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Languages of Fiji | |
---|---|
Official | English, Fijian and Fiji-Hindi |
Indigenous | Fijian, Rotuman |
Immigrant | Chinese, Fiji Hindi (mixture of Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Hindi-Urdu) |
Foreign | Chinese, [1] French, [2] Russian [3] |
Fiji has three official languages under the 1997 constitution (and not revoked by the 2013 Constitution): English, Fijian and Fiji Hindi. The Fijian language is spoken as the first language by most indigenous Fijians who make up around 54% of the population.
Indo-Fijians make up 37% of the population and speak Fiji-Hindi. English was the sole official language until 1997 and is widely used in government, business, and education as a lingua franca. [4] Considerable business is also done in Fijian, especially away from larger town centers.
A small number of other Indigenous West Fijian and East Fijian regional languages are spoken on the islands, standard Fijian belonging to the East Fijian group. Arabic and Urdu are spoken by Muslims. Chinese and Rotuman are also spoken by immigrant populations.
Until the 19th century, Fiji's population consisted almost entirely of indigenous Fijians, who were of mixed Polynesian and Melanesian descent and generally spoke languages of the Malayo-Polynesian language family. After the islands came under British colonial rule, a number of contract workers were brought from present-day British India, spreading the use of the Hindi language.
All three of Fiji's official languages have greatly been influenced by one another, in terms of vocabulary and, in some cases, grammar because of the constant, everyday contact between these languages, now for over a century. Fiji's diverse, multiracial and multilingual makeup make these languages, as well as other unofficial, minority languages in Fiji (such as Chinese varieties, Arabic, Western Fijian, Gilbertese, Rotuman, Tuvaluan, and other present Indian languages), influence one another.
In 2022, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka approved the use of vernacular languages in Parliament. [5]
English usage in Fiji predates the cession of Fiji to Great Britain by a few decades. English was first encountered from the first explorers and traders and found greater popularity as a lingua franca (albeit mixed with Fijian in an early and now extinct Pidgin Fijian) between frontier settlers and the indigenous people. By the time of the British administration, much of the Fijian nobility were able to comprehend basic English. The English spoken in Fiji today is very different and has developed significantly over the close to 150 years of usage in the islands.
Like many former colonies of Great Britain, there are certain 'situational varieties' of English present. There is the very formal, 'Proper' English (which would resemble formal English in Australia or the United Kingdom) as it is known, which is to be used in government and any other situation deemed formal enough for its use, but it has fallen out of favor due to the popularity of the more laid back varieties and is still spoken only by the older generation that lived through the colonial days. A sort of mid-level English is used in school, church, work and in semi-formal situations and is basically English with localized grammatical innovations and words imported from Hindi and Fijian; it is quickly becoming 'formal English' in Fiji.
Very informal Fijian English, or Finglish, is used among all races with family, friends and in general conversations and in any other situation not deemed formal. Fiji English has been tentatively studied by linguists and has been suggested as a separate dialect from Standard English (as has developed in Australia and New Zealand) but the distinction is not made locally or in the constitution. Moreover, other linguists suggest it is part of a greater South Pacific English dialect because of the shared development of English within former British colonies and protectorates in the South Pacific.
Fijians, like most Pacific Islanders, have a distinct accent when they are speaking in English. For example, "Fiji" is pronounced as [ˈfi.d͡ʒi] in Fijian English or Finglish, but is pronounced /ˈfiːdʒi/ or /fiːˈdʒiː/ in most other dialects used on the island.
Fijian is an Austronesian language of the Malayo-Polynesian family spoken in Fiji. It has 300,000 first-language speakers, which is almost one-third of the population of Fiji, but another 300,000 speak it as a second language. The early missionaries selected the Bau dialect or Bauan (which, among the East Fijian dialects, held the place that French would in Europe, while the purer Rewa dialect would be Latin) as the standard dialect for printing and communicating. Bauan soon became the standard of communication among the indigenous Fijians. Bauan was selected not only because of its prestige but also because it was the language of the then politically dominant island of Bau and the Mataiwelagi chiefs (and claimed King of Fiji).
By the middle to the late 19th century, with the push by missionaries, Bauan had also invaded the Western areas of Viti Levu, which spoke an entirely different set of dialects belonging to the West Fijian language, which is grouped with Polynesian and Rotuman in the West Fijian-Polynesian language family and practiced a different culture. This occurred up to the point that many Bauan words entered many western Fijian languages. Bauan was then adopted by the British administration for communication with the iTaukei. Over time, it evolved into what is today Standard Fijian which includes many English and Other Fijian Dialectal contributions, becoming quite distinct from the original Bauan Dialect.
