Samoan language
From Open Encyclopedia
The Sāmoan or Samoan language is the traditional language of Samoa and American Samoa and is an official language in both territories. It is a member of the Austronesian family, and more specifically Samoic branch of the Polynesian sub-phylum.
Contents |
Grammar
Pronouns
Samoan has a rather remarkable set of pronouns. Like many Austronesian languages, it has separate words for inclusive we and exclusive we, and distinguishes singular, dual, and plural. Remarkably, the inclusive pronoun may occur in the singular, as ta, in which case it indicates emotional involvement on the part of the speaker.
Samoan pronouns
| singular | dual | plural | |
| Exclusive person | a’u | ma’ua | matou |
| Inclusive person | ta | ta’ua | tatou |
| Second person | ’oe | ’oulua | ’outou |
| Third person | ia | la’ua | latou |
The roots ma, ta, and la are ’ima, ’ita, and ’ila in formal speech.
These are equivalent to
| me | we (him/her and me) | we (them and me) | |
| me* | we (you and I) | we (you all and me) | |
| thee | you two | you all | |
| him/her | them two | them |
* With the connotations mentioned above.
Reference
- Thomas E Payne, 1997. Describing morphosyntax: A guide for field linguists. 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.
es:Idioma samoano sm:Gagana faʼa Samoa fi:Samoan kieli sv:Samoanska to:Koe 'A Samoa
