Tongan is more distantly related to other polynesian languages such as hawaiian, samoan, māori, and tahitian, among others. The summit of volcanic undersea mountains forms the two roughly parallel chains of the tongan islands Most of the islands of the western chain are classified as high islands, because they have been raised well above sea level by repeated volcanic activity. Tongan is the language used for everyday communication, while tongan and english are both official languages The majority of tongans are of polynesian descent. The largest island, tongatapu, on which the capital of nuku'alofa is located, at 257 km² comprises more than a third of the nation's area.
Tongan is one of the multiple languages in the polynesian branch of the austronesian languages, along with hawaiian, cook islander, māori, and tahitian, for example. Because of her vision, tongan culture is an integral part of the school curriculum Students learn tongan history, traditional poetry, music, and dancing, along with wood carving, mat weaving, and bark cloth making. In 1987 the new zealand government declared māori an official language of that country and established the māori language commission as part of that legislation The samoan, tongan, and tahitian languages were never lost, and thus are also fairly robust. An award winning tongan short film could possibly be up for an oscar nomination
Out of 17,000 films submitted to the prestigious sundance film festival in the united states. Tongan is the most commonly heard language in public places, such as markets, schools, offices and churches Due to the country’s seventy years as a british protectorate, english is also widespread throughout tonga and continues to be taught in primary and most high schools.
OPEN
