Editing Tuvaluan language (section)

{{Short description|Polynesian language spoken in Tuvalu}}
{{About|the languages of Tuvalu|other uses|Tuvaluan (disambiguation)}}
{{use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Tuvaluan
| nativename       = {{lang|tvl|Te Ggana Tuuvalu}}
| states           = [[Tuvalu]]
| speakers         = {{sigfig|10,600|2}} in Tuvalu
| date             = 2015
| ref              = e25
| speakers2        = {{sigfig|2,350|1}} in New Zealand (2013 census)<ref name=e25/>
| familycolor      = Austronesian
| fam2             = [[Malayo-Polynesian languages|Malayo-Polynesian]]
| fam3             = [[Oceanic languages|Oceanic]]
| fam4             = [[Polynesian languages|Polynesian]]
| fam5             = [[Ellicean languages|Ellicean]]
| nation           = {{flag|Tuvalu}}
| script           = [[Latin script]]
| iso2             = tvl
| iso3             = tvl
| glotto           = tuva1244
| glottorefname    = Tuvalu
| notice           = IPA
| ietf             = tvl-TV
| map              = Tuvalu_on_the_globe_(Polynesia_centered).svg
| mapcaption       = Location of Tuvalu, where Tuvaluan is spoken
| map2             = Lang Status 60-DE.svg
| mapcaption2      = {{center|{{small|Tuvaluan is classified as Definitely Endangered by the [[UNESCO]] ''[[Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger]]''}}}}
| dia1             = Funafuti
| dia2             = Vaitupu
| dia3             = Nukufetau
| dia4             = Nukulaelae
| dia5             = Nanumea
| dia6             = Nanumaga
| dia7             = Niutao
| region           = [[Fiji]], [[Kiribati]], [[Nauru]], [[New Zealand]]
}}
{{Culture of Tuvalu}}
[[File:WIKITONGUES- Paulo speaking Tuvaluan.webm|thumb|Recording of Paulo, a speaker of Tuvaluan]]
'''Tuvaluan''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|t|uː|v|ə|ˈ|l|uː|ə|n}}),<ref>{{cite book |first=Laurie |last=Bauer |year=2007 |title=The Linguistics Student's Handbook |location=Edinburgh}}</ref> often called '''Tuvalu''', is a [[Polynesian languages|Polynesian language]] closely related to the [[Ellicean languages|Ellicean group]] spoken in [[Tuvalu]]. It is more or less distantly related to all other Polynesian languages, such as [[Hawaiian language|Hawaiian]], [[Māori language|Māori]], [[Tahitian language|Tahitian]], [[Samoan language|Samoan]], [[Tokelauan language|Tokelauan]] and [[Tongan language|Tongan]], and most closely related to the languages spoken on the [[Polynesian Outliers]] in [[Micronesia]] and Northern and Central [[Melanesia]]. Tuvaluan has borrowed considerably from Samoan, the language of Christian missionaries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.<ref name="Omniglot">{{cite web |first=Simon |last=Ager | url= http://www.omniglot.com/writing/tuvaluan.htm|title= Tuvaluan (Te 'gana Tūvalu) |publisher=Omniglot|access-date=6 November 2012}}</ref><ref name="MD">{{cite book|first=D. |last= Munro |title = Samoan Pastors in Tuvalu, 1865-1899 |year=1996 |publisher=Suva, Fiji, Pacific Theological College and the University of the South Pacific |pages=124–157 |editor-first=D. |editor-last=Munro |editor-first2=A. |editor-last2=Thornley |chapter=The Covenant Makers: Islander Missionaries in the Pacific }}</ref>

The population of Tuvalu is approximately 10,645 people (2017 Mini Census),<ref name="MDG">{{cite web| author1= Ministry of Education and Sports |author2=Ministry of Finance and Economic Development |author3=United Nations System in the Pacific Islands |title= Tuvalu: Millennium Development Goal Acceleration Framework – Improving Quality of Education |date =April 2013|url= http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/MDG/MDG%20Acceleration%20Framework/MAF%20Reports/RBAP/MAF%20Tuvalu-FINAL-%20April%204.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140213133607/http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/MDG/MDG%20Acceleration%20Framework/MAF%20Reports/RBAP/MAF%20Tuvalu-FINAL-%20April%204.pdf |archive-date=2014-02-13 |url-status=live| access-date=13 October 2013}}</ref> but there are estimated to be more than 13,000 Tuvaluan speakers worldwide. In 2015 it was estimated that more than 3,500 Tuvaluans live in [[New Zealand]], with about half that number born in New Zealand and 65 percent of the [[Tuvaluan New Zealander|Tuvaluan community in New Zealand]] is able to speak Tuvaluan.<ref name="TV3">{{cite web| website=TV3 |publisher=MediaWorks TV |title= Tuvalu Language Week kicks off today |date =27 September 2015|url= https://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/tuvalu-language-week-kicks-off-today-2015092712| access-date=27 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150928002811/https://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/tuvalu-language-week-kicks-off-today-2015092712 |archive-date=2015-09-28}}</ref>