Hindi is an official language in Fiji. In the 1997 Constitution, it was referred to as "Hindustani", [6] but in the 2013 Constitution of Fiji, it is simply called "Hindi". [7]
Fiji Hindi, also known as Fijian Baat or Fijian Hindustani, is the language spoken by most Fijian citizens of Indian descent. It is derived mainly from the Awadhi and Bhojpuri varieties of Hindi. It has also borrowed a large number of words from Fijian and English. The relation between Fiji Hindi and Standard Hindi is similar to the relation between Afrikaans and Dutch. Indian indentured labourers were initially brought to Fiji mainly from districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, North-West Frontier and South India such as from Andhra and Tamil Nadu. They spoke numerous, mainly Hindi, dialects and languages depending on their district of origin.
Fiji hindi is a local variant developed and influenced from Fijian and other languages, however many people and organisations speak 'Shudh' or standard Hindi from India. Later, approximately 15,000 Indian indentured labourers, who were mainly speakers of Dravidian languages (Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam), were brought from South India. By this time Fiji Hindi was well established as the lingua franca of Fiji Indians and the South Indian labourers had to learn it to communicate with the more numerous North Indians and European overseers. Inward migration of free Gujarati and Punjabi settlers further contributed to Fiji Hindi.
Fiji is also home to many smaller minorities which make up its multicultural and multilingual populace.
Rotuman, also referred to as Rotunan, Rutuman or Fäeag Rotuma, is an Austronesian language spoken by the indigenous people of the South Pacific island group of Rotuma, an island with a Polynesian-influenced culture that was incorporated as a dependency into the Colony of Fiji in 1881 and later chose to remain with Fiji in 1970 upon independence and in 1987, when Fiji became a republic. The rotuman language is spoken by more than 2000 people on the island of Rotuma and a further 10,000 people who live or work in the Republic of Fiji.
Other Indian languages are spoken in Fiji. After the indenture system, Indians who spoke Gujarati and Punjabi arrived in Fiji as free immigrants. At present, many free settler descendants in Fiji and their families speak Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi and Gujarati at home, but all speak and communicate with each other in English. [ citation needed ]
Two significant languages that are seeing growth are Cantonese Chinese and Mandarin Chinese. Many Chinese settlers, especially from southern China speak Cantonese, which is quickly incorporating many Fijian and English words. Many of these migrants are farmers and are constantly exposed to the Fijian and Hindi dominated areas of rural Fiji.
Furthermore, sizeable minorities of Micronesians and Polynesians mean that Fiji is also home to various Micronesian and Polynesian languages. Significant among them is Gilbertese, which is the language of the former residents of Ocean Island or Banaba in Kiribati, which was decimated through British phosphate mining. They were given Rabi Island in North-Eastern Fiji as a new homeland and number 2000–3000. There is also Kioa, which was given to former Tuvaluans, who migrated as a consequence of overcrowding on Vaitupu. They speak Tuvaluan, a Polynesian language, and number around a thousand. Also, there are many Tongan residents and Fijians of Tongan descent in Fiji. These groups speak the Tongan language or a mix of Tongan and Fijian.
Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about 1,100 nautical miles north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about 110 are permanently inhabited—and more than 500 islets, amounting to a total land area of about 18,300 square kilometres (7,100 sq mi). The most outlying island group is Ono-i-Lau. About 87% of the total population of 924,610 live on the two major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu. About three-quarters of Fijians live on Viti Levu's coasts, either in the capital city of Suva, or in smaller urban centres such as Nadi or Lautoka. The interior of Viti Levu is sparsely inhabited because of its terrain.
Modern Standard Hindi, commonly referred to as Hindi, is the standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in Devanagari script. It is the official language of India alongside English and the lingua franca of North India. Hindi is considered a Sanskritised register of the Hindustani language, which itself is based primarily on the Khariboli dialect of Delhi and neighbouring areas. It is an official language in nine states and three union territories and an additional official language in three other states. Hindi is also one of the 22 scheduled languages of the Republic of India.
This article is about the demography of the population of Trinidad and Tobago including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
Tuvaluan, often called Tuvalu, is a Polynesian language closely related to the Ellicean group spoken in Tuvalu. It is more or less distantly related to all other Polynesian languages, such as Hawaiian, Māori, Tahitian, Samoan, Tokelauan and Tongan, and most closely related to the languages spoken on the Polynesian Outliers in Micronesia and Northern and Central Melanesia. Tuvaluan has borrowed considerably from Samoan, the language of Christian missionaries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Rotuma is a self-governing heptarchy, generally designated a dependency of Fiji. Rotuma commonly referred to Rotuma Island, the only permanently inhabited and by far the largest of all the islands in the Rotuma Group. Officially, the Rotuma Act declares that Rotuma consists of Rotuma Island as well as its neighbouring islands, rocks, and reefs across the entire Rotuma Group. The dependency is situated around 500 km west of the French islands of Wallis and Futuna and a similar distance north of the Fijian mainland. Its capital is Ahau, a hamlet consisting of a number of colonial-era buildings. Rotuma exists as a dependency of Fiji but itself contains its own socioreligious pene-enclave known traditionally as Faguta where the chiefs and their villages adhere to the practices of worship, festival dates, and French-based writing system of the Marists, based at Sumi.
