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Micronesian Languages
The twenty Micronesian languages form a family of Oceanic languages. Micronesian languages are known for their lack of plain labial consonants; they have instead two series, palatalized and labio-velarized labials. Languages According to Jackson (1983, 1986) the languages group as follows: * Nauruan *Nuclear Micronesian family **Kosraean **Central Micronesian family ***Gilbertese ***Western Micronesian family **** Marshallese **** Chuukic-Pohnpeic family ***** Chuukic (Chuukic) ***** Pohnpeic (Ponapeic) The family appears to have originated in the east, likely on Kosrae, and spread westwards. Kosrae appears to have been settled from the south, in the region of northern Vanuatu. Kevin Hughes (2020) revises Jackson's classification, especially with regards to the position of Nauruan, who states that there is no compelling argument from classifying Nauruan apart from other Micronesian languages. He proposes three hypotheses: (1) Nauruan is a primary branch alongside Kosraean, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Micronesia
Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, and Melanesia to the south—as well as with the wider community of Austronesian peoples. The region has a tropical marine climate and is part of the Oceanian realm. It includes four main archipelagos—the Caroline Islands, the Gilbert Islands, the Mariana Islands, and the Marshall Islands—as well as numerous islands that are not part of any archipelago. Political control of areas within Micronesia varies depending on the island, and is distributed among six sovereign nations. Some of the Caroline Islands are part of the Republic of Palau and some are part of the Federated States of Micronesia (often shortened to "FSM" or "Micronesia"—not to be confused with the identical name for the overall region). The Gilbert Islands (along with the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gilbertese Language
Gilbertese or taetae ni Kiribati, also Kiribati (sometimes ''Kiribatese''), is an Austronesian language spoken mainly in Kiribati. It belongs to the Micronesian branch of the Oceanic languages. The word ''Kiribati'', the current name of the islands, is the local adaptation of the previous European name "Gilberts" to Gilbertese phonology. Early European visitors, including Commodore John Byron, whose ships happened on Nikunau in 1765, had named some of the islands the Kingsmill or Kings Mill Islands or for the Northern group ''les îles Mulgrave'' in French but in 1820 they were renamed, in French, ''les îles Gilbert'' by Admiral Adam Johann von Krusenstern, after Captain Thomas Gilbert, who, along with Captain John Marshall, had passed through some of these islands in 1788. Frequenting of the islands by Europeans, Americans and Chinese dates from whaling and oil trading from the 1820s, when no doubt Europeans learnt to speak it, as Gilbertese learnt to speak English and oth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Loyalty Islands Languages
The thirty New Caledonian languages form a branch of the Southern Oceanic languages. Their speakers are known as Kanaks. One language is extinct, one is critically endangered, 4 are severely endangered, 5 are endangered, and another 5 are vulnerable to extinction. Typology The Cèmuhî, Paicî, Drubea, Numèè, and Kwenyii languages are tonal.Rivierre, Jean-Claude. 1993Tonogenesis in New Caledonia In Edmondson and Gregerson: ''Tonality in Austronesian languages'', 155–173. Oceanic Linguistics Special Publication 24. Other than phonemically contrastive tone, typological features in New Caledonian languages that are typically unusual for Oceanic languages include nasalized vowels, very large vowel inventories, retroflex consonants, and voiceless nasals. Languages *Loyalty Islands **Drehu (Lifou Island) ** Iaai (Ouvéa Island) ** Nengone (Maré Island) *Mainland New Caledonian **Southern New Caledonian ***Extreme Southern **** Ndrumbea (vulnerable) **** Numèè ***Mid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Southern Oceanic Languages
