Country/territory where spoken
Solomon Islands

Geographical region
Anuta (Cherry) Island in the Temotu Province.

Language codes
ANU (POLLI); AUD (Grimes 1996: Ethnologue); ANU (Biggs 1971)

Alternate language names
Anuta

Genetic affiliation
Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Oceanic, Central-Eastern Oceanic, Remote Oceanic, Central Pacific, Eastern Fiji-Polynesian, Polynesian, Nuclear Polynesian, Samoic- Outlier, Futunic

Anutan speaking population
300 (Besnier 1992); 300 total.

Status of language
Needs survey

Alphabet
Needs survey

Remarks
There is a high degree of intelligibility between Anutan and Tikopian. Anutan people seem to understand Tikopian more easily than the reverse (Feinberg 1977). Tryon (in Wurm/Hattori 1981) lists Anutan as a dialect of Tikopian, while P.C. Lincoln (also in Wurm/Hattori 1981) lists Anutan as a separate language. Speakers are thought to be descendants of people from Wallis and Futuna (Stanley 1989:650).

Data last updated
4 December 1996



SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY - ANUTAN

FEINBERG, RICHARD.
1977. The Anutan language reconsidered: Lexicon and Grammar of a Polynesian outlier (2 volumes)

YEN, D.E./GORDON, JANET.
1973. Anuta: A Polynesian outlier in the Solomon Islands. Honolulu. Bernice P. Bishop Museum Press