Tokelauan language

High school (ages 12+)
People & Society

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/tokelauan-language

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the linguistic classification?Polynesian language, part of the Austronesian family
2. What is the estimated speaker population?Approximately 4,260 individuals globally
3. Where is Tokelauan spoken?Tokelauan is mainly spoken in the three atolls of Tokelau—Atafu, Nukunonu, and Fakaofo—and was historically spoken on Swains Island. Many people also speak it in New Zealand, Australia, and Hawaii.
4. How many people speak Tokelauan?About 4,260 people speak Tokelauan worldwide. Around 2,100 of them live in New Zealand, and about 1,400 live in Tokelau itself.

Austronesian Languages: A vast language family originating in Southeast Asia, spread across Oceania and Madagascar.
Mutual Intelligibility: The ability of speakers of different, but related, languages or dialects to understand one another.
Linguistic Attrition: The process by which a language loses speakers or its status and influence diminishes over time.