Tongan language explained

Tongan
Nativename:	Tonga (Tonga Islands);: lea faka-Tonga
States:	Tonga significant immigrant community in New Zealand and the United States
Speakers:	187,000 in Tonga
Speakers2:	elsewhere (no date), primarily in NZ, U.S., and Australia
Date:	1998
Ref:	e18
Familycolor:	Austronesian
Fam2:	Malayo-Polynesian
Fam3:	Oceanic
Fam4:	Polynesian
Script:	Latin-based
Nation:	Tonga
Iso1:	to
Iso2:	ton
Iso3:	ton
Glotto:	tong1325
Glottorefname:	Tonga (Tonga Islands)
Notice:	IPA

Tongan (English pronunciation: ;^{[1] [2] [3]} Tonga (Tonga Islands);: lea fakatonga) is an Austronesian language of the Polynesian branch native to the island nation of Tonga. It has around 187,000 speakers.^[4] It uses the word order verb–subject–object.

Related languages

Tongan is one of the multiple languages in the Polynesian branch of the Austronesian languages, along with Hawaiian, Māori, Samoan and Tahitian, for example. Together with Niuean, it forms the Tongic subgroup of Polynesian.

Tongan is unusual among Polynesian languages in that it has a so-called definitive accent. As with all Polynesian languages, Tongan has adapted the phonological system of proto-Polynesian.

1. Tongan has retained the original proto-Polynesian *h, but has merged it with the original *s as pronounced as //h//. (The pronounced as //s// found in modern Tongan derives from *t before high front vowels). Most Polynesian languages have lost the original proto-Polynesian glottal stop pronounced as //ʔ//; however, it has been retained in Tongan and a few other languages including Rapa Nui.
2. In proto-Polynesian, *r and *l were distinct phonemes, but in most Polynesian languages they have merged, represented orthographically as (r) in most East Polynesian languages, and as (l) in most West Polynesian languages. However, the distinction can be reconstructed because Tongan kept the *l but lost the *r.

Tongan has heavily influenced the Wallisian language after Tongans colonized the island of ʻUvea in the 15th and 16th centuries.^[5]

Polynesian sound correspondences

Phoneme	Proto-Polynesian	Tongan	Niuean	Samoan	Rapa Nui	Tahitian	Māori	Cook Is. Māori	Hawaiian	English
pronounced as //ŋ//	taŋata	Tonga (Tonga Islands);: tangata	Niuean: tagata	Samoan: tagata	Rapanui: tangata	Tahitian: ta{{okina	Maori: tangata	Rarotongan; Cook Islands Maori: tangata	Hawaiian: kanaka	person
pronounced as //s//	sina	Tonga (Tonga Islands);: hina	Niuean: hina	Samoan: sina	Rapanui: hina	Tahitian: hinahina	Maori: hina	Rarotongan; Cook Islands Maori: {{okina	Hawaiian: hina	grey-haired
pronounced as //h//	kanahe	Tonga (Tonga Islands);: kanahe	Niuean: kanahe	Samoan: {{okina		Tahitian: {{okina	Maori: kanae	Rarotongan; Cook Islands Maori: kanae	Hawaiian: {{okina	mullet (fish)
pronounced as //ti//	tiale	Tonga (Tonga Islands);: siale	Niuean: tiale	Samoan: tiale	Rapanui: tiare	Tahitian: tiare	Maori: tīare	Rarotongan; Cook Islands Maori: tiare	Hawaiian: kiele	gardenia
pronounced as //k//	waka	Tonga (Tonga Islands);: vaka	Niuean: vaka	Samoan: va{{okina	Rapanui: vaka	Tahitian: va{{okina	Maori: waka	Rarotongan; Cook Islands Maori: vaka	Hawaiian: wa{{okina	canoe
pronounced as //f//	fafine	Tonga (Tonga Islands);: fefine	Niuean: fifine	Samoan: fafine	Rapanui: vahine	Tahitian: vahine	Maori: wahine	Rarotongan; Cook Islands Maori: va{{okina	Hawaiian: wahine	woman
pronounced as //ʔ//	matuqa	Tonga (Tonga Islands);: matu{{okina	Niuean: matua	Samoan: matua	Rapanui: matu{{okina	Tahitian: metua	Maori: matua	Rarotongan; Cook Islands Maori: metua, matua	Hawaiian: makua	parent
pronounced as //r//	rua	Tonga (Tonga Islands);: ua	Niuean: ua	Samoan: lua	Rapanui: rua	Tahitian: rua	Maori: rua	Rarotongan; Cook Islands Maori: rua	Hawaiian: {{okina	two
pronounced as //l//	tolu	Tonga (Tonga Islands);: tolu	Niuean: tolu	Samoan: tolu	Rapanui: toru	Tahitian: toru	Maori: toru	Rarotongan; Cook Islands Maori: toru	Hawaiian: {{okina	three

