Samoan language

Samoan (Gagana fa'a Sāmoa or Gagana Sāmoa — IPA: [ŋaˈŋana ˈsaːmʊa]) is the language of the Samoan Islands, comprising the independent country of Samoa and the United States territory of American Samoa. It is an official language—alongside English—in both jurisdictions.

Samoan, a Polynesian language, is the first language for most of the Samoa Islands' population of about 246,000 people. With many Samoan people living in other countries, the total number of speakers worldwide is estimated at 470,000. It is the third most widely-spoken language in New Zealand, where more than 2% of the population - 86,000 people - were able to speak it as of 2013.

The language is notable for the phonological differences between formal, and informal speech as well as a ceremonial form used in Samoan oratory.

Classification

Samoan is a member of the Austronesian family, and more specifically the Samoic branch of the Polynesian subphylum. It is closely related to other Polynesian languages with many shared cognate words such as ali'i, 'ava, atua, tapu and numerals as well as in the name of gods in mythology.