Sonsorolese language

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Sonsorolese

Spoken in

Palau (on Sonsorol ); Northern Mariana Islands
speaker about 600
Linguistic
classification
Official status
Other official status in PalauPalau Palau (official language in Sonsorol )
Language codes
ISO 639 -1

-

ISO 639 -2

map

ISO 639-3

so V

Sonsorolese is a Micronesian language that is spoken by around 600 people as their mother tongue in the administrative state of Sonsorol , which belongs to Palau, and in the Northern Mariana Islands ; around 2,000 people worldwide speak this language.

Classification and dialects

There is agreement that Sonsorolese belongs to the Trukian branch of the Micronesian languages, which in turn belongs to the Austronesian language family . The opinion on the structure of the dialect is less unanimous. The three inhabited Sonsorol Islands ( Dongosaro , Pulo Anna and Merir ) each have their own language variety. By Arthur Capell also in the member state was Hatohobei south of Sonsorol Islands spoken language Tobi considered dialect of Sonsorol, which is disputed by some researchers as the language differences are quite clear.

Phonetics and Phonology

Consonants

bilabial labio-
dental 		dental alveolar palatal velar
stl. sth. stl. sth. stl. sth. stl. sth. stl. sth. stl. sth.
Plosives p b     t̪       c   k G
Fricatives     f v θ ð s     ʝ x ɣ
Nasals   m           n       ŋ
Vibrants               r        
Approximants   w                    
lateral approximants                   ʎˠ    

A special feature of Sonsorolese, which occurs in all three dialects as well as in the closely related language Ulithi , but not in Tobi, is the sound ʎˠ . It is called velarized, i.e. H. described with a narrowing on the soft palate spoken, palatal lateral or also as palato-velar lateral. In Tobi, this sound has coincided with the voiced velar fricative ɣ .

Consonants can appear long (i.e. as geminates ) and short.

Vowels

The Sonsorol vowel system comprises the following 14 vowels.

front central back
ung. ung. ger. ger.
closed i ( ɨ ) ʉ u
almost closed ɪ     ʊ
half closed ( e )   ɵ ( o )
half open ɛ   ( ɞ ) ɔ
almost open ( æ )      
open a      

Some of the vowels, especially a, u and i, can be long and short, the long vowels are usually stressed. ɪ and ʊ are the unstressed counterparts to i and u, respectively . ɨ , e , æ , o and ɞ are relatively rare. The phonemic status of these vowels is not fully understood. In addition to the simple vowels, there are numerous diphthongs : æe , æi , aɛ , ai , aː (i) , aɔ , au , aʉ , aːʉ , ei , ɛʉ , ɔʉ , ɵi and ɵʉ .

literature

  • Arthur Capell: Grammar and vocabulary of the language of Sonsorol - Tobi. University of Sydney, Sydney 1969.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ see e.g. B. Entry. In: Ethnologue