Writing

History

The earliest attempts to transcribe the Tongan language were made by Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Maire of the Dutch East India Company when they first arrived in 1616. They transcribed a limited number of nouns and verbs using phonetic Dutch spelling and added them to a growing list of Polynesian vocabulary. Abel Tasman, also of the Dutch East India Company, attempted to converse with indigenous Tongans using vocabulary from this list when he arrived on Tongatapu on 20 January 1643, although he was poorly understood, likely using words added from different Polynesian languages.^[6]

Alphabet

Tongan is presently written in a subset of the Latin script. In the old, "missionary" alphabet, the order of the letters was modified: the vowels were put first and then followed by the consonants: a, e, i, o, u, with variation of letter ā. That was still so as of the Privy Council decision of 1943 on the orthography of the Tongan language. However, C. M. Churchward's grammar and dictionary favoured the standard European alphabetical order, which, since his time, has been in use exclusively:

a, ā

e	f	h	i	k	l	m	n	ng	o	p	s	t	u	v	ʻ (fakauʻa)
Pronunciation	pronounced as //a//	pronounced as //e//	pronounced as //f//	pronounced as //h//	pronounced as //i//	pronounced as //k//	pronounced as //l//	pronounced as //m//	pronounced as //n//	pronounced as //ŋ//^1	pronounced as //o//	pronounced as //p//^2	pronounced as //s//^3	pronounced as //t//	pronounced as //u//	pronounced as //v//	pronounced as //ʔ//^4

Notes:

1. written as g but still pronounced as pronounced as /[ŋ]/ (as in Samoan) before 1943
2. unaspirated; written as b before 1943
3. sometimes written as j before 1943 (see below)
4. the glottal stop. It should be written with the modifier letter turned comma (Unicode 0x02BB) and not with the single quote open or with a mixture of quotes open and quotes close. See also ʻokina.

The above order is strictly followed in proper dictionaries. Therefore, ngatu follows nusi, ʻa follows vunga and it also follows z if foreign words occur. Words with long vowels come directly after those with short vowels. Improper wordlists may or may not follow these rules. (For example, the Tonga telephone directory for years now ignores all rules.)

The original j, used for pronounced as //tʃ//, disappeared in the beginning of the 20th century, merging with pronounced as //s//. By 1943, j was no longer used. Consequently, many words written with s in Tongan are cognate to those with t in other Polynesian languages. For example, Masisi (a star name) in Tongan is cognate with Matiti in Tokelauan; siale (Gardenia taitensis) in Tongan and tiare in Tahitian. This seems to be a natural development, as pronounced as //tʃ// in many Polynesian languages derived from Proto-Polynesian pronounced as //ti//.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Plosive		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Fricative	voiceless	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
	voiced	pronounced as /link/
Lateral			pronounced as /link/

/l/ may also be heard as an alveolar flap sound pronounced as /link/.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
Mid	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
Low		pronounced as /link/

