SAMOAN LANGUAGE

The 'Sāmoan' or 'Samoan language' is the traditional language of Samoa and American Samoa and is an official language — alongside English — in both jurisdictions. It is a member of the Austronesian family, and more specifically the Samoic branch of the Polynesian subphylum.
There are 370,337 Samoan-speakers worldwide, nearly half of them in the Samoan Islands. Thereafter, the greatest concentration is in New Zealand, where Samoans are the third largest ethnic group after Pakeha and Maori: the 2001 New Zealand census recorded 81,036 speakers of the Samoan language, and 114,435 ethnic Samoans. Separate data showed that 71,769 ethnic Samoans in New Zealand could speak Samoan — 62.7 per cent. The majority of Samoans in New Zealand (76,581 persons or 66.9 per cent), and by implication the greater proportion of Samoan speakers in the country, reside in the commercial capital, Auckland.
According to the 2001 census, there were 22,711 speakers of Samoan in Australia, and 28,091 ethnic Samoans.

Contents

Grammar

Pronouns

References

External links

Grammar

Pronouns

Like many Austronesian languages, Samoan has separate words for inclusive we and exclusive we, and distinguishes singular, dual, and plural. The root for the inclusive pronoun may occur in the singular, in which case it indicates emotional involvement on the part of the speaker.
'Samoan personal pronouns'

	singular	dual	plural
First person exclusive	a’u , 'ou	mā’ua, mā	mātou
First person inclusive	tā	tā’ua, tā	tātou
Second person	’oe, ’e	’oulua	’outou, tou
Third person	ia / na	lā’ua	lātou

In formal speech, fuller forms of the roots ''mā-'', ''tā-'', and ''lā-'' are ''’imā-'', ''’itā-'', and ''’ilā-.''

'English'	'Samoan'	'Pronounce'
Yes	'Ioe	Eeoeh
No	Leai	Le-eye
Please	Fa'amolemole	Fa'ah-mo-le-mole
Thank you	Fa'afetai	Fa'ah-feh-ti
That's all right	'Ua lelei	Oo-a lelay
big / small	tele / la'itiiti	teh-leh / lah ee-tee-tee
quick / slow	tope / gese	toh-peh / nge-seh
early / late	vave / tuai	vahveh / two eye
cheap / expensive	taugōfie / taugatā	tah-oo-ngo-fee eh / tah-oo-nga-tah
near / far	latalata / mamao	lah-tah-lah-tah / mah-mah-oh
hot / cold	vevela / mālūlū	vehveh-lah/mah-loo-loo
full / empty	tumu / gaogao	too-moo / nga-oh-nga-oh
easy / difficult	faigoōfie / faigatā	fye-ngo-fee-eh / fye-nga-tah
heavy / light	mamafa / māmā	mahmahfah / mah-mah
open / shut	tatala / tapuni	tahtahlah / tahpoo-nee
right / wrong	sa'o / sesē	sah-oh / seh-seh
old / new	tuai / fou	too-eye / foh oo
old / young	matua / la'itiiti	mah-too-ah / lah-ee-tee-tee
beautiful / ugly	matagōfie / mataga	mah-tah-ngo- fee-eh / mah tah ngah
good / bad	lelei / leaga	leh-leh-ee / leh leh-ar-ngah
better / worse	feoloolo / leaga tele	feh-oh-loh-loh / leh-ah -ngah-teh leh

References

★ Payne, Thomas E. 1997. ''Describing morphosyntax: a guide for field linguists.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-58224-5.

External links

★ Ethnologue main Samoan page

★ Samoan - English Dictionary

★ Samoan Dictionary - An online Samoan dictionary. Samoan to English, English to Samoan.

★ Common words reference