The Micronesian languages form a family of

Oceanic languages The approximately 450 Oceanic languages are a branch of the Austronesian languages. The area occupied by speakers of these languages includes Polynesia, as well as much of Melanesia and Micronesia. Though covering a vast area, Oceanic languages ...

. The twenty languages are known for their lack of plain

labial consonant Labial consonants are consonants in which one or both lips are the active articulator. The two common labial articulations are bilabials, articulated using both lips, and labiodentals, articulated with the lower lip against the upper teeth, b ...

and have instead two series, palatalized and labio-velarized labials, similar to the related

Kanak languages The thirty New Caledonian languages also known as Kanak languages form a branch of the Southern Oceanic languages. Their speakers are known as Kanaks. One language is extinct, one is critically endangered, four are severely endangered, five are ...

Languages

According to Jackson (1983, 1986) the languages group as follows: *Micronesian family ** 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 Kosrae ( ), formerly known as Kusaie or Strong's Island, is an island in the Caroline Islands archipelago, and States of Micronesia, state within the Federated States of Micronesia. It includes the main island of Kosrae, traditionally known as Ual ...

, and spread westwards. Kosrae appears to have been settled from the south, in the region of

Malaita Malaita is the primary island of Malaita Province in Solomon Islands. Malaita is the most populous island of the Solomon Islands, with a population of 161,832 as of 2021, or more than a third of the entire national population. It is also the se ...

(

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...

) or in 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, (2) Kosraean and Nauruan form a subgroup, and (3) Nauruan is a primary branch of the Central Micronesian family. More recently, Lev Blumenfield argued that Micronesian is a linkage derived from a near-simultaneous settlement of

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of approximately 2,000 small islands in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: Maritime Southeast Asia to the west, Poly ...

around two thousand years ago.

External classification

John Lynch (2003) tentatively proposes that the Micronesian languages may form a subclade within the

Southern Oceanic languages The Southern Oceanic languages are a linkage (rather than family) of Oceanic languages spoken in Vanuatu and New Caledonia. It was proposed by John Lynch in 1995 and supported by later studies. It appears to be a linkage rather than a language ...

, and specifically a sister clade to the

within the latter family. He notes the following features that the Micronesian and Loyalties languages share in common, among other features: * Palatalized reflexes of the

Proto-Oceanic Proto-Oceanic (abbreviated as POc) is a proto-language that comparative linguistics, historical linguists since Otto Dempwolff have reconstructed as the hypothetical common ancestor of the Oceanic languages, Oceanic subgroup of the Austronesian ...

bilabial series * Loss of Proto-Oceanic *p before round vowels * Unconditioned loss of Proto-Oceanic *y and (ungeminated) *q However, he does not state that this relationship is certain or even likely. He merely states "that this is something that could well be further investigated, even if only to confirm that Micronesian languages did ''not'' originate in the Loyalties."

References

External links

Micronesian Comparative Dictionary
{{Austronesian languages Central–Eastern Oceanic languages

Languages

External classification

References

Further reading

External links