Marshallese language
Marshallese (Kajin Ṃajeḷ)
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Spoken in |
Marshall Islands , Nauru | |
speaker | 44,000 | |
Linguistic classification |
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Official status | ||
Official language in | Marshall Islands | |
Language codes | ||
ISO 639 -1 |
mh |
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ISO 639 -2 |
mah |
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ISO 639-3 |
mah |
The Marshallese language ( Marshallese Kajin Ṃajeḷ ) or Ebon is the Malayo-Polynesian national language of the Marshall Islands . There are two dialects: Ralik and Ratak . A first grammar and dictionary was compiled by Johann Stanislaus Kubary .
Lute
Consonants
There are 22 consonants in Marshallese :
Bilabial | Dental | Palatal | Velar | ||||||
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palatal | velar | palatal | velar | labial | velar | labial | |||
Fricative | p / pʲ / | b / bˠ / | j / tʲ / | t / tˠ / | k / k / | kw / kʷ / | |||
nasal | m / mʲ / | ṃ / mˠ / | n / nʲ / | ṇ / nˠ / | ṇw / nˠʷ / | ñ / ŋ / | ñw / ŋʷ / | ||
Rhotic | r / rʲ / | d / rˠ / | dw / rˠʷ / | ||||||
Approximant | central | y / j / | ? / ɰ / | w / w / | |||||
lateral | l / lʲ / | ḷ / lˠ / | ḷw / lˠʷ / |
Vowels
There are 4 vowels:
closed | / ɨ / |
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half closed | / ɘ / |
half open | / ɜ / |
almost open | / ɐ / |
In Marshallese the vowels are not restricted to the front vs. back and rounded vs. straddled set. That is, a given vowel has multiple phonetic realizations. For example, the closed vowel / ɨ / can also be pronounced as [i], [ɯ], [u], [i͡ɯ], [i͡u], [ɯ͡i], [ɯ͡u], [u͡i] or [u͡ɯ], depending on the context become. Especially vowels with velarized consonants become spread back vowels ([ɯ], [ɤ], [ʌ], [ɑ]) and vowels with labialized consonants become rounded back vowels. Vowels become diphthongs between two different consonants:
Cʲ_Cʲ | Cˠ_Cˠ | Cˠʷ_Cˠʷ | Cʲ_Cˠ | Cʲ_Cˠʷ | Cˠ_Cʲ | Cˠ_Cˠʷ | Cˠʷ_Cʲ | Cˠʷ_Cˠ | |
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/ ɨ / | [i] | [ɯ] | [u] | [i͡ɯ] | [i͡u] | [ɯ͡i] | [ɯ͡u] | [u͡i] | [u͡ɯ] |
/ ɵ / | [ɪ] | [ɤ] | [ʊ] | [ɪ͡ɤ] | [ɪ͡ʊ] | [ɤ͡ɪ] | [ɤ͡ʊ] | [ʊ͡ɪ] | [ʊ͡ɤ] |
/ ɜ / | [e] | [ʌ] | [O] | [e͡ʌ] | [e͡o] | [ʌ͡e] | [ʌ͡o] | [o͡e] | [o͡ʌ] |
/ ɐ / | [ɛ] | [ɑ] | [ɔ] | [ɛ͡ɑ] | [ɛ͡ɔ] | [ɑ͡ɛ] | [ɑ͡ɔ] | [ɔ͡ɛ] | [ɔ͡ɑ] |
alphabet
Marshallese is written in Latin script with some unusual diacritical marks :
A. Ā B. D. E. I. J K L. Ḷ M. Ṃ N Ṇ Ñ O O O P R. T U Ū W. A. - b d e i j k l ḷ m ṃ n ṇ ñ O O O p r t u ū w
Text example
Ave Maria in Marshallese:
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