The Fijian Alphabet

The Fijian alphabet is a Latin-based writing system with 22 letters: 5 vowels and 16 consonants, plus the digraph dr ^[3].

Its most notable feature is a set of prenasalized consonants — b, d, g, and q — each representing a sound that begins with a hidden "n" or "m".

Vosa Vakaviti is the Fijian name for the Fijian language, literally meaning "the language of Viti" (Fiji).

It is the everyday term iTaukei speakers use for their own language, alongside the English name "Fijian".

Fijian is spoken across the Republic of Fiji, an archipelago nation of over 300 islands with a total population of 884,887 ^[1].

Fijian-speaking communities also live abroad, particularly in New Zealand, Australia, and the United States.

Fijian is the native language of the iTaukei, the indigenous people of Fiji, who form a large share of the country's population ^[1].

Many Fiji residents of other backgrounds also learn Fijian as a second language alongside English and Fiji Hindi.

Fijian belongs to the Central Pacific branch of the Oceanic family, part of the vast Austronesian language family ^[2].

This branch also produced every Polynesian language, making Tongan, Samoan, and Māori distant relatives of Fijian.

These four letters represent prenasalized consonants: b sounds like "mb", d like "nd", g like "ng", and q like "ngg".

This spelling convention, fixed in the 19th century, keeps everyday Fijian words shorter and more consistent than spelling out the nasal sound separately.

The letter c represents a "th" sound, as in the English word "then", not a "k" or "s" sound as in English.

This is one of the first pronunciation rules learners of Fijian need to memorise, since it differs from most Latin-alphabet languages.

The digraph dr represents a single prenasalized retroflex sound, pronounced roughly "ndr" with the tongue curled further back than a plain d.

It is treated as one letter of the Fijian alphabet, bringing the total letter count to 22.

Fijian is a national language recognised in the Constitution of the Republic of Fiji, which is translated into iTaukei and Hindi alongside its English original ^[4].

English and Fiji Hindi are also widely used in government, education, and media across the country.

The code fij is the official ISO 639-3 identifier assigned to Fijian by the international standards registration authority ^[3].

This code distinguishes Fijian from other Pacific languages in international language databases and library catalogues worldwide.

Fijian's closest relatives are the Polynesian languages, including Tongan, Samoan, and Māori, which share the Central Pacific branch of Oceanic ^[2].

Within Fiji itself, dozens of local Fijian dialects exist, with the Bau dialect forming the basis of Standard Fijian.