Language
The official language is English while the national indigenous language is Bauan which is only one of the many dialects that exist in the Fiji Group, each of the fourteen provinces more or less have their own dialect though there is a clear distinction between the dialects of the West, Central and Eastern parts of the country.
Other languages spoken in the country are Fiji Hindi, Cantonese, Rotuman, Gilbertese (Rabi Island), and Tuvaluan (Kioa Island). The Fiji Islands are traditionally linked to their island neighbours Rotuma, Tonga and Samoa, and this is evident in the culture and dialects of the Northern and Eastern provinces being Cakaudrove, Bua, Macuata, and Lau. The many dialects spoken in these four provinces consistently use sounds that are heard in Tongan and Samoan, but not so with dialects from the Western and South Western parts of Fiji. The Fijian language uses a Latin alphabet. However, the Fijian alphabet is dissimilar from the English alphabet. The following conventions exist:
- The letter "c" is pronounced like the English "th" sound in then. Laucala Bay is pronounced as 'Lauthala' Bay.
- The letter "d" is pronounced like English "nd". Nadi (the airport town) is pronounced 'Nandi'.
- The letter "b" is pronounced like English "mb" in bombast. The town of Ba is pronounced 'mBa'.
- The letter "q" is pronounced like the "ng" in the English word "finger". Beqa is pronounced mBengga.
- The letter "g" is pronounced like the "ng" in the English word "sing".
- The letter "r" is rolled as in Spanish.
In Fijian words, each vowel is given its full weight and never shortened, skipped or slurred.
Read more about this topic: Culture Of Fiji
Famous quotes containing the word language:
“Repeat thy song, till the familiar lines
Are footpaths for the thought of Italy!
Thy flame is blown abroad from all the heights,
Through all the nations, and a sound is heard,
As of a mighty wind, and men devout,
Strangers of Rome, and the new proselytes,
In their own language hear thy wondrous word,
And many are amazed and many doubt.”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1809–1882)
“Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree.”
—Ezra Pound (1885–1972)
“It would seem as if the very language of our parlors would lose all its nerve and degenerate into palaver wholly, our lives pass at such remoteness from its symbols, and its metaphors and tropes are necessarily so far fetched.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)