Syllabification

• Each syllable has exactly one vowel. The number of syllables in a word is exactly equal to the number of vowels it has.
• Long vowels, indicated with a toloi (macron), count as one, but may in some circumstances be split up in two short ones, in which case, they are both written. Toloi are supposed to be written where needed, in practice this may be seldom done.
• Each syllable may have no more than one consonant.
• Consonant combinations are not permitted. The ng is not a consonant combination, since it represents a single sound. As such it can never be split, the proper hyphenation of Tonga (Tonga Islands);: fakatonga (Tongan) therefore is fa-ka-to-nga.
• Each syllable must end in a vowel. All vowels are pronounced, but an i at the end of an utterance is usually unvoiced.
• The fakauʻa is a consonant. It must be followed (and, except at the beginning of a word, preceded) by a vowel. Unlike the glottal stops in many other Polynesian languages texts, the fakauʻa is always written. (Only sometimes before 1943.)
• Stress normally falls on the next-to-last syllable of a word with two or more syllables; example: Tonga (Tonga Islands);: móhe (sleep), Tonga (Tonga Islands);: mohénga (bed). If, however, the last vowel is long, it takes the stress; example: Tonga (Tonga Islands);: kumā (mouse) (stress on the long ā). The stress also shifts to the last vowel if the next word is an enclitic; example: Tonga (Tonga Islands);: fále (house), Tonga (Tonga Islands);: falé ni (this house). Finally the stress can shift to the last syllable, including an enclitic, in case of the definitive accent; example: Tonga (Tonga Islands);: mohengá ((that) particular bed), Tonga (Tonga Islands);: fale ní (this particular house). It is also here that a long vowel can be split into two short ones; example: pō (night), poó ni (this night), pō ní (this particular night). Or the opposite: Tonga (Tonga Islands);: maáma (light), Tonga (Tonga Islands);: māmá ni (this light), Tonga (Tonga Islands);: maama ní (this particular light). There are some exceptions to the above general rules. The stress accent is normally not written, except where it is to indicate the definitive accent or fakamamafa. But here, too, people often neglect to write it, only using it when the proper stress cannot be easily derived from the context.

Although the acute accent has been available on most personal computers from their early days onwards, when Tongan newspapers started to use computers around 1990 to produce their papers, they were unable to find, or failed to enter, the proper keystrokes, and it grew into a habit to put the accent after the vowel instead of on it: not Tonga (Tonga Islands);: á but Tonga (Tonga Islands);: a´. But as this distance seemed to be too big, a demand arose for Tongan fonts where the acute accent was shifted to the right, a position halfway in between the two extremes above. Most papers still follow this practice.

Grammar

Articles

English uses only two articles:

• indefinite a
• definite the

By contrast, Tongan has three articles, and possessives also have a three-level definiteness distinction:

• indefinite, nonspecific: ha. Example: ko ha fale ('a house', 'any house' - the speaker has no specific house in mind, any house will satisfy this description, e.g. 'I want to buy a house')
• indefinite, specific: (h)e. Example: ko e fale ('a (particular) house' - the speaker has a specific house in mind, but the listener is not expected to know which house, e.g. 'I bought a house)
• definite, specific: (h)e with the shifted ultimate stress. Example: ko e falé ('the house', - the speaker has a specific house in mind and the listener is expected to know which one from context, e.g. 'I bought the house I told you about').

Registers

There are three registers which consist of

• ordinary words (the normal language)
• honorific words (the language for the chiefs)
• regal words (the language for the king)

There are also further distinctions between

• polite words (used for more formal contexts)
• derogatory words (used for informal contexts, or to indicate humility)

For example, the phrase "Come and eat!" translates to:

• ordinary: haʻu ʻo kai (come and eat!); Friends, family members and so forth may say this to each other when invited for dinner.
• honorific: meʻa mai pea ʻilo (come and eat!); The proper used towards chiefs, particularly the nobles, but it may also be used by an employee towards his boss, or in other similar situations. When talking about chiefs, however, it is always used, even if they are not actually present, but in other situations only on formal occasions. A complication to the beginning student of Tongan is that such words very often also have an alternative meaning in the ordinary register: meʻa (thing) and ʻilo (know, find).
• regal: hāʻele mai pea taumafa (come and eat!); Used towards the king or God. The same considerations as for the honorific register apply. Hāʻele is one of the regal words which have become the normal word in other Polynesian languages.

