Niuean language

Niuean
ko e vagahau Niuē
Native toNiue, Cook Islands, New Zealand, Tonga
Native speakers
1,300 in Niue (2018)[1]
4,600 in New Zealand (2013)[1]
Latin
Official status
Official language in
 Niue
Language codes
ISO 639-2niu
ISO 639-3niu
Glottologniue1239
ELPNiue
Niuean is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
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Niuean (/njuˈən/;[2] ko e vagahau Niuē) is a Polynesian language, belonging to the Malayo-Polynesian subgroup of the Austronesian languages. It is most closely related to Tongan and slightly more distantly to other Polynesian languages such as Māori, Samoan, and Hawaiian. Together, Tongan and Niuean form the Tongic subgroup of the Polynesian languages. Niuean also has a number of influences from Samoan and Eastern Polynesian languages.

  1. ^ a b Niuean at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. ^ Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student’s Handbook, Edinburgh