Tongan is an Austronesian language of the Polynesian branch, native to the island nation of Tonga, with around 187,000 speakers. It follows a verb-subject-object word order and, although primarily a spoken language, is written using the Latin script.
Facts
Speaker Count StatusWikipedia article on Tongan: a currently spoken living language with an active native-speaker population; checked 2026-09-27. Attested From (Year) Classification
Language Kind Official Status Connections
In Family
Source Tongan language, Wikipedia
Source Tongan language, Wikipedia
Written In
Tongan 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: TongansLead paragraph of the cited Wikipedia articleQuote, Lead paragraph of the cited Wikipedia article
Tongans or Tongan people are a Polynesian ethnic group native to Tonga, a Polynesian archipelago in the Pacific Ocean.
Found In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Source Tongan language, WikipediaLead paragraph of the cited Wikipedia articleQuote, Lead paragraph of the cited Wikipedia article
Tongan (English pronunciation: TONG-(g)ən; lea fakatonga) is an Austronesian language of the Polynesian branch native to the island nation of Tonga.
Sources
1. Glottolog: Tonga (Tonga Islands) (Glottolog languoid tong1325)
GlottologEndangerment, AES statusQuote, Endangerment, AES status
AES status: not endangered
2. Tongan language, Wikipedia
Lead paragraph, second sentence
It has around 187,000 speakers.
Lead paragraph, first sentence
is an Austronesian language of the Polynesian branch native to the island nation of Tonga.
Infobox, Official language in
Tonga
In Family: Malayo-Polynesian, Infobox: fam2
Malayo-Polynesian
In Family: Tongic languages, Infobox, Language family
Tongic
View the Source3. Omniglot: Tongan language, alphabet and pronunciation
OmniglotWritten TonganQuote, Written Tongan
Tongan was first written by missionaries in the early 19th century using a number of different spelling systems.
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