A Niuean language or even Niue language (Niuean: ko e vagahau Niuē) occurs as Polynesian language, belonging to the Malayo-Polynesian subgroup of the Austronesian languages. These are virtually all closely related Tongan and slightly more distantly to more Polynesian languages like Māori, Sāmoan, and Hawai'ian. Together, Tongan & Niuean form a Tongic subgroup of the Polynesian languages. Niuean besides has the total of influences from either Samoan & Eastern Polynesian languages.

Speakers
Niuean is spoken by 2,240 populatiin on Niue Island (97.4% of the inhabitants) when of 1991, when well as by speakers in the Cook Islands, New Zealand, and Tonga, for a amount of around 8,000 speakers. There are so extra speakers of Niuean outside a island itself than on the island. Virtually all habitant of Niue come bilingual around English.

Dialects
Niuean consists of 2 independent idiom, a older motu accent from either a northerly of a isl& and the tafiti accent of the south. A words mean, severally, a population of a isl& and the unknown (or even humans from either the few feet away).

A differences between a accent come around the main in vocabulary or even in the form of occasionally words.

Examples of differences around vocabulary come volu (Tafiti) vs matā (Motu) for scrape, scraper & lala (Tafiti) vs kautoga (Motu) for guava (plant); examples of differences within form include hafule (T) / afule (M), aloka/haloka, nai/nei, ikiiki/likiliki, & malona/maona.

Phonology
A phonology of Niuean consists of the consonant phonemes f, ŋ, h, k, l, m, n, p, t, v & a vowels a, ā, e, ē, i personally, ī, o, ō, u, ū.

There are besides 2 marginal consonant phonemes, r & s, which merely occur around loan; occasionally speakers substitute a sounds l & t, severally, inside words in which r & s occur.

Note that [s] is likewise an allophone of [t] before a front vowels e ē i ī. This probably arose from either the pronunciation of /t/ when [ts] prior to these vowels, which sooner or later became just [s].

Foreign words which lead off using [t] in the source language normally locate this pronunciation potentially prior to front vowels; nevertheless, super old borrowings shift this to [s], when around tī from either English tea, pronounced [si:].

Vowel length
Vowel length is distinctive in Niuean; vowels come either hanker or even short. Moreover, ii adjacent monovular vowels (whether short-short, short-long, long-short, or even long-long) form the rearticulated vowel; the healthy is distinct from either of these yearn vowel.

Each short & hanker vowels might occur in any position.

Diphthongs
Entirely short vowels could combine by having of these a second to form diphthongs. A imaginable diphthongs come, so:

ae, ai, ao, au ea, ei, eo, eu ia, internet explorer, io, iu oa, oe, oi, ou ua, ue, ui, uo

Rearticulation
Rearticulation is the separate pronunciation of ii adjacent vowels, when opposed to diphthongs which are written when deuce letters however pronounced when 1 healthy. These 2 vowels can exist as a equivalent or even be different ones.

Rearticulation generally occurs through morpheme boundaries, for example, while the postfix ending sustaining the vowel precede the root beginning thereupon equivalent vowel. It will too occur, seldom, inside monomorphemic words (words that consist of just the single morpheme) following of the elision of a historical intervocalic consonant.

2 adjacent monovular short vowels come universally rearticulated, when come combinations of any 2 yearn vowels or even even even a short & an extended vowel; 2 adjacent different short vowels can exist as rearticulated or form the diphthong, & this has to be determined from either the morphology or history of the word.

Syllable structure
the basi100 structure of the Niuean syllable is (C)Five(V); tons syllables prevent inside a vowel or even diphthong, & might run by owning at the most 1 consonant. Consonant bunch around borrowed words come broken higher by owning parasitic vowels, e.g. English tractor becomes tuleketā.

Stress
the stress inside a Niuean word is about universally on the penultima (2nd-to-go syllable), though multi-syllable words ending in an extended vowel put primary stress on the final hanker vowel & secondary stress on the penultima. Long vowels around more positions likewise attract the secondary stress.

Glottal stop
A Niuean language doesn't contain a glottal stop which is present in its nighest relative, Tongan; this has caused a bit of distinct words to merge. E.g., Tongan '''ta'u' season & tau fight stand merged around Niuean when tau.

Orthography
Niuean orthography is largely phonemic; that is, of these syllable stands for one healthy & the other way around.

Alphabet
A traditional alphabet sequentially, given by having a traditional list of the letters, is ā, ē, ī, ō, ū, fā, gā, hā, kā, lā, mō, northū, pī, tī, vī, rō, sā. Note that rō & sā when introduced letters come ordered at a prevent.

