Ulithian language

Last updated
Ulithian
Yulidiy
Native to Federated States of Micronesia
Region Ulithi Atoll
Native speakers
(3,000 cited 1987) [1]
Austronesian
Official status
Official language in
 Federated States of Micronesia
Language codes
ISO 639-3 uli
Glottolog ulit1238
ELP Ulithian
Lang Status 40-SE.svg
Ulithian is classified as Severely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Ulithian is the language spoken on Ulithi Atoll and neighboring islands. Ulithian is one of the six official languages of the Federated States of Micronesia. There are some 3,000 speakers, although only 700 of these live on Ulithi Atoll.

Contents

In 2010, a Ulithian–English and English–Ulithian dictionary was published by Habele, a US-based charity. [2] The authors' stated aim was to create a consistent and intuitive pattern of Roman alphabet spelling useful for both native Ulithian and native English speakers.

Introduction

History

Ulithian is a language spoken in Micronesia. The specific islands that Ulithian is spoken in are Ulithi, Ngulu, Sorol, Fais Islands and Eastern Caroline Islands. There are also a few speakers that can be found in the United States. Ulithian has about 3039 speakers, 700 of which reside in Ulithi itself. Many of the other Pacific languages spoken in the surrounding islands are similar to Ulithian which makes it easier for others to understand. In a way, it is a universal language for the area. [3] The people who live in and around Ulithi are classified as Micronesians. Their appearances greatly vary because of all the different people who passed through the area over time. [4] Ulithi has a strong democracy with a king by name voted by the people. [5] Because the Ulithian language is so widely recognized, it holds a good status in the islands. It is also one of the six official languages in the Federated States of Micronesia. [6]

Sounds

Consonants

Bilabial Labio-
dental 		Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar
plain lab. plain lam.
Nasal m mʷ n̻ ŋ
Plosive p t̻ tɕ k
Fricative βʷ f ð s ( ɕ ) x
Trill r
Approximant w l j

/s/ may also be heard as [ɕ].

Vowels

Ulithian has eight vowels which is a large amount for a Pacific language, innovating from a former system of five plain vowels in Proto-Oceanic. They are /i/, /u/, /e/, /ə/, /o/, /ɔ/, /æ/, /a/. They are spelled ⟨i⟩, ⟨u⟩, ⟨e⟩, ⟨ė⟩, ⟨o⟩, ⟨ȯ⟩, ⟨ȧ⟩, ⟨a⟩. [7]

Grammar

Reduplication

Full reduplication can be used in many ways. It can be used to show a stronger emotion, for example, sig means 'jealous' and sigsig means 'short-tempered' or 'easily set off'. It can also be used for similar things; for example, bbech means 'the color white', and bbechbbech is 'glare' or 'the reflection of the sun'. [8]

Vocabulary

Indigenous vocabulary

Loanwords

At various times, Spain, Germany, Japan, and the United States had control over the islands of Ulithi. Each one of these groups left behind words that have been evolved and are now used in the Ulithian language. Linguists have used these words to trace back what items each group introduced to Ulithi.

Spain has had an influence in Ulithi since the early 1500s. They left behind things like foods, religious terms, and animals. Some examples of words from Spanish: [9]

SpanishUlithianEnglish
gatohatucat
floresflorasflowers
cajónkaholcrate, box

Since Spain passed through Ulithi for such a long period of time, the words they left were used because they actually left behind those things. Foods like the potato and squash were brought by the Spanish, so Ulithian uses words based on the Spanish words for them. Spain was also Catholic, so Catholic terms were left behind. [10]

Japan occupied Ulithi during the time of World War I and left during or after World War II. Before the World Wars, Japan traded with Ulithi. Since the two countries were trade partners, they needed to know how to communicate. Every so often, young boys would learn the basics of Japanese and because of this, "it is not at all difficult today to find Ulithians who speak and write a bit of Japanese". [11] An example of a word from Japan is denwa, which Ulithian changed to dengwa which means 'telephone'. Japan had such a big impact that the word for battery, denchi, remained the same in Ulithian.

