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The Fijian language is spoken as the first language by most indigenous Fijians who make up around 54% of the population. Indo-Fijians make up 37% of the population and speak Fiji-Hindi. English was the sole official language until 1997 and is widely used in government, business, and education as a lingua franca . [ 4 ]
The Fijian language was introduced to Fiji c. 3500 years ago by the islands' first settlers. For millennia, it was the only spoken language in Fiji. In 1835, Methodist missionaries from Australia worked in Fiji to develop a written form of the language.
Known as one of the prestige dialects of Fiji (which include the dialects of Rewa, Cakaudrove and Lau), Nadroga is popularly identified, and sometimes lampooned, by the change of Standard Fijian 's' to 'h' and the turbulent pitch and rapidness in which the language is spoken and can widely be identified by non-speakers within Fiji as a result ...
Siegel Jeff, Plantation Languages in Fiji, Australian National University, 1985 (Published as Language Contact in a Plantation Environment: A Sociolinguistic History of Fiji, Cambridge University Press, 1987, recently reprinted in paperback). Siegel, Jeff (1977). Say it in Fiji Hindi. Sydney: Pacific Publications (Aust) Pty Ltd. ISBN 0-85807-026-X.
The culture of Fiji is a tapestry of native Fijian, Indian, European, Chinese and other nationalities. Culture polity traditions, language, food costume, belief system, architecture, arts, craft, music, dance, and sports will be discussed in this article to give you an indication of Fiji's indigenous community but also the various communities which make up Fiji as a modern culture and living.
The majority of Indo-Fijians came from northern, northern eastern and southeastern part of India and converse in what is known as Fiji Hindi (also known as 'Fiji Baat'), this language has been constructed from eastern Hindi dialects mixed with some native Fijian and some English loan words, [32] with some minorities speaking Gujarati, and ...
The Tongan influence brought Polynesian customs and language into Fiji. The empire began to decline in the 13th century. Across 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) from east to west, Fiji has been a nation of many languages. Fiji's history was one of settlement but also of mobility and over the centuries, a unique Fijian culture developed.
19th-century Fijian couple in traditional dress. The native Fijian language belongs to the Central Pacific (Fijian – Polynesian) branch of the Austronesian family. [11] The Fijian traditions are centred around ceremonies and events, that bond the community.