Tongan Language Course

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ego
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Postby ego » 2006-10-22, 18:36

I haven't studied any other Polynesian language but as far as I have read, the double pronouns don't exist in most languages

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Postby Aleco » 2006-10-23, 14:31

No, I'm not sure of that, Mamo... I can't find any other forms for "I, you.. etc." In the dictionary... Not in the grammar section either :?

Wow, interesting :o Could you please tell me what you mean with
with 'oku .. etc.? :D
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Postby Mamo » 2006-10-24, 0:14

Aleco wrote:No, I'm not sure of that, Mamo... I can't find any other forms for "I, you.. etc." In the dictionary... Not in the grammar section either :?

Wow, interesting :o Could you please tell me what you mean with
with 'oku .. etc.? :D


In Tongan, the preposed first person singular changes according to tense, which is marked by 'oku, na'a, te, and kuo.

I found it fascinating that Niuean places pronouns before the verb :shock:. Wow. Could you type out some examples from your Niuean dictionary?

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Postby Aleco » 2006-10-24, 5:35

Mamo wrote:
Aleco wrote:No, I'm not sure of that, Mamo... I can't find any other forms for "I, you.. etc." In the dictionary... Not in the grammar section either :?

Wow, interesting :o Could you please tell me what you mean with
with 'oku .. etc.? :D


In Tongan, the preposed first person singular changes according to tense, which is marked by 'oku, na'a, te, and kuo.

I found it fascinating that Niuean places pronouns before the verb :shock:. Wow. Could you type out some examples from your Niuean dictionary?


As I said, I just took some words, even though it wasn't correct ;)
But there is a tiny thing I don't understand...
What's an "agent" ? Like here:
Kua kitia e ia e kalahimu
Pr.T. see AG he ART crab
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Postby Aleco » 2006-11-16, 6:35

Ego...?
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Nero

Postby Nero » 2006-11-16, 11:43

Aleco wrote:Ego...?


He's "a soldier now" :lol: . He doesn't come here often since he joined the military

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Postby Aleco » 2006-11-16, 14:36

Ah, OK :P
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Postby ego » 2006-11-18, 17:57

Aleco wrote:
Mamo wrote:
Aleco wrote:No, I'm not sure of that, Mamo... I can't find any other forms for "I, you.. etc." In the dictionary... Not in the grammar section either :?

Wow, interesting :o Could you please tell me what you mean with
with 'oku .. etc.? :D


In Tongan, the preposed first person singular changes according to tense, which is marked by 'oku, na'a, te, and kuo.

I found it fascinating that Niuean places pronouns before the verb :shock:. Wow. Could you type out some examples from your Niuean dictionary?


As I said, I just took some words, even though it wasn't correct ;)
But there is a tiny thing I don't understand...
What's an "agent" ? Like here:
Kua kitia e ia e kalahimu
Pr.T. see AG he ART crab


Yup, I am a soldier now, so you will see me here rarely.

Is this sentence in Niuean?

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Postby ego » 2007-10-08, 14:17

'Oku fēfē ho'o ako e lea faka-Niué Aleco? Ko e hā 'oku 'ikai te ke tohi ai ha me'a 'i he leá na heni? Na'á ku toe lau 'eku tohi tongá kotoa pea 'oku ou fie lea ai mo ha taha :?
Mahalo pē 'oku totonu ke tau fai 'a e forum ko iá ko e forum Lea faka-Tonga mo Lea faka-Niue..

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Postby lishaoxuan » 2008-01-14, 13:22

ego wrote:'Oku fēfē ho'o ako e lea faka-Niué Aleco? Ko e hā 'oku 'ikai te ke tohi ai ha me'a 'i he leá na heni? Na'á ku toe lau 'eku tohi tongá kotoa pea 'oku ou fie lea ai mo ha taha :?
Mahalo pē 'oku totonu ke tau fai 'a e forum ko iá ko e forum Lea faka-Tonga mo Lea faka-Niue..

What does it mean?
Αυτό για μένα είναι Κινέζικα!:lol:
(please correct me if I got this sentence wrong.)

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Postby Aleco » 2008-01-14, 15:39

ego wrote:'Oku fēfē ho'o ako e lea faka-Niué Aleco? Ko e hā 'oku 'ikai te ke tohi ai ha me'a 'i he leá na heni? Na'á ku toe lau 'eku tohi tongá kotoa pea 'oku ou fie lea ai mo ha taha :?
Mahalo pē 'oku totonu ke tau fai 'a e forum ko iá ko e forum Lea faka-Tonga mo Lea faka-Niue..

