Nukuoro language

Nukuoro
Native to Micronesia
Region Western Nukuoro Island
Native speakers
 860 in Micronesia (1993)[1]
140 in the U.S. (no date)[2]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 nkr
Glottolog nuku1260[3]

The Nukuoro language is a Polynesian language, spoken by about 860 people on the Nukuoro atoll and on Pohnpei in Micronesia.

Introduction

History

Nukuoro is a coral atoll and Polynesian outlier found within the Pohnpei District within the Federated States of Micronesia. Despite the fact that Nukuoro is a Micronesian atoll, from a typological perspective, Nukuoro is a Polynesian language that descends from the Austronesian node. Its most immediate node is the Elliciean node. This language is most closely related to Kapingamarangi, Rennellese, and Vaeakau-Taumako sporting lexical similarity (Carroll 1965). These languages are not mutually intelligible, but they can make themselves understand each other with a little bit of difficulty. Bilingualism is not a common feature among the Nukuoro people, although the majority of the older Nukuoro population have a considerable amount of knowledge in Ponapean, sometimes know some German, Japanese, English, or another Micronesian language. This second language is usually reserved for the classroom, Bible reading, conversation with visitors, etc.

Nukuoro was colonized multiple times, by Germany, Japan, and then also some by the United States of America in its lifetime. The history that local legend has it says that immigrants from another island first populated Nukuoro. Two canoes from Samoa under the leadership of Chief Ko Wave and his priestly father Teakhu lead this movement (Newton).

Population

The primary language spoken on the Nukuoro atoll is Nukuoro. In 1965 there were approximately 400 speakers. 260 of these speakers resided on the atoll, 125 lived on Ponape, the District Center, and a few others were spread out on the other islands in the District (Carroll 1965). The current population is estimated to be at about 1000 speakers. The Nukuoro people are very dependent on the sea. They have a strong respect for the marine culture, and are very well known for their skillfully created wooden sculptures. These often are carved to represent marine animals.

Sounds

Consonants

There are 10 consonants in Nukuoro /b/ /v/ /m/ /d/ /s/ /n/ /l/ /g/ /h/ /ng/. There are also lengthened consonants, for example a word is ‘’hhano’’. Geminated /b/, /d/, /g/ are written with p, t, k, double /m/, /n/, /s/, /h/, /l/ are represented with double letters (mm, nn, ss, hh, ll), and double /ng/ is written with nng.[4] it should be noted, that /d/ that replaces a /t/ often turns a word into its plural version. For example ‘’taumaha’’ means church service, and ‘’daumaha’’ means church services.

Vowels

There are 5 vowels in Nukuoro /a/ /i/ /u/ /e/ /o/. There are also lengthened vowels, for example ‘’taane’’. Double vowels are also represented by writing the symbol twice.

Syllable Structure

Syllables take the shapes V, VV, VVV, CV, CVV and CVVV. All possible V and VV combinations occur. All possible CV combinations occur except /vu/. The first member of a diphthong is always the syllabic peak when the syllable is stressed; elsewhere there is little difference between members, the peak of sonority tending to occur on the most naturally sonorous vowel (Carroll 1956).

Phonemes

In the Nukuoro language, each phoneme is distinct: “/b/ is an aspirated bilabial stop, /d/ is a lax aspirated dental stop, /g/ is a slightly aspirated of implosive velar stop, /v/ is a very lax labio-dental fricative, /s/ is a tense voiceless alveo-palatal fricative, /h/ is a voiceless velar fricative, /m/ is a voiced bilabial nasal, /n/ is a voiced dental nasal, /ng/ is a voiced velar nasal, /l/ is a voiced dental flap, /i/ is a high front unrounded vowel, /e/ is a mid front unrounded vowel, /a/ us a low or mid central unrounded vowel, /o/ is a mid back rounded vowel, and /u/ is a high back rounded vowel” (Carroll 1965). For double phonemes “stops have increased aspiration especially after pause, and articulation is tense and phones are normally voiceless; nasals and fricatives have tense articulation; flaps are tense, long, with pre-voiced dental stop; and vowels are about twice as long as single vowels and not rearticulated” (Carroll 1965).

Grammar

Basic Word Order

The basic word order in Nukuoro is Subject-Object-Verb. But there are also cases of Verb-Subject-Object. An example sentence: De nei dono moni-gulu. ‘this is his canoe full of bread-fruit’

Reduplication

There are four types of reduplication that exist in reduplication R1 appears in nouns, adjectives, and verbs. R2, R3, R4 appear only in adjectives and verbs. R1 is reduplication of the entire base. So an example is gohu, which means dark, and gohugohu, which means getting dark R2 is reduplication of the first syllable of a base. An example is gai which means eat, and gagai which means the fish are biting R3 is reduplication of the initial consonant of a base. For example, seni means sleep, and sseni means to sleep R4 is reduplication of the initial vowel of a base. An example is malemo, which is a singular subject, and maalemo, which is plural subject

Endangerment

Materials

There are a few solid resources for the Nukuoro language. The primary and probably most informative one is a book written by Vern Carroll called An Outline of the Structure of the Language of Nukuoro. There is also a Nukuoro Lexicon that has English to Nukuoro and Nukuoro to English, as well as grammar notes. And I made use of online sources such as wals.info, and Ethnologue.

Vitality

Nukuoro is listed as a developing language. Ethnologue states that this means it is in vigorous use but isn’t yet widespread. It is being transmitted to children, and is used in schools, government, and daily life. After World War 2 ended there were already efforts to help preserve the language as the United States set up an elementary school taught completely in Nukuoro. The population of speakers also increased from 400 to 1000 since 1965, which shows positive growth.

Further reading

See also

References

  1. ↑ Nukuoro at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. ↑ Nukuoro at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  3. ↑ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Nukuoro". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
  4. ↑ Carroll, 1975, p. 196
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