| Also Known As: Samoan
Description:
The Sāmoan or Samoan language is the traditional language of Samoa and American Samoa and is an official language—alongside English—in both jurisdictions. It is a member of the Austronesian family, and more specifically the Samoic branch of the Polynesian subphylum.
There are approximately 870,337 Samoan speakers worldwide, 69% of whom live in the Samoan Islands. Thereafter, the greatest concentration is in New Zealand, where people of Samoan ethnicity comprise the fifth largest group after New Zealand European, Māori, New Zealander and Chinese: the 2006 New Zealand census recorded 95,428 speakers of the Samoan language, and 141,103 people of Samoan ethnicity. Among ethnic Samoans in New Zealand, 70.5 percent of the Samoan speakers (87,109 people) could speak Samoan. Samoan is the 4th most commonly spoken language in New Zealand after English, Maori and Chinese. The majority of Samoans in New Zealand (66.4 per cent) reside in the commercial capital, Auckland. Of those who speak Samoan, 67.4 percent live in Auckland and 70.4 percent of people who are both of Samoan ethnicity and Samoan speakers live in that city.
According to the 2006 census, there were 38,525 speakers of Samoan in..... full article at Wikipedia |
