Niuafoʻouan is the language spoken on Tonga's northernmost island, Niuafoʻou.
Niuafoʻouan has traditionally been classified as closest to ʻUvean and Tokelauan, in an East Uvean–Niuafo'ou branch. Others suggest that it is closest to its neighbor, Tongan, as one of the Tongic languages. However, both groupings have been abandoned in the most recent classification, which did not include Niuafoʻouan.
Famous quotes containing the word language:
“Different persons growing up in the same language are like different bushes trimmed and trained to take the shape of identical elephants. The anatomical details of twigs and branches will fulfill the elephantine form differently from bush to bush, but the overall outward results are alike.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)