Samoans have a high rate of literacyvirtually 100 percent. Languages. The singular number is known by the article with the noun; e.g. This number is slightly smaller than the estimated population of the Island nation of Samoa which was 193,000 as of 2011. The Statistician and Economist: Volume 23. p. 249, Lewthwaite, Gordon R. "Life, Land and Agriculture to Mid-Century," in, Henderson, April K. "Dancing Between Islands: Hip Hop and the Samoan Diaspora." . [39] During the period of New Zealand control, their administrators were responsible for two major incidents. [25] The additional letters h, k, r are used in foreign loanwords, apart from the single interjection puke(ta)! Samoan (Polynesian) (official) 91.1%, Samoan/English 6.7%, English (official) 0.5%, other 0.2%, unspecified 1.6% (2006 est.) O le faiga o le fale, the building of the house. The noun phrase forming an existential clause is introduced by a preposition: o or nao, meaning "only". Official languages Samoan, English. The political stalemate was broken following the victory of the Labour Party in New Zealand's 1935 general election. An existential clause is negated with a complex clause: Mosel & Hovdhaugen (1992, pp. Otherwise, quantities beyond mano were referred to as manomano or ilu; that is, innumerable.[18]. In modern times, development aid, private family remittances from overseas, and agricultural exports have become key factors in the nation's economy. The Salem brig Roscoe (Captain Benjamin Vanderford), in October 1821, was the first American trading vessel known to have called, and the Maro (Captain Richard Macy) of Nantucket, in 1824, was the first recorded United States whaler at Samoa. It can be seen here that sia means something like "cease what you are doing immediately" while aua means "dont do that action" (in a general sense). Occasionally the reciprocal form is used as a plural; as lele, flying; o manu felelei, flying creatures, birds. Almost all of the people are Christian. It is widely spoken across the Pacific region, heavily so in New Zealand and also in Australia and the United States. The root for the inclusive pronoun may occur in the singular, in which case it indicates emotional involvement on the part of the speaker. Although English is an official language in both Samoa and American Samoa and is widely spoken, Samoan shares equal billing and is used by most people for everyday conversation. The approximate number of Samoan speakers in the world is 470,000, of which 50% reside in the Samoan Islands. [93] For the same year, the Samoan labour force was estimated at 50,700. Samoan belongs to the Polynesian group of the Austronesian language family and is closely related to the other languages of Polynesia including Tahitian, Tonga, Maori, and Rarotongan. Samoan edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This short article can be made longer. The population density in Samoa is of 182 per sq mi/ 70 people per km. in the range of 13,000 to 15,000 metric tons (about 14,500 to 16,500 short tons). The capital city of Samoa is Apia. As discussed above, this sentence does not require a negative particle, because the negative imperative verb is sufficient. GENR {not yet} part Tutuila but begin ART card-playing, 'The playing of cards started already before we left Tutuila.'. The Samoan islands result geologically from volcanism, originating with the Samoa hotspot, which probably results from a mantle plume. As there is no proper gender in Oceanic languages, different genders are sometimes expressed by distinct names: When no distinct name exists, the gender of animals is known by adding poa and fafine respectively. In accordance with the Mau's non-violent philosophy, the newly elected leader, High Chief Tupua Tamasese Lealofi, led his fellow uniformed Mau in a peaceful demonstration in downtown Apia on 28 December 1929.[46]. The Saleaula lava fields situated on the central north coast of Savai'i result from the Mt Matavanu eruptions, which left 50km2 (19sqmi) of solidified lava.