Tongan

Tongan is spoken by the people in the Kingdom of Tonga. Fifty two of the 176 Tongan islands in the South Pacific archipelago are inhabited.

Tongan consists of
5 vowels: a, e, i, o, u
12 consonants: p, t, k, m, n, ng, f, v, s, h, l, ‘
The consonants p, t, k sound voiced to English speakers.
Unlike English, Tongan words can commence with ng.
The ‘ is phonemic as can be seen in the following Tongan words:

• la’a = sun vs. laa = sail
• tu’i = king vs. tui = believe in God
• ‘ivi = Eve vs. ivi = energy

Here are some of the words I have learned:

• malo e lelei (hello)
• malo (thank you) 
• ‘alu ā (goodbye, if you are staying)
• nofo ā (goodbye, if you are leaving)

Biblical words are “transliterated” using Tongan consonants and vowels: Semisi (James), Mele (Mary).