Éé, Èè, Êê, Ëë
F	effe	/ɛf/
G	gé	/ʒe/
H	ache	/aʃ/
I	i	/i/	Îî, Ïï
J	ji	/ʒi/
K	ka	/ka/
L	elle	/ɛl/
M	emme	/ɛm/
N	enne	/ɛn/
O	o	/o/	Ôô, Œœ
P	pé	/pe/
Q	qu	/ky/
R	erre	/ɛʁ/
S	esse	/ɛs/
T	té	/te/
U	u	/y/	Ùù, Ûû, Üü
V	vé	/ve/
W	double vé	/dubləve/
X	ixe	/iks/
Y	i grec	/iɡʁɛk/	Ÿÿ
Z	zède	/zɛd/

The letters w and k are rarely used except in loanwords and regional words. The phoneme /w/ sound is usually written ou; the /k/ sound is usually written c anywhere but before e, i, y, qu before e, i, y, and sometimes que at the ends of words. However, k is common in the metric prefix kilo- (originally from Greek χίλια khilia "a thousand"): kilogramme, kilomètre, kilowatt, kilohertz, etc.

Wallisian

• Wallisian Alphabet and Pronunciation (Wikipedia)
• Wallisian Alphabet and Pronunciation (Omniglot)

Language Aids and Dictionaries

Futunan

• Futunan to English Dictionary (Glosbe)
• The Sound of the Futunan language (YouTube)

French

• French Handwriting
• French Letter Writing Guide
• French Languages
• French to English Dictionary (Cambridge)
• French to English Dictionary (Glosbe)
• French Dictionary (Lexilogos)

Wallisian

• Wallisian to English Dictionary (Glosbe)

Additional Resources

• Wallis and Futuna (CIA.gov)
• French or Polynesian: The Curious Case of Wallis and Futuna (TheCultureTrip)