[87]. [64] This change aimed to help the nation boost its economy in doing business with Australia and New Zealand. The Samoan original traditions suggest that the Polynesian race originated from the Samoan Islands. Also, the mixed use of diacritical marks in literature and even within the same publication can surprise non-native speakers. [95], In the period before German colonization (from the late 19th century), Samoa produced mostly copra. The currency in Samoa is the Samoan tl T (WST). The paramount 'tama-a-'aiga' (royal lineage) titles of tua are Tupua Tamasese (based in Falefa and Salani) and Mata'afa (based in Amaile and Lotofaga). Adjectives are made into abstract nouns by adding an article or pronoun; e.g. // becomes [] in some instances (e.g. Largest City: Apia. The earliest human remains found in Samoa are dated to between roughly 2,900 and 3,500 years ago. In 1989, his novel Flying Fox in a Freedom Tree was made into a feature film in New Zealand, directed by Martyn Sanderson. Download. From News in Pacific Languages, 2 minutes ago. Familial sequence was denoted with terms such as ulumatua ("eldest"), uii ("youngest"), and ogatotonu ("middle child"); first and last born were also deemed honorifically, pa le manava ("opening the womb") and pupuni le manava ("sealing the womb"), respectively. The gender of some few plants is distinguished by tane and fafine, as in o le esi tane; o le esi fafine. For example when praising the child of another woman, a mother might politely refer to her own children as "ui" (literally, "piglets"); in order to emphasize the beauty of a fine tapa cloth, the presenter might refer to it as a simple "vala" (plain cloth); the weaver of an especially fine mat might call it "launiu" (coconut leaf) or "l" (sail cloth) in order to not appear boastful. Names of natural objects, such as men, trees and animals, are mostly primitive nouns, e.g.O le la, the sun; o le tagata, the person; o le talo, the taro; o le ia, the fish; also manufactured articles, such as matau, an axe, vaa, canoe, tao, spear, fale, house, etc.[18]. Aua foi, {o le a} le o Niu Sila, le o le Kolisi o Samoa a o le ta=mea ma le auli Because also, FUT not PRES New Zealand not PRES ART college POSS Samoa but PRES ART beat=thing and ART ironing, 'There will be no New Zealand, no Samoan college [for me to go to if I do not pass the exam], but [only] washing and ironing [at home].'. Wilhelm Solf was appointed the colony's first governor. This complex sentence has several examples of negation where the negative particle l is combined with the preposition o in order to negate an existential clause ("there will be no"). One of the Mau leaders was Olaf Frederick Nelson, a half Samoan and half Swedish merchant. To emphasize the importance of full inclusion with sign language, elementary Samoan Sign Language was taught to members of the Samoa Police Service, Red Cross Society, and public during the 2017 International Week of the Deaf. o le tama, a boy. Literacy rate 80 %. [24] According to Barbara A. Samoan is the official language of these islands together with English. Sentences have different types of word order and the four most commonly used are verbsubjectobject (VSO), verbobjectsubject (VOS), subjectverbobject (SVO) and objectverbsubject (OVS).[12][20][21]. They developed a Samoan language and Samoan cultural identity. Nouns denoting the vessel and its contents do not take the particle between them: Nouns denoting the material of which a thing is made: Nouns indicating members of the body are rather compounded with other nouns instead of being followed by a possessive particle: Many other nouns are compounded in the same way: The country or town of a person omits the particle: Nouns ending in a, lengthen (or double) that letter before other nouns in the possessive form: The sign of the possessive is not used between a town and its proper name, but the topic marker. [18] As a specific, rather than a definite article, it is used for specific referents that the speaker has in mind (specificity), regardless of whether the listener is expected to know which specific referent(s) is/are intended (definiteness). This is believed to have been derived from slapping insects on the body. [44] By the late 1920s the resistance movement against colonial rule had gathered widespread support. Tupua Tamasese Meaole died in 1963, leaving Malietoa Tanumafili II sole head of state until his death on 11 May 2007. Ethnic Groups. Prefixing Faa=l= onto a verb provides a polite way to say a negative phrase. In Samoan villages, volleyball is also popular. Within the ecoregion about 28% of plants and 84% of land birds are endemic. The main sports played in Samoa are rugby union, Samoan cricket and netball. The prefix "lona" or "le" indicates sequential numbering, as in "lona lua" (second), lona tolu (third), "le fa" (fourth); "muamua" or "uluai" denote "first". Other legends include the well known story of Sina and the Eel which explains the origins of the first coconut tree. There is a tropical agriculture college and the National University of Samoa. There are also formal prefixes or suffixes used in the chiefly register when counting different species of fish, taro, yams, bananas, chickens, pigs, and other foodstuffs. The languages spoken in Samoa include Samoan and English.. The paramount pp title of A'ana