Editing Tuvalu (section)

===Languages===
{{Main|Tuvaluan language}}

The [[Tuvaluan language]] and English are the national languages of Tuvalu. Tuvaluan is of the Ellicean group of [[Polynesian languages]], distantly related to all other Polynesian languages such as [[Hawaiian language|Hawaiian]], [[Māori language|Māori]], [[Tahitian language|Tahitian]], [[Rapa Nui language|Rapa Nui]], [[Samoan language|Samoan]] and [[Tongan language|Tongan]].<ref name="Tuvaluan Te 'gana Tūvalu"/> It is most closely related to the languages spoken on the [[Polynesian outlier]]s in Micronesia and northern and central [[Melanesia]]. The Tuvaluan language has borrowed from the Samoan language, as a consequence of Christian missionaries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries being predominantly Samoan.<ref name="MD"/><ref name="Tuvaluan Te 'gana Tūvalu"/>

The [[Tuvaluan language]] is spoken by virtually everyone, while a [[Micronesian languages|Micronesian]] language very similar to [[Gilbertese language|Gilbertese]] is spoken on [[Nui (atoll)|Nui]].<ref name="Tuvaluan Te 'gana Tūvalu">{{cite web |url=http://www.omniglot.com/writing/tuvaluan.htm |title=Tuvaluan (Te 'gana Tūvalu) |publisher=Omniglot |access-date=6 November 2012 |archive-date=29 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329084405/https://www.omniglot.com/writing/tuvaluan.htm |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ethnologue.com/country/TV/languages%7ctitle=Tuvalu%7cwork=Ethnologue |title=Tuvalu |work=Ethnologue |access-date=10 December 2015 |archive-date=6 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230506145534/https://www.ethnologue.com/country/TV/languages%7Ctitle=Tuvalu%7Cwork=Ethnologue |url-status=live}}</ref> English is also an official language but is not spoken in daily use. Parliament and official functions are conducted in the Tuvaluan language.

There are about 13,000 Tuvaluan speakers worldwide.<ref>Besnier, Niko (2000). [https://books.google.com/books?id=rhjgLnIMeawC ''Tuvaluan: A Polynesian Language of the Central Pacific''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230427121540/https://books.google.com/books?id=rhjgLnIMeawC |date=27 April 2023 }}. London: Routledge, {{ISBN|0-203-02712-4}}.</ref><ref>Jackson, Geoff and Jackson, Jenny (1999). [https://books.google.com/books?id=0T6FBzA4pvUC ''An introduction to Tuvaluan''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230411075302/https://books.google.com/books?id=0T6FBzA4pvUC |date=11 April 2023 }}. Suva: Oceania Printers, {{ISBN|982-9027-02-3}}.</ref> [[Tuvalu Media Corporation|Radio Tuvalu]] transmits Tuvaluan-language programming.<ref name="NBP">{{cite book |last=Robie |first=David |title=Nius Bilong Pasifik: Mass Media in the Pacific |year=1995 |publisher=University of Papua New Guinea Press |isbn=9980840528}}</ref><ref name="LRD">{{cite web |author1=Lee Duffield, Amanda Watson |author2=Mark Hayes |name-list-style=amp |work=Queensland University of Technology |title=Media and Communication Capacities in the Pacific region |date=2008 |url=http://eprints.qut.edu.au/13322/1/13322.pdf |access-date=5 January 2015 |archive-date=13 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313103141/http://eprints.qut.edu.au/13322/1/13322.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="pacmas2">{{cite web |last1=Tacchi |first1=Jo |last2=Horst |first2=Heather |last3=Papoutsaki |first3=Evangelia |last4=Thomas |first4=Verena |last5=Eggins |first5=Joy |work=Pacific Media Assistance Scheme (PACMAS) |title=State of Media & Communication Report - Tuvalu |date=6 October 2013 |url=http://www.pacmas.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/06.-PACMAS_Tuvalu-Country-Report_FINAL.pdf |access-date=5 January 2015 |archive-date=12 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812125238/http://www.pacmas.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/06.-PACMAS_Tuvalu-Country-Report_FINAL.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>