Editing Tuvaluan language (section)

==Oral traditions==
Although Tuvaluan does not have a longstanding written tradition, there is a considerable corpus of oral traditions that is also found in the [[Music of Tuvalu]], which includes material that pre-dates the influence of the Christian missionaries sent to Tuvalu by the [[London Missionary Society]].<ref name="GK1">{{cite book |last1=Koch|first1=Gerd  |title= Songs of Tuvalu |edition= translated by Guy Slatter  |year=2000  |publisher=Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific  }}</ref> The missionaries were predominantly from Samoa and they both suppressed oral traditions that they viewed as not being consistent with Christian teaching and they also influenced the development of the music of Tuvalu and the Tuvaluan language.<ref name="MD"/>

According to linguist Thomason, "some artistic forms are inextricably tied to the language they are expressed in."<ref name=":2" /> A report on the sustainable development of Tuvalu posits the sustainability of traditional songs depends on the vitality of the Tuvaluan language.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Niuatui |first=Petely |title=Sustainable development for Tuvalu: a reality or an illusion? |url=http://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/33332982.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171120195934/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/33332982.pdf |archive-date=2017-11-20 |url-status=live |date=1991}}</ref> Grammatical documentation of the Tuvaluan language indicates that various linguistic features have been preserved specifically within domains of verbal art. For example, the use of passives in Tuvaluan has become obsolete, except in folklore and ancient songs.{{sfn|Kennedy|1954}}