is the Tui A'ana. [52][53] Western Samoa, the first small-island country in the Pacific to become independent, signed a Treaty of Friendship with New Zealand later in 1962. Sugarcane production was originally established by Germans in the early 20th century. Rugby league is mostly played by Samoans living in New Zealand and Australia. When a word receives an addition by means of an affixed particle, the accent is shifted forward; as alofa, love; alofga, loving, or showing love; alofaga, beloved. This line of thought suggests that Nuclear Polynesian and Tongic are the major divisions of the Polynesian group. Dan Taulapapa McMullin is an artist and writer. Oral tradition holds that the Samoan archipelago was created by the god Tagaloa at the beginning of history. Thus, the correct pronunciation of Pago Pago is [pao pao]. At club level, there is the National Provincial Championship and Pacific Rugby Cup. The paramount pp titles of Tuamasaga are Gatoaitele (conferred by Afega) and Vaetamasoalii (conferred by Safata). 10 Interesting And Unique Facts About Samoa, 5 Philosophical Answers to the Meaning of Life, 12 Philosophical Concepts You Should Know. L has the allomorphs [le:] or [le] (Mosel & Hovdhaugen, 1992, pp. It is closely related Wallisian, Rarotongan and Tongan. Languages in Samoa encompass the official language, national language, lingua franca, and other widely spoken languages. Land is not generally available to outside interests. A massive storm on 15 March 1889 damaged or destroyed the warships, ending the military conflict. Coastal view off the south side of Upolu, Independent State of Samoa. Samoa is a country in Oceania halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand. In 1908, when the non-violent Mau a Pule resistance movement arose, Solf did not hesitate to banish the Mau leader Lauaki Namulau'ulu Mamoe to Saipan in the German Northern Mariana Islands.[34]. [128] At the 2003 world cup, Manu Samoa came close to beating eventual world champions, England. Samoa, country in the central South Pacific Ocean, among the westernmost of the island countries of Polynesia. [122] To preserve the language, linguists must use diacritical marks. The Independent State of Samoa is a country in the Pacific Ocean.It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. There are two negative imperative verbs, aua and sia. Note the presence of IPA(key) where available. Like ly in English, the faa often expresses similitude; o le amio faapuaa, behave like a pig (literally). Lemi Ponifasio is a director and choreographer who is prominent internationally with his dance Company MAU. There are several Samoan/English-language newspapers in Western Samoa, and several institutions of higher learning in both Western and American Samoa. The governing noun decides which should be used; thus O le poto o le tufuga fai fale, "the wisdom of the builder"; O le amio a le tama, "the conduct of the boy"; upu o fgogo, "words of fgogo" (a form of narrated and sung storytelling); but upu a tagata, "words of men". Mosel & Hovdhaugen (1992, pp. [27], 1 including the faipule district of Siumu A'ana has its capital at Leulumoega. [12] Use of the apostrophe and macron diacritics in Samoan words was readopted by the Ministry of Education in 2012 after having been abandoned in the 1960s.[15]. [75] Universal suffrage was adopted in 1990, but only chiefs (matai) may stand for election to the Samoan seats. The first grammar and dictionary of the Samoan language, A Grammar and Dictionary of the Samoan Language, with English and Samoan Vocabulary, was written by Reverend George Pratt in 1862. [45] Nelson was eventually exiled during the late 1920s and early 1930s, but he continued to assist the organisation financially and politically. Christ = "Keriso", January = "Ianuari", number = "numera"), and [l] in others (January = "Ianuali", herring = "elegi"). For example: "tolu lau" three fishes. Nafanua was a famous woman warrior who was deified in ancient Samoan religion and whose patronage was highly sought after by successive Samoan rulers.