
Kaivalagi
Encyclopedia
"kaivalagi" is a Fijian
word meaning someone "from the land of the foreigners." Its antonym, kaiviti, means "someone from Fiji
." It is often used instead of the word "vulagi", meaning foreigner or stranger. In practice, "kaivalagi" usually means "white person" or "European" (which in Fiji English also includes white people from America and Australasia
), whilst "vulagi" can include all non-Fijians.
Similar words for "white man" exist in most Melanesia
n, Polynesia
n and Micronesia
n languages: For example, in the Cook Islands
- "Papa'a"; New Zealand
- "Pakeha
"; New Caledonia
n slang - "poken" (although this is used only for English speaking foreigners); Hawai'i - "Haole"; Samoa
- "Palagi"; Tonga
- "Papalagi"; Marshall Islands
- "ri-Likin" http://www.rmiembassyus.org/Marshallese%20Phrasebook/foreigner.wav etc.
Fijian language
Fijian is an Austronesian language of the Malayo-Polynesian family spoken in Fiji. It has 450,000 first-language speakers, which is less than half the population of Fiji, but another 200,000 speak it as a second language...
word meaning someone "from the land of the foreigners." Its antonym, kaiviti, means "someone from Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
." It is often used instead of the word "vulagi", meaning foreigner or stranger. In practice, "kaivalagi" usually means "white person" or "European" (which in Fiji English also includes white people from America and Australasia
Australasia
Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...
), whilst "vulagi" can include all non-Fijians.
Similar words for "white man" exist in most Melanesia
Melanesia
Melanesia is a subregion of Oceania extending from the western end of the Pacific Ocean to the Arafura Sea, and eastward to Fiji. The region comprises most of the islands immediately north and northeast of Australia...
n, Polynesia
Polynesia
Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...
n and Micronesia
Micronesia
Micronesia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising thousands of small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It is distinct from Melanesia to the south, and Polynesia to the east. The Philippines lie to the west, and Indonesia to the southwest....
n languages: For example, in the Cook Islands
Cook Islands
The Cook Islands is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand...
- "Papa'a"; New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
- "Pakeha
Pakeha
Pākehā is a Māori language word for New Zealanders who are "of European descent". They are mostly descended from British and to a lesser extent Irish settlers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, although some Pākehā have Dutch, Scandinavian, German, Yugoslav or other ancestry...
"; New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
n slang - "poken" (although this is used only for English speaking foreigners); Hawai'i - "Haole"; Samoa
Samoa
Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...
- "Palagi"; Tonga
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...
- "Papalagi"; Marshall Islands
Marshall Islands
The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...
- "ri-Likin" http://www.rmiembassyus.org/Marshallese%20Phrasebook/foreigner.wav etc.