Since becoming independent of the United Kingdom in 1970, Fiji has had four constitutions, and the voting system has changed accordingly.
The 1997 Constitution of Fiji begins with a Preamble, which sets out the historical, cultural, and political reasons for the drafting of the 1997 Constitution.
Chapter 2: Compact. The second chapter of the 1997 Constitution of Fiji contains Sections 6 and 7 of the Constitution. They summarize, in "compact" form, the intent and purpose of the Constitution, as well as the goals that it seeks to accomplish. It establishes the principles on which the Fiji government are to be based, and according to which the Constitution is to be interpreted.
Fijians are a nation and ethnic group native to Fiji, who speak Fijian and English and share a common history and culture.
A national language is a language that has some connection—de facto or de jure—with a nation. The term is applied quite differently in various contexts. One or more languages spoken as first languages in the territory of a country may be referred to informally or designated in legislation as national languages of the country. National languages are mentioned in over 150 world constitutions.
The Central Pacific languages, also known as Fijian–Polynesian languages, are a branch of the Oceanic languages spoken in Fiji and Polynesia.
Rotuman, also referred to as Rotunan, Rutuman or Fäeag Rotuạm, is an Austronesian language spoken by the Indigenous Rotuma people in the South Pacific. Linguistically, as well as culturally, Rotuma has had Polynesian-influence culture and was incorporated as a dependency into the Colony of Fiji in 1881. Contemporary Rotuman is a result of significant Polynesian borrowing, following Samoan and Tongan migrations into Rotuma.
The culture of Fiji is a tapestry of native Fijian, Indian, European, Chinese and other nationalities. Culture polity traditions, language, food costume, belief system, architecture, arts, craft, music, dance, and sports will be discussed in this article to give you an indication of Fiji's indigenous community but also the various communities which make up Fiji as a modern culture and living. The indigenous culture is an active and living part of everyday life for the majority of the population.
Caribbean Hindustani is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by Indo-Caribbean people and the Indo-Caribbean diaspora. It is a koiné language mainly based on the Bhojpuri and Awadhi dialects. These Hindustani dialects were the most spoken dialects by the Indians who came as immigrants to the Caribbean from Colonial India as indentured laborers. It is closely related to Fiji Hindi and the Bhojpuri-Hindustani spoken in Mauritius and South Africa.
Fiji Hindi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by Indo-Fijians. It is an Eastern Hindi and Bihari language, considered to be a koiné language based on Awadhi that has also been subject to considerable influence by Bhojpuri, other Eastern Hindi and Bihari dialects, and Standard Hindi-Urdu. It has also borrowed some vocabulary from English, Fijian, Telugu, Tamil, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, and Malayalam. Many words unique to Fiji Hindi have been created to cater for the new environment that Indo-Fijians now live in. First-generation Indians in Fiji, who used the language as a lingua franca in Fiji, referred to it as Fiji Baat, "Fiji talk". It is closely related to Caribbean Hindustani and the Bhojpuri-Hindustani spoken in Mauritius and South Africa. It is largely mutually intelligible with the languages of Awadhi and Bhojpuri, as well as with the Bihari languages of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhesh, Koshi, Bagmati, Gandaki and Lumbini, and the dialects of Eastern Hindi of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Lumbini, but differs in phonetics and vocabulary with Modern Standard Hindi and Urdu.
Gagaja is a Rotuman word denoting the position of "Chief" or "Lord". This could be a formal chiefly position in one of the seven districts or a village chief as well as to anyone else, such as the Chairman of the Rotuma Island Council to whom respect and deference is owed based on their own skills and attributes. Unlike in many other Pacific cultures, the official chiefly positions are not allocated according to any strict primogeniture, but rather are elected from all eligible males within certain kạinaga to whom the chiefly title belongs.
The Rotumans are a Polynesian ethnic group native to Rotuma, an island group forming part of Fiji. The island itself is a cultural melting pot at the crossroads of the Micronesian, Melanesian and Polynesian divisions of the Pacific Ocean, and due to the seafaring nature of traditional Pacific cultures, the indigenous Rotuman have adopted or share many aspects of its multifaceted culture with its Melanesian, Micronesian and Polynesian neighbours.
Indo-Fijians, also known as Indian Fijians, are Fijian citizens of South Asian descent, and include people who trace their ancestry to various regions of the Indian subcontinent. Although Indo-Fijians constituted a majority of Fiji's population from 1956 through the late 1980s, discrimination and the resulting brain drain resulted in them numbering 313,798 (37.6%) out of a total of 827,900 people living in Fiji as of 2007.
Rotuman New Zealanders are Rotuman immigrants in New Zealand, typically from Rotuma Island or Fiji, their descendants, and New Zealanders of Rotuman ethnic descent. At the time of the 2018 New Zealand census, 981 people in New Zealand were surveyed as being of Rotuman descent.