Gilbertese or taetae ni Kiribati, also Kiribati (sometimes ''Kiribatese''), is an Austronesian language spoken mainly in
Kiribati
Kiribati (), officially the Republic of Kiribati ( gil, ibaberikiKiribati),Kiribati ''The Wor ...
. 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
Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...
. Early European visitors, including Commodore John Byron, whose ships happened on
Nikunau
Nikunau is a low coral atoll in the Gilbert Islands that forms a council district of the Republic of Kiribati. It consists of two parts, with the larger in the northwest, joined by an isthmus about wide.
There are several landlocked hypersaline ...
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
Adam Johann von Krusenstern (also Krusenstjerna in Swedish; russian: Ива́н Фёдорович Крузенште́рн, tr. ; 10 October 177012 August 1846) was a Russian admiral and explorer, who led the first Russian circumnavigatio ...
, 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 other languages foreign to them.
The first ever vocabulary list of Gilbertese was published by the French ''Revue coloniale'' (1847) by an auxiliary surgeon on corvette ''Le Rhin'' in 1845. His warship took on board a drift Gilbertese of Kuria, that they found near Tabiteuea. However, it was not until Hiram Bingham II took up missionary work on
Abaiang
Abaiang, also known as Apaiang, Apia, and in the past, Charlotte Island, in the Northern Gilbert Islands, is a coral atoll of Kiribati, located in the west-central Pacific Ocean. Abaiang was the island of the first missionary to arrive in the G ...
in the 1860s that the language began to take on the written form known now.
Bingham was the first to translate the Bible into Gilbertese, and wrote several hymn books, a dictionary (1908, posthumous) and commentaries in the language of the Gilbert Islands. Alphonse Colomb, a French priest in
Tahiti
Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austra ...
wrote in 1888, ''Vocabulaire arorai (îles Gilbert) précédé de notes grammaticales d'après un manuscrit du P. Latium Levêque et le travail de
Hale
Hale may refer to:
Places Australia
*Hale, Northern Territory, a locality
*Hale River, in southeastern Northern Territory
Canada
*Hale, Ontario, in Algoma District United Kingdom
* Hale, Cumbria, a hamlet near Beetham, Cumbria
*Hale, Greater Man ...
sur la langue
Tarawa
Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati,Kiribati ''
Arorae
Arorae (spelling variants: Arorai, Arurai; also known as Hope Island or Hurd Island“Captain Patterson, commanding the brig ''Elizabeth'', called it Hope Island: “Hope Island, in 2° 43′ S and 176° 56′ 25″ E, was the first discovery, t ...
) when
Horatio Hale
Horatio Emmons Hale (May 3, 1817 – December 28, 1896) was an American-Canadian ethnologist, philologist and businessman. He is known for his study of languages as a key for classifying ancient peoples and being able to trace their migrations. ...
called them ''Tarawa''. This work was also based on the first known description of Gilbertese in English, published in 1846, in the volume ''Ethnology and Philology'' of the
U.S. Exploring Expedition
The United States Exploring Expedition of 1838–1842 was an exploring and surveying expedition of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding lands conducted by the United States. The original appointed commanding officer was Commodore Thomas ap Catesby ...
, compiled by
Horatio Hale
Horatio Emmons Hale (May 3, 1817 – December 28, 1896) was an American-Canadian ethnologist, philologist and businessman. He is known for his study of languages as a key for classifying ancient peoples and being able to trace their migrations. ...
.
The official name of the language is ''te taetae ni Kiribati'', or 'the Kiribati language', but the common name is ''te taetae n aomata'', or 'the language of the people'.
The first complete and comprehensive description of this language was published in ''Dictionnaire gilbertin–français'' of Father (981 pp, 1952–1954), a Catholic priest. It was later partially translated into English by Sister Olivia, with the help of the
South Pacific Commission
The Pacific Community (PC), formerly the South Pacific Commission (SPC), is an international development organisation governed by 27 members, including 22 Pacific island countries and territories. The organisation's headquarters are in Nouméa ...
.
Speakers
Over 96% of the 119,000 people living in
Kiribati
Kiribati (), officially the Republic of Kiribati ( gil, ibaberikiKiribati),Kiribati ''The Wor ...
declare themselves I-Kiribati and speak Gilbertese. Gilbertese is also spoken by most inhabitants of Nui (
Tuvalu
Tuvalu ( or ; formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country and microstate in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. Its islands are situated about midway between Hawaii and Australia. They lie east-nor ...
