| Nukuoro | |
|---|---|
| Nukuoro | |
| Native to | Micronesia |
| Region | WesternNukuoro Island |
Native speakers | (undated figure of 600)[1] 140 in the U.S. (no date)[2] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | nkr |
| Glottolog | nuku1260 |
| ELP | Nukuoro |
 {Nukuoro is classified as Definitely Endangered by theUNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger. | |
TheNukuoro language is anEllicean language spoken by about 1,200 people onNukuoro andPohnpei—two islands ofPohnpei State within theFederated 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 inKolonia, Pohnpei, with smaller diaspora communities elsewhere inMicronesia and in theUnited States. Most Nukuoro speakers, particularly those that live away from Nukuoro Atoll, are multilingual inPohnpeian and/orEnglish; some older Nukuoro speakers also knowGerman orJapanese.
Nukuoro belongs to thePolynesian language family, a branch of theOceanic subgroup of theAustronesian family. It is closely related to other Polynesian languages, with considerable phonological and lexical similarities. Within the Polynesian branch, Nukuoro is a member of thePolynesian Outliers, which are spoken by island populations in Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia.[3] Nukuoro is most closely related toKapingamarangi, the only other Polynesian language found in Micronesia. While the two languages are not mutually intelligible, it is nonetheless possible for a speaker of one language to make themselves understood to a speaker of the other with some difficulty.[4]
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 onPonape, 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 writing system was developed by Chief Leka in the 1920s, perhaps with the assistance of resident Europeans or missionaries in Ponape. It is known and used in some form by nearly all Nukuoro speakers, and has been the educational standard since its creation.[4] The Nukuoro orthography differs from other Polynesian orthographies in that voiceless stop phonemes/ptk/ are written using the lettersb d g, a choice that probably stems from the fact that Nukuoro voiceless stops areunaspirated like English voiced stops.
There are 5vowel qualities in Nukuoro:/a,e,i,o,u/.Vowel length is contrastive, and long vowels are represented by writing the vowel symbol twice. Long vowels are about twice as long as a short vowel, and are not rearticulated. The phonemic geminate/aː/ is often realized phonetically as[æ].[4]
| Short | Long | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| front | back | front | back | |
| Close | i | u | iː | uː |
| Mid | e | o | eː | oː |
| Open | a | aː | ||
There are 10consonants in Nukuoro, each of which is contrastive for length.Geminate consonants are articulated for about twice as long as a singleton consonant, with the exception of stops and taps: geminate stops are articulated with increased aspiration, and geminate taps are articulated as a long, pre-voiced dental or retroflex stop.[4] Geminate consonants are typically found stem-initially, and are often created by reduplication.
| Labial | Alveolar | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | ppː | ttː | kkː | |
| Fricative | vvː | ssː | hhː | |
| Nasal | mmː | nnː | ŋŋː | |
| Tap | ɾɾː |
Like many Polynesian languages, Nukuoro has only three stops in its phonemic inventory:/p/,/t/, and/k/. These stops are unaspirated and can be variably voiced, but are phonemically voiceless. The orthography of Nukuoro represents these voiceless stops withb, d, g. The alveolar tap/ɾ/ is represented in Nukuoro orthography using the letterl, although early records of Nukuoro (and in fact, the spelling of the language name itself) user.
Since singleton/p/,/t/,/k/ are written withb, d, g, geminate/p/,/t/,/k/ are written withp, t, k. Geminated/m/,/n/,/s/,/h/,/ɾ/ are represented with double letters (mm, nn, ss, hh, ll), and geminated/ŋ/ is written asnng.[5]
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 adiphthong 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.[4]
Reduplication is one of the most productive morphological processes in Nukuoro. Reduplication is most common for adjectives and verbs.
There are two types of reduplication in Nukuoro: phoneme reduplication, which doubles the first sound to make a geminate, and full reduplication, which copies the first two syllables.
Phoneme reduplication usually differentiates between singular and plural.
Full reduplication indicates that an event happens repeatedly.
galo
look
→
galogalo
look all around
galo → galogalo
look {} {look all around}
seni
sleep
→
seniseni
oversleep
seni → seniseni
sleep {} oversleep
daba
flash of light
→
dabadaba
twinkling, flashing
daba → dabadaba
{flash of light} {} {twinkling, flashing}
The basicword order in Nukuoro is Subject-Verb-Object, but there are also cases of Verb-Subject-Object.
Template for a basic Nukuoro sentence with example:
dugu
put
verb
Au e dugu ange {de beebaa} {gi honga tebele}.
1SG NPST putDIR.3 {DET book} {to top DET.table}
subject aspect verb particles object {prepositional phrase}
'I put the book on the table.'
Verbs generally do not show any agreement or inflection, and nouns are not marked morphologically for case. Historically, Nukuoro had anergative-absolutive alignment, a system retained in many related languages.
Nukuoro distinguishes singular, dual, and plural, as well asinclusive and exclusive we.
| singular | dual | plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person | exclusive | au | gidaau | gidaadeu |
| inclusive | gimaau | gimaadeu | ||
| 2nd person | goe | gooluu | goodou | |
| 3rd person | ia | gilaau | gilaadeu | |
The genitive pronouns are built off the basic pronoun paradigm.
The a/o distinction marksalienability:o marks inalienable possession, anda marks alienable possession. Some genitive pronouns do not mark the a vs. o distinction and are used for both.
| Paradigm for possessed singulars | Paradigm for possessed plurals | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| singular | dual | plural | singular | dual | plural | ||
| 1st person | exclusive | dagu/dogu | taau | taadeu | agu/ogu | adaau/odaau | adaadeu/odaadeu |
| inclusive | demaau | demaadeu | amaau/omaau | amaadeu/omaadeu | |||
| 2nd person | dau/doo | dooluu | doodou | au/oo | ooluu | oodou | |
| 3rd person | dana/dono | delaau | delaadeu | ana/ono | alaau/olaau | alaadeu/olaadeu | |
Aspect, as opposed to tense, marks "[the] different ways of viewing the internal temporal constituency of a situation".[6]
| e | general aspect | |
| ga | anticipatory aspect | |
| gu | decisive aspect | |
| ne | perfect | |
| gi | prescriptive | |
| nogo | past progressive | |
| tigi | 'not yet' | |
| kana | warning | |
| mele | hypothetical | |
| goi | 'still' |
There are few solid resources for the Nukuoro language. The primary and probably most informative one is Vern Carroll's bookAn 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.
In 2013, Gregory D.S. Anderson andK. David Harrison of Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages created theNukuoro Talking Dictionary, a digital lexicon that includes sound recordings of Nukuoro words. This lexicon was initially populated with sound recordings from Nukuoro speakers Johnny Rudolph, Maynard Henry, and Kurt Erwin. This dictionary continues to be augmented by speakers and linguists and includes over 1000 audio tokens.
Nukuoro is listed as adeveloping 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 II, 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.