Pronouns

The Tongan language distinguishes three numbers: singular, dual, and plural. They appear as the three major columns in the tables below.

The Tongan language distinguishes four persons: First person exclusive, first person inclusive, second person and third person. They appear as the four major rows in the tables below. This gives us 12 main groups.

Subjective and objective

In addition, possessive pronouns are either alienable (reddish) or inalienable (greenish), which Churchward termed subjective and objective. This marks a distinction that has been referred to, in some analyses of other Polynesian languages, as a-possession versus o-possession, respectively, though more Tongan-appropriate version would be ʻe-possession and ho-possession.

Subjective and objective are fitting labels when dealing with verbs: ʻeku taki "my leading" vs. hoku taki "my being led". However, this is less apt when used on nouns. Indeed, in most contexts hoku taki would be interpreted as "my leader", as a noun rather than a verb. What then of nouns that have no real verb interpretation, such as fale "house"?

Churchward himself laid out the distinction thus:^[7]

But what about those innumerable cases in which the possessive can hardly be said to correspond either to the subject or to the object of a verb? What, for example, is the rule or the guiding principle, which lies behind the fact that a Tongan says ʻeku paʻanga for ' my money' but hoku fale for 'my house'?

It may be stated as follows: the use of ʻeku for 'my' implies that I am active, influential, or formative, &c., towards the thing mentioned, whereas the use of hoku for 'my' implies that the thing mentioned is active, influential, or formative, &c., towards me. Or, provided that we give a sufficiently wide meaning to the word 'impress', we may say, perhaps, that ʻeku is used in reference to things upon which I impress myself, while hoku is used in reference to things which impress themselves upon me.

ʻE possessives are generally used for:

• Goods, money, tools, utensils, instruments, weapons, vehicles, and other possessions which the subject owns or uses (ʻeku paʻanga, "my money")
• Animals or birds which the subjects owns or uses (ʻeku fanga puaka, "my pigs")
• Things which the subject eats, drinks, or smokes (ʻeku meʻakai, "my food")
• Things which the subject originates, makes, mends, carries, or otherwise deals with (ʻeku kavenga, "my burden")
• Persons in the subject's employ, under their control, or in their care (ʻeku tamaioʻeiki "my male servant")

Ho possessives are generally used for

• Things which are a part of the subject or 'unalienable' from the subject, such as body parts (hoku sino, "my body")
• Persons or things which represent the subject (hoku hingoa, "my name")
• The subject's relatives, friends, associates, or enemies (hoku hoa, "my companion (spouse)")
• Things which are provided for the subject or devolve to them or fall to their lot (hoku tofiʻa, "my inheritance")
• In general, persons or things which surround, support, or control the subject, or on which the subject depends (hoku kolo, "my village/town")

There are plenty of exceptions which do not fall under the guidelines above, for instance, ʻeku tamai, "my father". The number of exceptions is large enough to make the alienable and inalienable distinction appear on the surface to be as arbitrary as the grammatical gender distinction for Romance languages, but by and large the above guidelines hold true.

Cardinal pronouns

The cardinal pronouns are the main personal pronouns which in Tongan can either be preposed (before the verb, light colour) or postposed (after the verb, dark colour). The first are the normal alienable possessive pronouns, the latter the stressed alienable pronouns, which are sometimes used as reflexive pronouns, or with kia te in front the inalienable possessive forms. (There is no possession involved in the cardinal pronouns and therefore no alienable or inalienable forms).

