Tongan language

This article is about the Polynesian language. Not to be confused with Tonga language or Dungan language.
Tongan
lea faka-Tonga
Native toTonga;
significant immigrant community in New Zealand and the United States
Native speakers
(187,000
  • 96,000 in Tonga cited 1998)[1]
    73,000 elsewhere (no date), primarily in NZ, U.S., and Australia[2]
Latin-based
Official status
Official language in
 Tonga
Language codes
ISO 639-1to
ISO 639-2ton
ISO 639-3ton
Glottologtong1325
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Tongan (English pronunciation: /ˈtɒŋ(ɡ)ən/ TONG-(g)ən;[3][4][5][a] lea fakatonga) is an Austronesian language of the Polynesian branch native to the island nation of Tonga. It has around 187,000 speakers.[6] It uses the word order verb–subject–object.

  1. ^ Tongan at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Tongan language at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013) Closed access icon
  3. ^ "Tongan". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 10 February 2022. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  4. ^ "Tongan". Lexico. Archived from the original on March 26, 2020. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
  5. ^ "Tongan". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
  6. ^ "Tongan". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2017-12-13.


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