English is one of the official languages of Fiji and it's the most popular
Fiji Language spoken all over the Fiji Island. The constitution in 1997 has established the English as an official language along with the other two languages of
English and Hindustani.
English in Fiji is the main mode of communication and it's used officially everywhere from the educational institutes to the court. A national language debate is going around endorsing the Fijian language in the working culture. The linguistic demographic of Fiji sates that though it has a meager population but over 900 distinct indigenous languages are spoken all over the Fiji and
English reigns the topmost leaving the Fijian language.
Fijian English is vividly used as a second language in the South pacific but the phonetic similarity between the speakers first language and the related language makes the pronunciation a bit different one and so the people from different regions of South Pacific has got the exposure to different dialects of
English. As majority of the Fijian languages have five vowel systems and often many of them don't have a central vowel and that affects the pronunciations in
English.
The vocabulary of the
English in Fiji is quiet different and its due to the major reasons:
- The phrases or the words are incorporated from the Indigenous language to the English
- Hybrid forms of both the indigenous and the local phrases are used in English
- Brand names are use as generic term
- Calques or translations are included from the indigenous languages.
English is the most popular second language in Fiji and it has a worldwide popularity and is even expanding its territory to the French communities.
