Rotuman language

Rotuman
Fäeag Rotuạm
Rotumans distribution in Fiji (2017 census)
Native to	Fiji
Region	Rotuma
Ethnicity	Rotumans
Native speakers	7,500 (2002)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian? Eastern Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Central–Eastern Oceanic? Central Pacific West Fijian – Rotuman Rotuman
Official status
Official language in	Rotuma, Fiji
Recognised minority language in	Fiji
Language codes
ISO 639-3	rtm
Glottolog	rotu1241
Rotuman is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
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Rotuman, also referred to as Rotunan, Rutuman or Fäeag Rotuạm (citation form: Faega Rotuma), is an Austronesian language spoken by the Indigenous Rotuma people in the South Pacific. Linguistically, as well as culturally, Rotuma has had Polynesian-influence culture and was incorporated as a dependency into the Colony of Fiji in 1881. Contemporary Rotuman is a result of significant Polynesian borrowing, following Samoan and Tongan migrations into Rotuma.^[2]

The Rotuman language has sparked much interest with linguists because the language uses metathesis to invert the ultimate vowel in a word with the immediately preceding consonant, resulting in a vowel system characterized by umlaut, vowel shortening or extending and diphthongization.

Unlike its Pacific neighbors, Rotuman is typically considered an AVO (agent–verb–object) language.