),
Rabi Island
Rabi (pronounced ) is a volcanic island in northern Fiji. It is an outlier to Taveuni (5 kilometers west), in the Vanua Levu Group. It covers an area of 66.3 square kilometers, reaching a maximum altitude of 463 meters and has a shoreline of 46. ...
I-Kiribati
The Micronesians or Micronesian peoples are various closely related ethnic groups native to Micronesia, a region of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. They are a part of the Austronesian ethnolinguistic group, which has an Urheimat in Taiwan.
Ethno ...
have been relocated (
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capit ...
, notably
Choiseul Province
Choiseul Province is one of the nine provinces of Solomon Islands. It lies southeast of Bougainville (part of Papua New Guinea), west of Santa Isabel Island, and north of Vella la Vella, Kolombangra & New Georgia. It has a population of 36 ...
; and
Vanuatu
Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...
), after the
Phoenix Islands Settlement Scheme
The Phoenix Islands Settlement Scheme was begun in 1938 in the western Pacific ocean and was the last attempt at human colonisation within the British Empire.
History
Conceived by Henry E. "Harry" Maude, lands commissioner of the Gilbert and Ell ...
or emigrated (to
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
and
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...
mainly).
97% of those living in Kiribati are able to read in Gilbertese, and 80% are able to read
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
. It is one of the Oceanic languages. The largest individual Oceanic languages are Eastern Fijian with over 600,000 speakers, and Samoan with an estimated 400,000 speakers. The Gilbertese, Tongan, Tahitian,
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
Gazelle Peninsula
The Gazelle Peninsula is a large peninsula in northeastern East New Britain, Papua New Guinea located on the island of New Britain within the Bismarck Archipelago, situated in the southwestern Pacific Ocean.
The Rabaul caldera is located on t ...
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...
became the first school in
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
to set up a Gilbertese language unit, where Erika Taeang was employed as the teacher.
Countries by number of Gilbertese speakers
#
Kiribati
Kiribati (), officially the Republic of Kiribati ( gil, ibaberikiKiribati),Kiribati ''The Wor ...
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capit ...
, 4,870 cited 1999
#
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
Tuvalu
Tuvalu ( or ; formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country and microstate in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. Its islands are situated about midway between Hawaii and Australia. They lie east-nor ...
, 870 cited 1987
#
Vanuatu
Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...
, 400
#
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...
, 141 (2010 US census)
Linguistics and study
The Gilbertese language has two main
dialect
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...
s, Northern and Southern. Their main differences are in the
pronunciation
Pronunciation is the way in which a word or a language is spoken. This may refer to generally agreed-upon sequences of sounds used in speaking a given word or language in a specific dialect ("correct pronunciation") or simply the way a particular ...
of some sounds. The islands of
Butaritari
Butaritari is an atoll in the Pacific Ocean island nation of Kiribati. The atoll is roughly four-sided. The south and southeast portion of the atoll comprises a nearly continuous islet. The atoll reef is continuous but almost without islets al ...
and Makin also have their own dialect that differs from the standard Kiribati in some vocabulary and pronunciation.
Banaba
BanabaThe correct spelling and etymology in Gilbertese should be ''Bwanaba'' but the Constitution of Kiribati writes Banaba. Because of the spelling in English or French, the name was very often written Paanapa or Paanopa, as it was in 1901 Ac ...
and
Rabi Island
Rabi (pronounced ) is a volcanic island in northern Fiji. It is an outlier to Taveuni (5 kilometers west), in the Vanua Levu Group. It covers an area of 66.3 square kilometers, reaching a maximum altitude of 463 meters and has a shoreline of 46. ...
Butaritari
Butaritari is an atoll in the Pacific Ocean island nation of Kiribati. The atoll is roughly four-sided. The south and southeast portion of the atoll comprises a nearly continuous islet. The atoll reef is continuous but almost without islets al ...
Abaiang
Abaiang, also known as Apaiang, Apia, and in the past, Charlotte Island, in the Northern Gilbert Islands, is a coral atoll of Kiribati, located in the west-central Pacific Ocean. Abaiang was the island of the first missionary to arrive in the G ...
