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Samoan

Austronesian Languages

Samoan is a Polynesian language spoken by Samoans of the Samoan Islands. Administratively, the islands are split between the sovereign country of Samoa and the United States territory of American Samoa. It is an official language, alongside English, in both jurisdictions.

Facts
ISO 639-3 Code
smo 2
Speaker Count
430,000 2
2020-2022 estimate, native speakers.
Status
Living 2
Wikipedia article on Samoan: a currently spoken living language with an active native-speaker population; checked 2026-09-27.
Region
Samoa, American Samoa 2
Classification
Language Kind
Safe 1
Official Status
Official Language 2
Connections

In Family

Source Wikipedia: Samoan Language
Source Wikipedia: Samoan Language

Written In

Latin Script, Scripts

Samoan is standardly written in the Latin alphabet.

In the Other Atlases

Cases Where Used

Also in Society and Culture Atlas: used in this subject.

Source Wikipedia: SamoanLead sentence 1tier 3
Quote, Lead sentence 1
Samoans or Samoan people (Samoan: tagata Sāmoa) are the Indigenous Polynesian people of the Samoan Islands, an archipelago in Polynesia, who speak the Samoan language.

Found In

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Sources
1. Glottolog: Samoan (Glottolog languoid samo1305)
GlottologEndangerment, AES status
Quote, Endangerment, AES status
AES status: not endangered
View the Source
2. Wikipedia: Samoan Language
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Lead section
    Administratively, the islands are split between the sovereign country of Samoa and the United States territory of American Samoa.
  • Infobox: iso2
    smo
  • Infobox, Speakers
    430,000 (2020-2022)
  • Infobox: states
    Samoa, American Samoa
  • Official status, Samoan entity page
    It is an official language, alongside English, in both jurisdictions.
  • In Family: Malayo-Polynesian, Infobox, Language family
    Malayo-Polynesian
  • In Family: Central Pacific languages, Infobox: fam7
    Central Pacific
View the Source
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