Germany did not occupy Ulithi for long, so they left the least influence and there are almost no words that were left behind and still used. One of the few words that got carried over is mark, a German coin which turned into mak, what Ulithians call the U.S. half dollar. [12]

In 1944, the U.S. task force arrived in Ulithi and there has been an abundance of English loan words since then. The most impact English is having on Ulithian is through the school systems. Words such as 'homework' and 'campus' which in Ulithian are homwork and kampus are very similar. [13]

There are some loan words that have become the official word in Ulithian, but others are used in place of another word. The Spanish word flores, which means 'flower', was taken and used by Ulithian speakers as floras. [14] According to the Ulithian-English Dictionary written by Neil Mellen and John Hancock, the general word for 'flowers' is floraas, which is close to what is stated in the journal. While the word for 'flower' was similar, the Spanish word for 'table', mesa, was directly taken to use in Ulithian. The Ulithian-English Dictionary says that the translation of table is tiis. This is comparable to speaking pidgin in Hawaii. There are a lot of Japanese words that the majority of people – even if they do not speak Japanese – use, such as shoyu for soy sauce and bocha for a bath.

Endangerment

Materials

As far as social media such as radio and television, there does not seem to be any in specifically Ulithian but there are some in other surrounding languages. Esikiel Lippwe states in a letter that radio and television stations are very important because they effectively educate and bring awareness to the people about things like health issues. [15]

Vitality

According to Ethnologue, Ulithian is ranked at an EGIDS level of 5 which means that the language is being used vigorously, but not as a main language. It is most likely being used more by the older generation. There is a possibility of the language dying out, but it is still in good standing (Ethnologue).

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polynesian languages</span> Language family

The Polynesian languages form a genealogical group of languages, itself part of the Oceanic branch of the Austronesian family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ulithi</span> Atoll in Yap, Federated States of Micronesia

Ulithi is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about 191 km (103 nmi) east of Yap, within Yap State.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spanish-based creole languages</span> Creole language family

A Spanish creole, or Spanish-based creole language, is a creole language for which Spanish serves as its substantial lexifier.

Carolinian is an Austronesian language originating in the Caroline Islands, but spoken in the Northern Mariana Islands. It is an official language of the Carolinian people. Carolinian is a threatened language according to the Catalogue of Endangered Languages (ELCat), but available data is scarce. There are approximately 3,100 native speakers in the world. Carolinian has 95% lexical similarity with Satawalese, 88% with Woleaian and Puluwatese; 81% with Mortlockese; 78% with Chuukese, 74% with Ulithian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Languages of the Philippines</span> Overview of the languages spoken in the Philippines

There are some 130 to 195 languages spoken in the Philippines, depending on the method of classification. Almost all are Malayo-Polynesian languages native to the archipelago. A number of Spanish-influenced creole varieties generally called Chavacano along with some local varieties of Chinese are also spoken in certain communities. The 1987 constitution designates Filipino, a standardized version of Tagalog, as the national language and an official language along with English. Filipino is regulated by Commission on the Filipino Language and serves as a lingua franca used by Filipinos of various ethnolinguistic backgrounds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilbertese language</span> Austronesian language spoken in Kiribati

Gilbertese or taetae ni Kiribati, also Kiribati, is an Austronesian language spoken mainly in Kiribati. It belongs to the Micronesian branch of the Oceanic languages.

Tobian is the language of Tobi, one of the Southwest Islands of Palau, and the main island of Hatohobei state. Tobian is a Micronesian language spoken by approximately 150 people, about 22 are native speakers. The speakers are located in either the island of Tobi or in Echang, a hamlet of Koror, the former capital of Palau. Tobian and Sonsorolese are very close, and appear to be gradually merging towards a new dialect called "Echangese". Earlier in the 20th century, about 1000 people lived on the island. Shortly before and during the First World War, those numbers dropped severely due to an abundance of disease.

Yapese is a language spoken by the people on the island of Yap. It belongs to the Austronesian languages, more specifically to the Oceanic branch of that family. It has been difficult to classify it further, but Yapese may prove to be one of the Admiralty Islands languages. The Yapese language refers to the language spoken specifically on the Yap Main Islands, and does not include the Chuukic languages spoken in the Yap Neighboring Islands: Ulithian, Woleaian, and Satawalese.

Kapingamarangi is a Polynesian language spoken in the Federated States of Micronesia. It had 3,000 native speakers in 1995. The language is closely related to the Nukuoro language.

