Samoa

Abstract

The Samoan Archipelago comprises nine volcanic islands from 13 to 15 south and 168 to 173 west. Since 1900, the islands have been divided into eastern and western moieties. The five islands in the east; Ta’u, Ofu, Olosega (the Manu’a Islands), Tutuila, and ‘Aunu’u form the Territory of American Samoa, while the four islands to the west; ‘Upolu, Savai’i, Manono, and Apolima make up the Independent State of Samoa (ISS). The largest population concentrations are in the Pago Pago Bay Area on Tutuila in American Samoa, and Apia on ‘Upolu in ISS. Prior to colonial influence, there were two polities in the archipelago, separating the Manu’a Islands from the six islands to the west. All of the Samoan Islands are high volcanic islands with peaks up to 6,000 ft on Savai’i and partially encircling reef structures with nearshore lagoons. The Samoan language falls within the Polynesian Group of the Austronesian language family. There are no significant dialect variations of Samoan, but there are important distinctions in the phonology from region to region within the islands. Samoan has a relatively elaborate lexical division between common words used for everyday conversation (Shore, 1982) and respect or chiefly vocabulary used both for speaking to chiefs (matai) and between non-chiefly individuals to denote formality and politeness. Within the chiefly vocabulary, there are also alternate words used for and by chiefs (ali’i) and talking chiefs (tulafale). English is the most common second language and Samoans in American Samoa are highly bilingual in english.