Cardinal pronouns

		Position	Singular	Dual	Plural
1st person	exclusive (I, we, us)	preposed	u, ou, ku	ma	mau
		postposed	au	kimaua	kimautolu
	inclusive (one, we, us)	preposed	te	ta	tau
		postposed	kita	kitaua	kitautolu
2nd person	preposed	ke	mo	mou
postposed	koe	kimoua	kimoutolu
3rd person	preposed	ne	na	nau
postposed	ia	kinaua	kinautolu

• all the preposed pronouns of one syllable only (ku, u, ma, te, ta, ke, mo, ne, na) are enclitics which never can take the stress, but put it on the vowel in front of them. Example: ʻoku naú versus ʻokú na (not: ʻoku ná).
• first person singular, I uses u after kuo, te, ne, and also ka (becomes kau), pea, mo and ʻo; but uses ou after ʻoku; and uses ku after naʻa.
• first person inclusive (I and you) is somewhat of a misnomer, at least in the singular. The meanings of te and kita can often rendered as one, that is the modesty I.

Examples of use.

• Naʻa ku fehuʻi: I asked
• Naʻe fehuʻi (ʻe) au: I(!) asked (stressed)
• ʻOku ou fehuʻi au: I ask myself
• Te u fehuʻi kiate koe: I shall ask you
• Te ke tali kiate au: You will answer me
• Kapau te te fehuʻi: If one would ask
• Tau ō ki he hulohula?: Are we (all) going to the ball?
• Sinitalela, mau ō ki he hulohula: Cinderella, we go to the ball (... said the evil stepmother, and she went with two of her daughters, but not Cinderella)

Another archaic aspect of Tongan is the retention of preposed pronouns. They are used much less frequently in Samoan and have completely disappeared in East Polynesian languages, where the pronouns are cognate with the Tongan postposed form minus ki-. (We love you: ʻOku ʻofa kimautolu kia te kimoutolu; Māori: e aroha nei mātou i a koutou).

Possessive pronouns

The possessives for every person and number (1st person plural, 3rd person dual, etc.) can be further divided into normal or ordinary (light colour), emotional (medium colour) and emphatic (bright colour) forms. The latter is rarely used, but the two former are common and further subdivided in definite (saturated colour) and indefinite (greyish colour) forms.

rowspan="2"

	definite or not	type	singular		dual		plural
alienable^2,5			inalienable^2,5	alienable^2,5	inalienable^2,5	alienable^2,5	inalienable^2,5
1st person (exclusive) (my, our)	definite	ordinary	heʻeku^1	hoku	heʻema^1	homa	heʻemau^1	homau
	indefinite		haʻaku	haku	haʻama	hama	haʻamau	hamau
	definite	emotional	siʻeku	siʻoku	siʻema	siʻoma	siʻemau	siʻomau
	indefinite		siʻaku	siʻaku	siʻama	siʻama	siʻamau	siʻamau
	emphatic^3		haʻaku	hoʻoku	haʻamaua	hoʻomaua	haʻamautolu	hoʻomautolu
1st person (inclusive)^4 (my, our)	definite	ordinary	heʻete^1	hoto	heʻeta^1	hota	heʻetau^1	hotau
	indefinite		haʻate	hato	haʻata	hata	haʻatau	hatau
	definite	emotional	siʻete	siʻoto	siʻeta	siʻota	siʻetau	siʻotau
	indefinite		siʻate	siʻato	siʻata	siʻata	siʻatau	siʻatau
	emphatic^3		haʻata	hoʻota	haʻataua	hoʻotaua	haʻatautolu	hoʻotautolu
2nd person (your)	definite	ordinary	hoʻo	ho	hoʻomo	homo	hoʻomou	homou
	indefinite		haʻo	hao	haʻamo	hamo	haʻamou	hamou
	definite	emotional	siʻo	siʻo	siʻomo	siʻomo	siʻomou	siʻomou
	indefinite		siʻao	siʻao	siʻamo	siʻamo	siʻamou	siʻamou
	emphatic^3		haʻau	hoʻou	haʻamoua	hoʻomoua	haʻamoutolu	hoʻomoutolu
3rd person (his, her, its, their)	definite	ordinary	heʻene^1	hono	heʻena^1	hona	heʻenau^1	honau
	indefinite		haʻane	hano	haʻana	hana	haʻanau	hanau
	definite	emotional	siʻene	siʻono	siʻena	siʻona	siʻenau	siʻonau
	indefinite		siʻane	siʻano	siʻana	siʻana	siʻanau	siʻanau
	emphatic^3		haʻana	hoʻona	haʻanaua	hoʻonaua	haʻanautolu	hoʻonautolu