,
Tarawa
Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati,Kiribati ''
Abemama
Abemama (Apamama) is an atoll, one of the Gilberts group in Kiribati, and is located southeast of Tarawa and just north of the Equator. Abemama has an area of and a population of 3,299 . The islets surround a deep lagoon. The eastern part o ...
and
Aranuka
Aranuka is an atoll of Kiribati, located just north of the equator, in the Gilbert Islands. It has an area of and a population of 1,057 in 2010. By local tradition, Aranuka is the central island of the Gilbert group.
Geography
Aranuka is an ...
Butaritari
Butaritari is an atoll in the Pacific Ocean island nation of Kiribati. The atoll is roughly four-sided. The south and southeast portion of the atoll comprises a nearly continuous islet. The atoll reef is continuous but almost without islets al ...
Tuvalu
Tuvalu ( or ; formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country and microstate in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. Its islands are situated about midway between Hawaii and Australia. They lie east-nor ...
Onotoa
Onotoa is an atoll of Kiribati. It is situated in the Gilbert Islands in the Pacific Ocean, from Tamana, the smallest island in the Gilberts. The population of Onotoa in the 2015 census was 1,393.
The atoll is similar to many other atolls in ...
,
Nonouti
Nonouti is an atoll and district of Kiribati. The atoll is located in the Southern Gilbert Islands, 38 km north of Tabiteuea, and 250 km south of Tarawa. The atoll is the third largest in the Gilbert Islands and is the island where ...
Nikunau
Nikunau is a low coral atoll in the Gilbert Islands that forms a council district of the Republic of Kiribati. It consists of two parts, with the larger in the northwest, joined by an isthmus about wide.
There are several landlocked hypersaline ...
Arorae
Arorae (spelling variants: Arorai, Arurai; also known as Hope Island or Hurd Island“Captain Patterson, commanding the brig ''Elizabeth'', called it Hope Island: “Hope Island, in 2° 43′ S and 176° 56′ 25″ E, was the first discovery, t ...
)
Historical sound changes
1 Sometimes when reflecting Proto-Micronesian . 2 Sometimes when reflecting Proto-Micronesian .
Phonology
Gilbertese contrasts 13
consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced wi ...
s and 10
vowel
A vowel is a syllabic speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in quantity (leng ...
sounds.
The pronunciation is closer to except after velarized and .
Quantity is distinctive for vowels and plain nasal consonants but not for the remaining sounds so that (third person singular article) contrasts with () as well as (). Other minimal pairs include:
Any noun can be formed from a verb or an adjective by preceding it with the definite article "te".
*''nako'' (to go)
*''te nako'' (the going)
*''uraura'' (red)
*''te uraura'' (the redness)
Nouns can be marked for possession (by person and number). Plurality is only marked in some nouns by lengthening the first vowel.
*''te boki'' (book)
*''booki'' (books)
There is no marked gender. Biological gender can be marked by adding ''mmwaane'' (male) or ''aiine'' (female) to the noun. The absence of gender creates a difficulty with the words brother/sister.
*''te moa'' (chicken)
*''te moa mmwaane'' (rooster) (writing ''mwane'' is more usual)
*''te moa aiine'' (hen) (writing ''aine'' is more usual)
* ''tariu'' (my brother or my sister if he or she has the same sex of the speaker)
* ''maneu'' (my brother or my sister if he or she has a different sex of the speaker)
For human nouns, the linker 'n' may be used.
*''ataei'' (child)
*''ataeinimmwaane'' (boy)
*''ataeinnaiine'' (girl)
Agentive nouns can be created with the particle ''tia'' (singular) or ''taan(i)'' (plural).
Articles
The article 'te' is neither definite or indefinite; it marks that the next word is a singular noun. Often it can also be translated as "the". The plural article is optional since there are many other ways to express plurality, namely in demonstratives, numerals, etc.
The personal articles are used before personal names. The masculine form is 'te' before names beginning with , 'tem' before , 'ten' before and 'teng' before .
Pronouns
Pronouns have different forms according to case: nominative (subject), accusative (object), emphatic (vocatives, adjunct pronouns), genitive (possessives).
