West Uvean (also Uvean or Faga Ouvéa; ''Fagauvea'' in the vernacular) is a Polynesian outlier language spoken on the island of

Ouvéa Ouvéa () or Uvea is a commune in the Loyalty Islands Province of New Caledonia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from t ...

, in the

Loyalty Loyalty, in general use, is a devotion and faithfulness to a nation, cause, philosophy, country, group, or person. Philosophers disagree on what can be an object of loyalty, as some argue that loyalty is strictly interpersonal and only another h ...

island group of

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

, and in the capital of Nouméa. It has long been in contact with Iaai, the Southern Oceanic language also spoken on the same island. Consequently, four vowels have been added, and the syllable structure has become complex, allowing for final consonants. West Uvea is the only Polynesian language to use a

quinary Quinary (base-5 or pental) is a numeral system with five as the base. A possible origination of a quinary system is that there are five digits on either hand. In the quinary place system, five numerals, from 0 to 4, are used to represent an ...

numeral system. It is probably the original decimal Polynesian people influenced by the nearby

Iaai people Iaai (Iaai pronunciation: ) is a language of Ouvéa Island (New Caledonia). It shares the island of Ouvéa with Fagauvea, a Polynesian outlier language. Iaai is the sixth-most-spoken language of New Caledonia, with 4078 speakers as of 2009. It i ...

who used a quinary numeral system, and changed from a decimal system to a quinary one. There are two sets of numerals from 11 to 20, the second way was the archaic form. The word 'tupu' means 'sum', 'teanua' in 'tahi a teanua' means 'human body', 'nea' in 'tahi enea' means 'man'. Nowadays, the West Uvea or Faga Uvea people use

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

or Iaai numeral systems more frequently.

Name

The speakers designate their language by the name Fagauvea, which is also the name used in French. The name ''West Uvean'' sometimes used in English is meant to distinguish the language from the related ''East Uvean'' or

Wallisian Wallisian, or Uvean ( wls, Fakauvea, links=no), is the Polynesian language spoken on Wallis (island), Wallis Island (also known as Uvea). The language is also known as East Uvean to distinguish it from the related West Uvean language spoken on t ...

, spoken on

Wallis Island Wallis (Wallisian: ''Uvea'') is a Polynesian atoll/island in the Pacific Ocean belonging to the French overseas collectivity (''collectivité d'outre-mer'', or ''COM'') of Wallis and Futuna. It lies north of Tonga, northeast of Fiji, east-nort ...

(Uvea).

Phonology

// is only heard in intervocalic position.

References

Futunic languages Languages of New Caledonia {{CPacific-lang-stub