Notes:

1. the ordinary definite possessives starting with he (in italics) drop this prefix after any word except ʻi, ki, mei, ʻe. Example: ko ʻeku tohi, my book; ʻi heʻeku tohi, in my book.
2. all ordinary alienable possessive forms contain a fakauʻa, the inalienable forms do not.
3. the emphatic forms are not often used, but if they are, they take the definitive accent from the following words (see below)
4. first person inclusive (me and you) is somewhat of a misnomer. The meanings of heʻete, hoto, etc. can often rendered as one's, that is the modesty me.
5. the choice between an alienable or inalienable possessive is determined by the word or phrase it refers to. For example: ko ho fale '(it is) your house' (inalienable), ko ho'o tohi, '(it is) your book' (alienable). *Ko ho tohi, ko hoʻo fale* are wrong. Some words can take either, but with a difference in meaning: ko ʻene taki 'his/her leadership'; ko hono taki 'his/her leader'.

Examples of use.

• ko haʻaku/haku kahoa: my garland (any garland from or for me)
• ko ʻeku/hoku kahoa: my garland (it is my garland)
• ko ʻeku/hoku kahoá: my garland, that particular one and no other
• ko heʻete/hoto kahoa: one's garland
• ko siʻaku kahoa: my cherished garland (any cherished garland from or for me)
• ko siʻeku/siʻoku kahoa: my cherished garland (it is my cherished garland)
• ko haʻakú/hoʻokú kahoa: garland (emphatically mine)  - that particular garland is mine and not someone else's
• ko homa kahoa: our garlands (exclusive: you and I are wearing them, but not the person we are talking to)
• ko hota kahoa: our garlands (inclusive: you and I are wearing them, and I am talking to you)

Other pronouns

These are the remainders: the pronominal adjectives (mine), indirect object pronouns or pronominal adverbs (for me) and the adverbial possessives (as me).

rowspan="2"

	type	singular^1		dual		plural
alienable		inalienable	alienable	inalienable	alienable	inalienable
1st person (exclusive) (my, our)	pronominal adjective	ʻaʻaku	ʻoʻoku	ʻamaua	ʻomaua	ʻamautolu	ʻomautolu
	pronominal adverb	maʻaku	moʻoku	maʻamaua	moʻomaua	maʻamautolu	moʻomautolu
	adverbial possessive	maʻaku	moʻoku	maʻama	moʻoma	maʻamau	moʻomau
1st person (inclusive) (my, our)	pronominal adjective	ʻaʻata	ʻoʻota	ʻataua	ʻotaua	ʻatautolu	ʻotautolu
	pronominal adverb	maʻata	moʻota	maʻataua	moʻotaua	maʻatautolu	moʻotautolu
	adverbial possessive	maʻate	moʻoto	maʻata	moʻota	maʻatau	moʻotau
2nd person (your)	pronominal adjective	ʻaʻau	ʻoʻou	ʻamoua	ʻomoua	ʻamoutolu	ʻomoutolu
	pronominal adverb	maʻau	moʻou	maʻamoua	moʻomoua	maʻamoutolu	moʻomoutolu
	adverbial possessive	maʻo	moʻo	maʻamo	moʻomo	maʻamou	moʻomou
3rd person (his, her, its, their)	pronominal adjective	ʻaʻana	ʻoʻona	ʻanaua	ʻonaua	ʻanautolu	ʻonautolu
	pronominal adverb	maʻana	moʻona	maʻanaua	moʻonaua	maʻanautolu	moʻonautolu
	adverbial possessive	maʻane	moʻono	maʻana	moʻona	maʻanau	moʻonau

Notes:

1. the first syllable in all singular pronominal adjectives (in italics) is reduplicated and can be dropped for somewhat less emphasis