The Southern Oceanic languages are a linkage of Oceanic languages spoken in Vanuatu and New Caledonia. It was proposed by Lynch, Ross, and Crowley in 2002 and supported by later studies. They consider it to be a linkage rather than a language group with a clearly defined internal nested structure. Classification Clark (2009) groups the North Vanuatu and Central Vanuatu languages together into a ''North–Central Vanuatu'' (NCV) group and also reconstructs Proto-North–Central Vanuatu, but this is not accepted by Lynch (2018). In addition to the Reefs – Santa Cruz languages and the Meso-Melanesian languages of the western Solomon Islands, Geraghty (2017) notes that many Southern Oceanic languages are often lexically and typologically aberrant languages likely with Papuan substrata – particularly the Santo, Malakula, South Vanuatu, and New Caledonian languages, and perhaps also some Central Vanuatu languages of Ambrym and Efate. Nevertheless, languages in the eastern S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Lynch (linguist)
John Dominic Lynch (8 July 1946 in Sydney, Australia – 25 May 2021 in Port Vila, Vanuatu) was a linguist specializing in Oceanic languages. He was an emeritus professor of Pacific Languages and the former Director of the Pacific Languages Unit at the University of the South Pacific in Port Vila, Vanuatu. Career Prior to moving to Vanuatu, he had served at the University of Papua New Guinea for 21 years, the last five as vice-chancellor. His areas of focus were the languages of Vanuatu, the history of languages of the Pacific, pidgin and creole languages, language change, dictionaries and orthography design. He was the editor of the journal ''Oceanic Linguistics ''Oceanic Linguistics'' is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal covering research on the indigenous languages of the Oceanic area and parts of Southeast Asia, including the indigenous Australian languages, the Papuan languages of New Guin ...'' from 2007 to 2019. References External linksPacific Languag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kosrae
Kosrae ( ), formerly known as Kusaie or Strong's Island, is an island in the Federated States of Micronesia. The State of Kosrae is one of the four states of the Federated States of Micronesia, and includes the main island of Kosrae and a few nearby islands and islets, the most significant of which (Lelu Island) is inhabited by 1,500 people. Kosrae's land area is , sustaining 6,600 people. Tofol is the state capital, and Mt. Finkol is the highest point at . History Archaeological evidence shows that the island was settled at least by the early years of the first millennium AD. This includes the city of Leluh that existed from about 1250 to 1850 AD, and in its heyday had a population of about 1,500 and covered some 27 hectares. It featured burial pyramids for the nobility. French Visitors The French corvette S. M. ''La Coquille'', arrived at Okat Harbor on 3 June 1824 and visited until 15 June 1824. Commanded by Louis-Isidore Duperrey, ''La Coquille'', on its circumnavigat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pohnpeic Languages
Pohnpeic, also rendered Ponapeic, is a subgroup of the Chuukic–Pohnpeic branch of Micronesian in the Austronesian language family. The languages are primarily spoken in Pohnpei State of the Federated States of Micronesia. Languages * Mokilese *Pingelapese *Pohnpeian *Ngatikese Innovations Pohnpeic languages are distinct from the closely related Chuukic languages as a result of uniquely developed innovations. One such innovation is nasal substitution, where the first element in a consonant geminate becomes a homorganic nasal consonant In phonetics, a nasal, also called a nasal occlusive or nasal stop in contrast with an oral stop or nasalized consonant, is an occlusive consonant produced with a lowered velum, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. The vast major .... An example of this change is seen where Proto-Chuukic-Pohnpeic */kkaŋ/ 'sharp' became Mokilese , whereas in Chuukese it is . Phonology 1 In the Pohnpeic languages, geminate obstruents ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chuukic Languages
Chuukic (), historically also rendered Trukic (), is a subgroup of the Chuukic–Pohnpeic family of the Austronesian language family. The languages are primarily spoken in Chuuk State and Yap State of the Federated States of Micronesia. Languages *Sonsorol and Tobian (close enough to each other to often be considered dialects) * Chuukese *Woleaian and Ulithian * Puluwatese, Namonuito, and Tanapag * Carolinian * Satawalese and Mortlockese (closely related) * Pááfang *Mapia Mapia Atoll (Indonesian language, Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Mapia''), historically known as the Freewill Islands or San David, is an atoll in the Pacific Ocean. It is located in Papua (province), Papua province of Indonesia, approximately 290 ki ... (extinct) Phonology 1 before References {{Austronesian languages Chuukic–Pohnpeic languages ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chuukic–Pohnpeic Languages
