Language: Maulaga Lauga ("High Speech") or simple "High Samoan"
Region: Samoan islands and some other Pacific islands
Family: Austronesian > Malayo-Polinesian > Oceanic > Polynesian > Samoan-Tokelauan > Low/High Samoan
Writing Script: Abugida based on Chinese character radicals, full Chinese script.
Loan Words: Middle Chinese, Hakka, Japanese, and some English.
History: During the late Song Dynasty, a merchant fleet heading for Malacca got lost and found itself in the Spice Islands. Attempting to get back to China, they were blown further off course and were marooned in the Pacific. After being marooned on several islands, befriending the locals, and setting off again, they finally settled in Samoa and built a Chinese school. The language became an important mark of progress in Samoa, as the Chinese crew brought new technology with them, and it was soon a mark of wealth and class. While the Chinese language mixed with Samoan, the mix was bi-directional and soon the distinction was between "Low" and "High" Samoan rather than Samoan and Chinese.
Samoan mostly kept its sound inventory, but adopted 2 major features from Chinese:
1) final consonant "ng" - traditionally Samoan works in a strict pattern of consonant-vowel chaining (though consonants can be omitted), there were never any combinations of consonant-consonant pairs. Chinese introduced the final consonant "ng" and thus a much easier transfer of Chinese vocabulary.
2) short / sixth vowel - Native Samoan only has the 5 basic vowels, though Chinese was always more flexible with its number and types of vowels. The "Sixth Vowel" is a wide range but is only perceived as one sound by native Samoans. The Sixth Vowel also allowed for much more adoption of Chinese vocabulary.