• the pronominal adjectives put a stronger emphasis on the possessor than the possessive pronouns do
• the use of the adverbial possessives is rare

Examples of use:

• ko hono valá: it is his/her/its clothing/dress
• ko e vala ʻona: it is his/her/its (!) clothing/dress
• ko e vala ʻoʻona: it is his/her/its (!!!) clothing/dress
• ko hono valá ʻona: it is his/her/its own clothing/dress
• ko hono vala ʻoná: it is his/her/its own clothing/dress; same as previous
• ko hono vala ʻoʻoná: it is his/her/its very own clothing/dress
• ʻoku ʻoʻona ʻa e valá ni: this clothing is his/hers/its
• ʻoku moʻona ʻa e valá: the clothing is for him/her/it
• ʻoange ia moʻono valá: give it (to him/her/it) as his/hers/its clothing

Numerals

colspan="5"

noa
1	taha	2	ua	3	tolu
4	fā	5	nima	6	ono
7	fitu	8	valu	9	hiva

In Tongan, "telephone-style" numerals can be used: reading numbers by simply saying their digits one by one.^{[8] [9]} For 'simple' two-digit multiples of ten both the 'full-style' and 'telephone-style' numbers are in equally common use, while for other two-digit numbers the 'telephone-style' numbers are almost exclusively in use:

10-90 'tens'! #! 'full-style'! 'telephone-style' 10 hongofulu taha-noa 20 ungofulu/uofulu ua-noa 30 tolungofulu tolu-noa ...

11-99! #! 'full-style'! 'telephone-style' 11 hongofulu ma taha taha-taha 24 ungofulu ma fā ua-fā ...

exceptions! #! Tongan 22 uo-ua 55 nime-nima 99 hive-hiva

100-999 'simple'! #! Tongan 100 teau 101 teau taha 110 teau hongofulu 120 teau-ua-noa 200 uongeau 300 tolungeau ...

100-999 'complex'! #! Tongan 111 taha-taha-taha 222 uo-uo-ua 482 fā-valu-ua ...

1000-! #! Tongan 1000 taha-afe 2000 ua-afe ... 10000 mano 100000 kilu 1000000 miliona ...

ʻOku fiha ia? (how much (does it cost)?) Paʻanga ʻe ua-nima-noa (T$2.50)

In addition there are special, traditional counting systems for fish, coconuts, yams, etc.^[10] (Cf. Classifier (linguistics).)

Literature

Tongan has a very rich oral literature and is primarily a spoken, rather than written, language.

One of the first publications of Tongan texts was in William Mariner's grammar and dictionary of the Tongan language, edited and published in 1817 by John Martin as part of volume 2 of Mariner's Account of the Natives of the Tonga Islands, in the South Pacific Ocean.^[11] Orthography has changed since Mariner's time.

An annotated list of dictionaries and vocabularies of the Tongan language is available at the website of the Bibliographical Society of America under the resource heading 'Breon Mitchell": .

The Bible and the Book of Mormon were translated into Tongan and few other books were written in it.^[12]

There are several weekly and monthly magazines in Tongan, but there are no daily newspapers.

Weekly newspapers, some of them twice per week:

• Ko e Kalonikali ʻo Tonga
• Ko e Keleʻa
• Taimi ʻo Tonga
• Talaki
• Ko e Tauʻatāina
• Tonga Maʻa Tonga

Monthly or two-monthly papers, mostly church publications:

• Taumuʻa lelei (Catholic Church)
• Tohi fanongonongo (Free Wesleyan)
• Liahona (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)^[13]
• ʻOfa ki Tonga (Tokaikolo)

Calendar

The Tongan calendar was based on the phases of the moon and had 13 months. The main purpose of the calendar, for Tongans, was to determine the time for the planting and cultivation of yams, which were Tonga's most important staple food.