Demonstratives
The basic 'aei' simply means "this", 'anne" is "that", 'arei' is "that over there" and are used after the noun. 'Aikai' is "these" and so on. The masculine "teuaei" means "this man", the feminine "neiei" means "this woman", and the inanimate "te baei" means "this thing". The feminine demonstrative has no plural form, as the human plural encapsulates mixed groups.
Adverbs
"Ngkai" is "now", "ngkanne" is "then" and "ngkekei" is "later". "Ikai" is "here", "ikanne" is "there" and "ikekei" is "over there".
Verbs
Verbs do not conjugate according to person, number, tense, aspect or mood. These verbal categories are indicated by
particles
In the physical sciences, a particle (or corpuscule in older texts) is a small localized object which can be described by several physical or chemical properties, such as volume, density, or mass.
They vary greatly in size or quantity, from s ...
. Nonetheless, a passive suffix -aki is used as in:
* ''E kabooa te raiti'' He bought the rice.
* ''E kabooaki te raiti'' The rice was bought (by him).
Any adjective can also be an intransitive verb. Transitive verbs can be formed by the circumfix ka- (...) -a creating a causative verb, e.g. "uraura" (to be red) becomes "kaurauraa" (to redden). Tense is marked by adverbs. However, the default interpretation of the unmarked (by adverbs) verb is a past tense. Below is a list of verbal particles:
* ''a'' (immediate, incompleted and indeterminate)
* ''tabe n(i)'' (progressive)
* ''nang(i)'' (prospective future)
* ''na'' (general future)
* ''a tib'a'' (immediate past)
* ''a tia n(i)'' (past perfect)
Copula verbs
There are no verbs corresponding to English "to be", so a stative verb must be used or a zero copula strategy:
There is also a locative copula verb "mena":
Existential verb
There is no corresponding verb to "to have", instead an existential verb meaning "there to be" is used - iai.
Reduplication
Reduplication is used to mark aspect.
* Partial reduplication marks the habitual aspect for example "nako" (to go) and "naanako" (to usually go).
* Full reduplication shows the continuative aspect, e.g. "koro" (to cut), "korokoro" (to continually cut).
* Mixed: "kiba" (to jump), "kiikiba" (to usually jump), "kibakiba" (to continually jump, to be excited), "kikibakiba" (to jump on regular occasions).
Adjectives can also be formed by reduplication with the meaning of "abundant in dj. - "karau" (rain), "kakarau" (rainy).
Negation
The main negator is the particle "aki" placed after the pronoun and before the verb. The negator "aikoa" is for counterexpected situations.
''Ko aki taetae'': You don't speak.
Numerals
Gilbertese uses classifiers for counting with numerals like Asian languages (Chinese, Vietnamese, etc.). These classifiers are suffixes to the numerals: -ua (general, for objects), -man (animate beings), -kai (plants, land, fish hooks), -ai (fish, elongated objects), -waa (transportation), -baa (leaves, flat objects) among many others. It is a decimal system with -bwi as a "10 counting" suffix. Zero ("akea") is just the word for 'nothing'.
Loanwords
When arriving, the translation of the Bible (''te Baibara'') was the first duty of the missionaries. Protestants (1860) and Roman Catholics (1888) had to find or create some words that were not in use in the Gilbert Islands, like mountain (''te maunga'', borrowing it from Hawaiian ''mauna'' or Samoan ''maunga''), and like serpents, but also to find a good translation for God (''te Atua''). Many words were adapted from English, like ''te moko'' (smoke), ''te buun'' (spoon), te beeki (pig), ''te raiti'' (rice), ''te tai'' (time, a watch), ''te auti'' (house), ''te katamwa'' (cat, from expression ''cat-at-me''). Some words of the
Swadesh list
The Swadesh list ("Swadesh" is pronounced ) is a classic compilation of tentatively universal concepts for the purposes of lexicostatistics. Translations of the Swadesh list into a set of languages allow researchers to quantify the interrelatednes ...
did not exist in Gilbertese like ''te aiti'' (ice) or ''te tinoo'' (snow). But things that did not exist previously also were interpreted to form new Gilbertese words: ''te rebwerebwe'' (motorbike), ''te wanikiba'' (plane, a flying canoe), ''te momi'' (pearl, from Hawaiian).
Alphabet
The Gilbertese language is written in the
Latin script
The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern I ...
