Wallisian Language - Influence From Other Languages

Influence From Other Languages

Wallisian may be most closely related to Rennellese. It is also closely related to Tongan, because of former Tonga invasions in Wallis. For instance, the past form "ne'e" comes from Tongan.

Wallisian has been heavily influenced by French. French missionaries arrived at the end of the 19th century; in 1961, Wallis and Futuna became a French oversea territory and French is now the official language. According to many linguists, such as K. Rensch, in the beginning French did not affect much the language but it is now profoundly transforming Wallisian. Many neologisms have been created by transliterating French words into Wallisian, for instance vocabulary of politics : words such as Falanise (France), Telituale (Territory), politike, (politics), Lepupilika (Republic)... Many technical words (telefoni, televisio...) ; food that did not exist in Wallis before the Europeans (tomato, tapaka (tobacco, from fr tabac, ), alikole (alcohol), kafe (coffee, from fr café)) ; etc. are borrowings from French.

When the missionaries came, they also introduced many Latin words, mainly for religious purposes. Jesus Christ became Sesu Kilisito, words like komunio (communion), kofesio (confession), temonio (devil, from demonio, fr démon), but also some non religious vocabulary : hola (time, hour (lat. hora)) ; hisitolia (history (lat. historia)) were introduced and are now part of the everyday language.

Wallisian has also been influenced by English, especially after the American army arrived on the island in 1942. Loanwords such as puna (spoon), motoka (car, from motor car), famili (family), suka (sugar), peni (pen), etc come from English.