Traditional calendar^[14] ! Traditional Month !! Gregorian Calendar

Tonga (Tonga Islands);: Lihamuʻa	mid-November to early December
Tonga (Tonga Islands);: Lihamui	mid-December to early January
Tonga (Tonga Islands);: Vaimuʻa	mid-January to early February
Tonga (Tonga Islands);: Vaimui	mid-February to early March
Tonga (Tonga Islands);: Fakaafu Moʻui	mid-March to early April
Tonga (Tonga Islands);: Fakaaafu Mate	mid-April to early May
Tonga (Tonga Islands);: Hilingakelekele	mid-May to early June
Tonga (Tonga Islands);: Hilingameaʻa	mid-June to early July
Tonga (Tonga Islands);: ʻAoʻaokimasisiva	mid-July to early August
Tonga (Tonga Islands);: Fuʻufuʻunekinanga	mid-August to early September
Tonga (Tonga Islands);: ʻUluenga	mid-September to early October
Tonga (Tonga Islands);: Tanumanga	early October to late October
Tonga (Tonga Islands);: ʻOʻoamofanongo	late October to early November

Day Tongan Term Monday Mōnite Tuesday Tūsite Wednesday Pulelulu Thursday Tuʻapulelulu Friday Falaite Saturday Tokonaki Sunday Sāpate

Month Transliteration January Sānuali February Fēpueli March Maʻasi April ʻEpeleli May Mē June Sune July Siulai August ʻAokosi September Sēpitema October ʻOkatopa November Nōvema December Tisema

Bibliography

• Book: Churchward, C. Maxwell . Tongan Grammar . 1999 . Tonga . Vavaʼu Press . 982-213-007-4 . 1953, London: Oxford University Press; 1985, Tonga: Vavaʼu Press.
• Book: Churchward, C.Maxwell . Tongan Dictionary: Tongan-English and English-Tongan . 1999 . Tonga . Vavaʼu Press . 1959, London: Oxford University Press.
• Harry . Feldman . Some Notes on Tongan Phonology . 1978 . Oceanic Linguistics . 17 . 2 . 133–139 . 10.2307/3622908 . 3622908.
• Garellek . Marc . Tabain . Marija. Tongan. 50. 3. 406-416. 10.1017/S0025100318000397. 2020-12. yes.
• Book: Tuʻinukuafe, Edgar . A Simplified Dictionary of Modern Tongan . 1993 . Polynesian Press . 978-0908597093.

External links

• Planet Tonga
• Omniglot on Tongan
• Basic online Tongan–English and English–Tongan dictionary

Notes and References

1. 10 February 2022.
2. Web site: Tongan . https://web.archive.org/web/20200326182732/https://www.lexico.com/definition/tonga. dead. March 26, 2020. Lexico . 10 February 2022.
3. 10 February 2022.
4. News: Tongan. Ethnologue. 2017-12-13.
5. Book: de. Akihisa Tsukamoto. Forschungen über die Sprachen der Inseln zwischen Tonga und Saamoa. LIT Verlag Münster. 1994. 109. 3825820157.
6. Book: Thompson, Christina . 5 March 2020 . Sea People: In Search of the Ancient Navigators of the Pacific . Glasgow, Scotland . William Collins . 57–58 . 978-0-00-833905-0.
7. Book: Churchward , C.M. . Tongan Grammar . Vava'u Press Limited . 1999 . 81 . 982-213-007-4.
8. Book: Churchward, Clerk Maxwell. Tongan grammar. Vava'u Press. 1953. 0-908717-05-9. Pbk.. Tonga. 171. 21337535.
9. Web site: UniLang • Tongan for Beginners. unilang.org. 2020-04-08.
10. Book: Churchward , C.M. . Tongan Grammar . Vava'u Press Limited . 1999 . 184–189 . 982-213-007-4.
11. Web site: An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands, in the South Pacific Ocean. With an original grammar and vocabulary of their language. 1817.
12. Sea hear
13. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/liahona?lang=eng Online Tongan edition of Liahona, churchofjesuschrist.org
14. Web site: Cocker . James . Cocker . Meliame . Koe Ta'u Faka-Tonga . to . freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20111027182528/http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jamel/1%20Taimi%20Ta%27u.htm . October 27, 2011.