, which was introduced in the 1860s when Hiram Bingham Jr, a Protestant
missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...
, first translated the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...
into Gilbertese. Until then, the language was unwritten. Since the independence of Kiribati in 1979, long vowels and consonants are represented by doubling the character like
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
and
Finnish
Finnish may refer to:
* Something or someone from, or related to Finland
* Culture of Finland
* Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland
* Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people
* Finnish cuisine
See also ...
velar
Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth (known also as the velum).
Since the velar region of the roof of the mouth is relatively extensive a ...
nasals
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 majorit ...
() and velarized bilabials (). Bingham and the first Roman Catholic missionaries (1888) did not indicate in their script the vowel length by doubling the character. The discrepancies between the Protestant and Roman Catholic spellings have been an issue since 1895.Alterations in spelling adopted by the Roman Catholic Mission. From: Swayne, British Resident C. R., at Suva, Fiji. WPHC 4/IV: Inwards correspondence, 1895., MSS & Archives.2003/1.WPHC 4/IV.1895. File 393/1895. Special Collections, The University of Auckland. https://archives.library.auckland.ac.nz/repositories/2/archival_objects/116412 Accessed July 27, 2020. Neither clearly distinguished the pronunciation of the vowel /a/ after velarized bilabials, like (bw) and (mw), which result in discrepancies between old scripts and modern scripts. For example, the word
maneaba
The heart of any Kiribati community is its maneaba or meeting house. The maneaba is not just the biggest building in any village, it is the centre of village life and the basis of island and national governance.
A traditional maneaba is an impos ...
should be written ''mwaneaba'' or even ''mwaaneaba'' and the atoll of Makin, ''Mwaakin''. The
Kiribati Protestant Church
The Kiribati Protestant Church (KPC) and earlier, the Gilbert Islands Protestant Church, is a Protestant Christian denomination in Kiribati. With approximately 10,000 members,mountain
A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually highe ...
", a geographical phenomenon unknown to the people of the islands of Kiribati at the time, heard only in the myths from
Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...
. Bingham substituted "
hill
A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit.
Terminology
The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally considered to be not a ...
y", which would be more easily understood. Such adjustments are common to all languages as "modern" things require the creation of new words or the usage of loan words.
For example, the Gilbertese word for airplane is ''te wanikiba'', "the canoe that flies". Some words changed to translate Western words into Gilbertese. For example, ''te aro'' (species or colour) is now used in translating religion. ''Te kiri'' (the dog), found in 1888 vocabulary, is now less used than ''te kamea'' (from English, loan word).
Catholic missionaries arrived at the islands in 1888 and translated the Bible independently of Bingham, which led to differences (Bingham wrote
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...
as "Iesu", but the Catholics wrote "Ietu") that would be resolved only in the 20th century. In 1954, Father Ernest Sabatier published the larger and more accurate Kiribati to French dictionary (translated into English by Sister Olivia): ''Dictionnaire gilbertin–français'', 981 pages (edited by South Pacific Commission in 1971). It remains the only work of importance between the Kiribati language and a Western language. It was then reversed by Frédéric Giraldi in 1995 to creating the first French-Kiribati dictionary. In addition, a grammar section was added by Father Gratien Bermond (MSC). The dictionary is available at the
French National Library
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
Rare Language Department and at the headquarters of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC),
Issoudun
Issoudun () is a commune in the Indre department, administrative region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is also referred to as ''Issoundun'', which is the ancient name.
Geography Location
Issoudun is a sub-prefecture, located in the east ...
Kaipuleohone Kaipuleohone is a digital ethnographic archive that houses audio and visual files, photographs, as well as hundreds of textual material such as notes, dictionaries, and transcriptions relating to small and endangered languages. The archive is stored ...
archive include recordings and written materials on Kiribati
*Materials on Fijian are included in the open access
Arthur Capell
Arthur Capell (28 March 1902 – 10 August 1986) was an Australian linguist, who made major contributions to the study of Australian languages, Austronesian languages and Papuan languages.
Early life
Capell was born in Newtown, New South Wales ...
Paradisec
The Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (PARADISEC) is a cross-institutional project that supports work on endangered languages and cultures of the Pacific and the region around Australia. They digitise reel- ...
.
*Additional Kiribati materials in Paradisec from Bill Palmer BP5 and Jeff Siegel JS2