Ulithian
| Ulithian | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Federated States of Micronesia |
| Region | Ulithi atoll |
|
Native speakers
|
(3,000 cited 1987) |
|
Austronesian
|
|
| Official status | |
|
Official language in
|
Federated States of Micronesia |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | ulit1238 |
Ulithian is the name of 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.
In 2010, a Ulithian-English and English-Ulithian dictionary was published by Habele, a US-based charity. 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.
Ulithian is a language spoken in Micronesia. The specific islands that Ulithian is spoken in are Ulithi, Ngulu, Sorol, Fais Islands, 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. The people who live in and around Ulithi are classified as Micronesian. Their appearances greatly vary because of all the different people who passed through the area over time. Ulithi has a strong democracy with a king by name voted by the people. 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.
Ulithian has 19 consonants which are /b, ch, d, f, g, h, k, l, l', m, mw, n, ng, p, r, s, t, w, y/.
Ulithian has eight vowels which is a large amount for a Pacific language. They are /i/, /u/, /e/, /ə/, /ɔ/, /æ/, /ɐ/, /a/.
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.
At one point in time, 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 Spain are ‘’gato’’ which Ulithian changed to ‘’hatu’’which means cat and ‘’flores’’ which was changed to ‘’floras’’ which means flowers. For example, Spain introduced ‘’cajon’’, which was turned into ‘’kahol’’ which is a crate or 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 word for them. Spain was also Catholic, so Catholic terms were left behind.
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