Page Type: languageTuvaluan | Ethnologue

TVL ISO 639-3

Tuvaluan

Te ’gana Tūvalu Autonym

A language of Tuvalu

tvl
Ellice, Ellicean, Tuvalu
Te ’gana Tūvalu
10,000 in Tuvalu (2015 S. Ager). Total users in all countries: 14,270.
Tuvalu, 7 of the 9 inhabited islands.
3 (Wider communication). De facto language of national identity, possible use in local courts, councils.
Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Oceanic, Central-Eastern Oceanic, Remote Oceanic, Central Pacific, East Fijian-Polynesian, Polynesian, Nuclear, Samoic-Outlier, Ellicean
North Tuvaluan (Nanumanga, Nanumea, Niutao), South Tuvaluan (Funafuti, Nukufetau, Nukulaelae, Vaitupu). Not intelligible with Samoan [smo]. Formerly used as mission language. Intelligible of Tokelau [tkl]. Southern dialect is official.
Vigorous.
Literacy rate in L1: High. Dictionary. Grammar. Bible: 1987–2016.
OLAC resources in and about Tuvaluan
Latin script [Latn].
Christian.
Tuvaluan
2,350 in New Zealand (2013 census).
Unestablished
Non-indigenous.
View other languages of New Zealand
Location: Tuvalu, 7 of the 9 inhabited islands.