[20]. Therefore, in colloquial Samoan speech, common consonant replacements occur such as:[12][21]. [98] The annual production of both bananas and copra has been[when?] The Samoan original traditions suggest that the Polynesian race originated from the Samoan Islands. It is used for everyday communication, in education, and in the media. Samoan cocoa beans are of very high quality and are used in fine New Zealand chocolates. The plural is sometimes distinguished by doubling the first syllable; as sina, white; plural, sisina; tele, great; pl. Jacob Roggeveen, a Dutchman, was the first known non-Polynesian to sight the Samoan islands in 1722. The NZ administration allowed the ship to berth in breach of quarantine; within seven days of this ship's arrival, influenza became epidemic in Upolu and then spread rapidly throughout the rest of the territory. [106] Samoan Sign Language is also commonly used among the deaf population of Samoa. '; although the sound [k] is found in native words in colloquial speech, it is spelled t. The letter g represents a velar nasal, as in the English word sing, rather than a voiced velar stop, as in the English go. The (koma liliu or okina) is used for the glottal stop. The suffix "lau" is used when formally counting fish, in reference to the customary plaiting of fish in leaves ("lau") before cooking. When another verb follows leai within the same verb phrase, it functions as a more emphatic negation meaning something like "not at all". As per this belief, the other Polynesian Islands present in the Pacific Ocean were filled up with a mass migration of the people from Samoa during the colonization of Samoa. This number is three times the population of American Samoa. Including second-language speakers, there are more speakers of Samoan than English in Samoa. It has informal defence ties with New Zealand, which is required to consider any request for assistance from Samoa under the bilateral Treaty of Friendship of 1962.[81]. The alphabet proper consists of only 15 letters: 5 vowels, a e i o u, and 10 consonants, f g l m n p s t v . [42] The cause of the epidemic was confirmed in 1919 by a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Epidemic concluded that there had been no epidemic of pneumonic influenza in Western Samoa before the arrival of the Talune from Auckland on 7 November 1918. Rugby union is the national sport in Samoa and the national team, nicknamed the Manu Samoa, is consistently competitive against teams from vastly more populous nations. Her first book of poetry Wild Dogs Under My Skirt was published by Victoria University Press in 2004. Most are Criollo-Forastero hybrids. In some cases, lei simply means "no, not at all", expressing the concept that an event that had been expected to happen or had been thought to have happened, did not occur after all (Mosel & Hovdhaugen, 1992, pp. Samoan belongs to the Western Polynesian or Samoic-Outlier subgroup of Polynesian languages, along with languages such as East Futunan, Ellicean, Pukupukan, Tikopian, and Nukuoro. The Samoan government provides eight years of primary and secondary education that is tuition-free and is compulsory through age 16. So also all words ending in a diphthong, as mamau, mafai, avai.[18]. [63], At the end of December 2011, Samoa changed its time zone offset from UTC11 to UTC+13, effectively jumping forward by one day, omitting Friday, 30 December from the local calendar. Samoan and English are the official languages in Samoa. In addition, the integration of hip hop elements into Samoan tradition also "testifies to the transferability of the dance forms themselves," and to the "circuits through which people and all their embodied knowledge travel. Adjectives expressive of colours are mostly reduplicated words; as sinasina or paepae (white); uliuli (black); samasama (yellow); enaena (brown); mumu (red), etc. Prominent Samoan players include Pat Lam and Brian Lima. It has two islands, including Upolu and Savai'i.The capital of Samoa is Apia.It is on the island of Upolu.The head of the country is Va'aletoa Sualauvi II.. Samoan ( Gagana faa Smoa or Gagana Smoa; IPA: [aana sama]) is a Polynesian language spoken by Samoans of the Samoan Islands. [88], Samoa forms part of the Samoan tropical moist forests ecoregion. A 'goodwill mission' to Apia in June 1936 recognised the Mau as a legitimate political organisation, and Olaf Nelson was allowed to return from exile. [1], Sixty percent of Samoa's electricity comes from renewable hydro, solar, and wind sources, with the remainder produced by diesel generators. Yamauchi, C. (2014). 500501) state that 'the existential clause functions as the argument of a verbal predicate formed by a TAM particle and the negative particle l ("not")'. Others are formed by prefixing faa to the noun; as o le tu faasmoa, Samoan custom or faamatai. [22] The whalers came for fresh drinking water, firewood and provisions, and later, they recruited local men to serve as crewmen on their ships. A sentence such as Ua tu mai le vaa, could thus, depending on context, be translated into English as "A canoe appears," when the listener or reader is not expected to know which canoe, or "The canoe appears," if the listener or reader is expected to know which canoe, such as when the canoe has previously been mentioned.