I didn't see this :shock: Sorry! there's no way I would understand this, but I am impressed by the advancements you seem to have made! :D
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Postby Ariki » 2008-01-15, 8:01

As I said, I just took some words, even though it wasn't correct
But there is a tiny thing I don't understand...
What's an "agent" ? Like here:
Kua kitia e ia e kalahimu
Pr.T. see AG he ART crab


An agent is the doer of the action. It specifies who did the action. That e exists in most Polynesian languages.

In Maori, it marks the passive agent.

In Niuean, it is the ergative agent marker, since it overtly marks the subject in the most basic sentence composition.
Linguicide IS genocide. :)

He ingoa ōpaki a Riki; he ingoa ōkawa a Ariki.

Riki is an informal name; Ariki is a formal name.

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Postby Abavagada » 2008-02-10, 13:24

For those interested, the course in this thread has been formalized into a "for Beginners" course here:

http://dev.unilang.org/course.php?id=to1_en

Erik / Aba
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Re: Language Course

Postby liz.taumopeau » 2008-09-20, 17:38

Hi my name is Liz Taumoepeau. I am a homeschooling mom of 3 and was looking for free lessons to teach my kids. Unfortunately, being far from the islands and with no readily available resources it makes it hard to teach. I speak/ write and learned Tongan (shoulda kept my books etc) in Tonga when in school but I am still new to homeschooling but would like to put something together in order to at least teach my kids how to speak/ write and learn culture and possibly beyond the common spoken Tongan to the complex linguistics. It is not being taught and quickly lost as the older generations are passing because much of it has been oral- Family history, passing of leas through funerals, weddings, family gatherings. And especially the overseas 2nd generation do not know Tongan, speak or know their culture. Sad, I know but true. I am half married to a full Tongan 2nd generation. My kids are 75% Tongan and I want them to learn their heritage, biological and spiritual heritage. That is why I homeschool. How will they know where they are going unless they know where they are coming from! I live in the US and will not teach US history unless they learn their own history first! I don't want them to learn Spanish yet (secondary at least in California) unless they learn Tongan and German (my other half).

Does anyone know of any other resources? Any Tongans in here?

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Re: Language Course

Postby Atama'i Havai'ian » 2008-09-21, 10:14

liz.taumopeau wrote:Hi my name is Liz Taumoepeau. I am a homeschooling mom of 3 and was looking for free lessons to teach my kids. Unfortunately, being far from the islands and with no readily available resources it makes it hard to teach. I speak/ write and learned Tongan (shoulda kept my books etc) in Tonga when in school but I am still new to homeschooling but would like to put something together in order to at least teach my kids how to speak/ write and learn culture and possibly beyond the common spoken Tongan to the complex linguistics. It is not being taught and quickly lost as the older generations are passing because much of it has been oral- Family history, passing of leas through funerals, weddings, family gatherings. And especially the overseas 2nd generation do not know Tongan, speak or know their culture. Sad, I know but true. I am half married to a full Tongan 2nd generation. My kids are 75% Tongan and I want them to learn their heritage, biological and spiritual heritage. That is why I homeschool. How will they know where they are going unless they know where they are coming from! I live in the US and will not teach US history unless they learn their own history first! I don't want them to learn Spanish yet (secondary at least in California) unless they learn Tongan and German (my other half).

Does anyone know of any other resources? Any Tongans in here?


Sorry. There aren't any Togans here. There are plenty of people here who don't speak any Tongan at all and can help you do nothing. Would you be satisfied with that?

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Re: Language Course

Postby unzum » 2008-10-14, 22:09

Hi liz.taumopeau.
You could try asking in this forum.
There are a few games for learning vocabulary at Digital Dialects.
Google Scholar has some papers on Tongan, although they are very academic and focus on individual grammar points, not the whole language.

You could also try Intensive course in Tongan which comes with audio CDs. It's got good reviews and looks really useful.

Apart from that I wasn't able to find anything else, but I hope that helps even just a bit!
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Re: Language Course

Postby ego » 2008-10-26, 20:43

Hello Liz,

I think the book "Intensive Course in Tongan" is perfect for you. Trust me, it's a great book with much more than lessons

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Re: Tongan Language Course

Postby ego » 2013-08-01, 18:41

Α short film in Tongan with English subs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8ZX5U6Cl6s

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Re: Tongan Language Course

Postby 'Ofa Atu » 2014-05-28, 6:48

Malo mou lelei... kataki 'ae kauu'i talanoa atu ia ko'eni :mrgreen: fakatauange 'oku lelei 'ae me'a kotoa pe mei ho mou taki taha feitu'u fonua.

'Ofa moe hufaki


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