Western Fijian language
Western Fijian, also known as Wayan[2]:212 is an Oceanic language spoken in Fiji by about 57,000 people.
| Western Fijian | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Fiji |
| Region | western half of Viti Levu, Yasawa Islands and Mamanuca Islands |
Native speakers | (57,000 cited 1977)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | wyy |
| Glottolog | west2519 |
It is distinct from Eastern Fijian (also known as Bauan or Standard Fijian), though it is not taught in schools. Colonial linguists considered Eastern Fijian to be superior, and thus marginalized Western Fijian.
Phonology
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Velar | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | lab. | |||||
| Nasal | m mː | n | ŋ | ŋʷ | ||
| Plosive | voiced | b | d | ɡ | ɡʷ | |
| voiceless | p | t | k | kʷ | ||
| Fricative | voiced | v | ð | |||
| voiceless | s | |||||
| Trill | r dr | |||||
| Approximant | w | l | ||||
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | u | |
| Mid | e | o | |
| Low | a |
Most Fijian languages have a unique prenasalized alveolar trill, transcribed here as /dr/. Western Fijian in particular, is unique among Fijian languages for having labialized velar consonants. All vowels come in long and short forms, and so does the bilabial nasal (/m/).[2]:212
References
- Western Fijian at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
- Blust, R. A; Pacific Linguistics, Australian National University (2009). The Austronesian languages. ISBN 978-0858836020.
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