Chuukese, also rendered Trukese, is a Chuukic language of the Austronesian language family spoken primarily on the islands of Chuuk in the Caroline Islands in Micronesia. There are communities of speakers on Pohnpei, and Guam. Estimates show that there are about 45,900 speakers in Micronesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kosraean language</span> Oceanic language spoken in Micronesia

Kosraean is the language spoken on the islands of Kosrae (Kusaie), a nation-state of the Federated States of Micronesia, Caroline Islands. In 2001 there were approximately 8,000 speakers in Micronesia, and 9,060 in all countries.

Sonsorolese is a Micronesian language spoken in Palau, originally on the islands composing the state of Sonsorol, and spreading through migration elsewhere in the country. It is very close to Tobian.

The Nukuoro language is a Polynesian Outlier language, spoken by about 1,200 people on Nukuoro Atoll and on Pohnpei, two islands of Pohnpei State within the Federated States of Micronesia. Nukuoro is a remote coral atoll with a population of about 150, where the primary language is Nukuoro. An additional several hundred Nukuoro speakers live in Kolonia, Pohnpei, with smaller diaspora communities elsewhere in Micronesia and in the United States. Most Nukuoro speakers, particularly those that live away from Nukuoro Atoll, are multilingual in Pohnpeian and/or English; some older Nukuoro speakers also know German or Japanese.

Woleaian is the main language of the island of Woleai and surrounding smaller islands in the state of Yap of the Federated States of Micronesia. Woleaian is a Chuukic language. Within that family, its closest relative is Satawalese, with which it is largely mutually intelligible. Woleaian is spoken by approximately 1700 people. Woleai has a writing system of its own, a syllabary based on the Latin alphabet.

The Pingelapese language is a Micronesian language native to Pingelap, an atoll belonging to the state of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia. This atoll is the homeland to the Pingelapese people, consisting of a three-square mile range of uninhabited small coral islets, Daekae and Sukora, and the inhabited islet, Pingelap. These islands partially make up the Caroline Islands.

Mokilese, also known as Mwoakilloan, Mwokilese, or Mwoakilese, is a Micronesian language originally spoken on Mwoakilloa, Federated States of Micronesia. Of the 1200 Mokilese speakers, only about 500 live on Mwoakilloa.

The Habele Outer Island Education Fund is a South Carolina–based charitable organization serving K-12 aged students in Micronesia. Habele's initial geographic focus was the so-called "Outer Islands" of Yap State as well as lagoon and outer islands in neighboring Chuuk State in the Federated States of Micronesia. It now serves students of all backgrounds throughout the Freely Associated States.

Puluwatese is a Micronesian language of the Federated States of Micronesia. It is spoken on Poluwat.

Satawalese is a Micronesian language of the Federated States of Micronesia. It is nearly mutually intelligible with Mortlockese and Carolinian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helong language</span> Timoric language spoken in West Timor

Helong is a Central Malayo-Polynesian language of West Timor. Speakers are interspersed with those of Amarasi. This language has become endangered as a result of its native speakers marrying those who do not speak Helong, and as a result of coming in contact with the outside community. Helong speakers are found in four villages on the South-Western coast of West Timor, as well as on Semau Island, a small island just off the coast of West Timor. The mostly Christian, slightly patriarchal society of Semau do their best to send their children away to Bali to earn money to send home.

References

  1. ↑ Ulithian at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ↑ "Charity Publishes Dictionary For Remote Micronesian Islanders " COM-FSM, May 10, 2010.
  3. ↑ The Armed Forces Radio Station, 1945, p. 27
  4. ↑ The Armed Forces Radio Station, 1945, p. 12
  5. ↑ The Armed Forces Radio Station, 1945, p. 13
  6. ↑ People and the language. Retrieved from http://ulithiadventurelodge.com/?page_id=57
  7. ↑ Sohn & Bender (1973)
  8. ↑ Neil Mellen and Juan Uwel, 2005
  9. ↑ Walsh & Harui-Walsh 1979 , pp. 155–156
  10. ↑ Walsh & Harui-Walsh 1979 , pp. 154–155
  11. ↑ Walsh & Harui-Walsh 1979 , pp. 155–156
  12. ↑ Walsh & Harui-Walsh 1979 , p. 155
  13. ↑ Walsh & Harui-Walsh 1979 , pp. 156–157
  14. ↑ Walsh & Harui-Walsh 1979 , p. 155
  15. ↑ Lippwe 1986

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.