Sperlich (1997) utilizes an alphabetical sequentially according to English for his lexicon: a, ā, e, ē, f, g, h, we, ī, k, l, m, north, o, ō, p, s, t, u, ū, 5 (r is left retired since there is no words run by using this letter). He recommends that consonants become known as systematically by owning the as a result ā: fā, gā, hā, kā, lā, mā, northā, pā, tā, vā, rā, sā.

Vowel length may be marked sustaining the macron; however, this is non universally done.

History
When by owning numerous languages, writing was bring around Niue around connection by having religion, in that pack sustaining Christianity by missionaries educated in Samoa. This has led to a select few Samoan influences withwithin morphology & grammar & besides to a noticeable a single in spelling: the healthy (IPA) is written g, rather than nanogram when inside Tongan & more Polynesian languages by owning this healthy. (McEwen (1970) utilizes nanogram around his lexicon; all a same, this feature of his spelling was non popular, particularly since it conflicted sustaining the spelling utilized in the Niuean Bible.)

Grammar

Typology
Niuean may be considered the VSO language; however, of these analysis of Niuean utilizes ergative terminology, in which instance it can be better to speak of Verb Agent Patient word order.

Because the unnoted out break is the absolutive, Niuean transitive constructions typically come out passive voice within a literal translation.

Compare

and

A foremost lesson phrase can when well become translated into English as a nominative-accusative construction "He saw the crab".

Pronouns
Niuean pronouns are differentiated by person and number. Moreover, 1st individual non-singular (dual and plural) pronouns distinguish inclusive and exclusive forms, including & excluding a hearer, severally. All the same, it is non differentiated by gender or case; for example, hawkeye state means each he & she, him & her'' (inanimates ['it'] are non ordinarily pronominalised).

A Niuean pronouns come:

Note that a endings of a dual & plural forms resemble the amounts Two & Three, ua & balsam of tolu.

Numbers
A select few amounts within Niuean come:

(*Note: Two McEwen (1970) & Sperlich (1997) give fā for quaternion; nonetheless, Kaulima & Beaumont (1994) give fa by using the short vowel.)

Tens & ones combine by owning ma, e.g. hogofulu ma taha, Eleven; tolugofulu ma yoko ono, 36.

A cost from either 1 to nine (& once in a while higher cost) could require a prefix toko- while utilized to count souls; e.g., tokolima 5 (for humans).

Statistics come utilized when verbs, for instance:

or

or

Morphology
Morphology comprises the ways where words come built higher from either little, meaningful sub-units, or even how else words vary their form inside certain circumstances.

Suppletion
Suppletion concerns closely related words (typically singular form & plural forms of nouns or even verbs) which are then according to super different forms, for instance fano to last (utilized by owning the singular subject) & ō to last (utilized by using the plural subject). This may be in comparison English last & went, which are then forms of the equivalent verb eventually differ inside form.

Reduplication
Reduplication is frequently utilized inside Niuean morphology to derive different nouns. Reduplication is a run of ingesting a entire morpheme, or even even even every now & again sole the number one or survive syllable or 2, and repetition it.

This is utilized for many purposes, including:

forming the "plural" verb from either the "singular" a single (that is, a verb form utilized whenever a subject is plural form, whilst opposed to the form utilized when the subject is singular) forming the "frequentative" form of a verb (an action that is carried out many days)

An case of the whole-morpheme reduplication indicating a plural verb is molemole to own passed by, to become no more from either mole to use passed by, to become no more; an case of the whole-morpheme reduplication indicating a frequentative verb is molomolo to keep squeezing from either molo to squeeze, to compress.

Examples of section-morpheme reduplication come gagau to bite from either gau to chew (number 1 a share of the syllable reduplicated), gegele to produce the crying healthy from either gele to begin to cry (of toddlers) (number one syllable reduplicated), & moleūlū to exist as super easy, to exist as super frail from either gram moleculeū to become easy, to exist as frail (previous syllable reduplicated).

Reduplication is besides ofttimes listed together by having affixes.

Affixes
Affixes (prefixes and suffixes) are oftentimes utilized for the kind of purposes; there exists as well of these circumfix, fe- -aki (sometimes fe- -naki or even fe- -taki), which is utilized to form mutual verbs ("to ... one another").

The most common postfix is -aga, which occurs as nominaliser: it forms nouns from either verbs.

The most common prefix sustaining faka-, using the kind of meanings, the usual existence a causative 1 (e.g. ako to see, fakaako to teach).

Words might too use supplementary than of these prefix or even postfix, when fakamalipilipi to break (utilized by owning the plural object), from either faka-, ma-, & the reduplicated lipi to break.

Compound words
Numerous words come only formed by joining together more words, for instance vakalele plane from either vaka canoe & lele fly (we.e. literally, flight canoe).