The Chuukic–Pohnpeic or historically Trukic-Ponapeic languages are a family of Micronesian languages consisting of two dialect continua, Chuukic and Pohnpeic. They are the westernmost and historically most recent Micronesian languages. Composition * Chuukic (Trukic) * Pohnpeic (Ponapeic) Unique innovations Chuukic-Pohnpeic has several unique innovations that separates it as a subgroup from the rest of Nuclear Micronesian. Among the most prominent are historical sound changes from Proto-Micronesian. Historical sound changes Chuukic-Pohnpeic languages share a number of historical sounds changes from Proto-Oceanic and Proto-Micronesian. Chuukic languages and Pohnpeic languages Pohnpeic, also rendered Ponapeic, is a subgroup of the Chuukic–Pohnpeic branch of Micronesian in the Austronesian language family. The languages are primarily spoken in Pohnpei State of the Federated States of Micronesia. Languages * Mokile ... separately share later innovations. 1 Before . ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marshallese Language
The Marshallese language ( mh, Kajin M̧ajeļ, link=no or ), also known as Ebon, is a Micronesian language spoken in the Marshall Islands. Spoken by the ethnic Marshallese people, the language is spoken by nearly the country's entire population of 59,000, making it the principal language of the country. There are also roughly 27,000 Marshallese citizens residing in the United States, nearly all of whom speak Marshallese, as well as in other countries including Nauru. There are two major dialects: Rālik (western) and Ratak (eastern). Classification Marshallese, a Micronesian language, is a member of the Eastern Oceanic subgroup of the Austronesian languages. The closest linguistic relatives of Marshallese are the other Micronesian languages, including Chuukese, Gilbertese, Kosraean, Nauruan and Pohnpeian. Marshallese shows 33% lexical similarity with Pohnpeian. Within the Micronesian archipelago, Marshallese—along with the rest of the Micronesian language group—is n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Labio-velarized
Labialization is a secondary articulatory feature of sounds in some languages. Labialized sounds involve the lips while the remainder of the oral cavity produces another sound. The term is normally restricted to consonants. When vowels involve the lips, they are called rounded. The most common labialized consonants are labialized velars. Most other labialized sounds also have simultaneous velarization, and the process may then be more precisely called labio-velarization. In phonology, labialization may also refer to a type of assimilation process. Occurrence Labialization is the most widespread secondary articulation in the world's languages. It is phonemically contrastive in Northwest Caucasian (e.g. Adyghe), Athabaskan, and Salishan language families, among others. This contrast is reconstructed also for Proto-Indo-European, the common ancestor of the Indo-European languages; and it survives in Latin and some Romance languages. It is also found in the Cushitic and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Malayo-Polynesian Languages
The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages, with approximately 385.5 million speakers. The Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken by the Austronesian peoples outside of Taiwan, in the island nations of Southeast Asia (Indonesian and Philippine Archipelago) and the Pacific Ocean, with a smaller number in continental Asia in the areas near the Malay Peninsula. Cambodia, Vietnam and the Chinese island Hainan serve as the northwest geographic outlier. Malagasy, spoken in the island of Madagascar off the eastern coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean, is the furthest western outlier. The languages spoken south-westward from central Micronesia until Easter Island are sometimes referred to as the Polynesian languages. Many languages of the Malayo-Polynesian family show the strong influence of Sanskrit and Arabic, as the western part of the region has been a stronghold of Hinduism, Buddhism, and, later, Islam. Two morphological characteristics of the M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
