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Woleaian Script
The Woleai or Caroline Island script, thought to have been a syllabary, was a partially Latin-based script indigenous to Woleai Atoll and nearby islands of Micronesia and used to write the Woleaian language until the mid-20th century. At the time the script was first noticed by Europeans, this part of Micronesia was known as the ''Caroline Islands'', hence the name ''Caroline Island script''. The script has 99 known ( C) V glyphs, which are not quite enough for a complete representation of the Woleaian language, even given that consonant and vowel length are ignored. Approximately a fifth of them derive from the Latin alphabet. The question for historians is whether the Wolaians had proto-writing which crystallized into full-fledged writing under the influence of the Latin alphabet, or if they were exposed to the Latin alphabet without completely understanding it (see trans-cultural diffusion), and supplemented it either with existing signs from petroglyphs, tattoos, and the lik ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Woleaian
Woleaian is the main language of the island of Woleai and surrounding smaller islands in the state of Yap of the Federated States of Micronesia. Woleaian is a Chuukic language. Within that family, its closest relative is Satawalese, with which it is largely mutually intelligible. Woleaian is spoken by approximately 1700 people. Woleai has a writing system of its own, a syllabary based on the Latin alphabet. Introduction History Most Woleaian speakers or Woleaians as they are more commonly known as are mostly found in the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Central and Eastern Caroline Islands. More specifically most of the speakers are found in Yap State in Micronesia where Woleaian is considered an official language. Most Woleaian speakers are classified as Pacific Islanders and Micronesian (People-In-Country Profile). The island of Yap is broken up into two parts: Yap Proper, which is made up of Gagil, Tomil, Fanif, Weloy, and Rull—and the Yap Outer Islands, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Logogram
In a written language, a logogram (from Ancient Greek 'word', and 'that which is drawn or written'), also logograph or lexigraph, is a written character that represents a semantic component of a language, such as a word or morpheme. Chinese characters as used in Chinese as well as other languages are logograms, as are Egyptian hieroglyphs and characters in cuneiform script. A writing system that primarily uses logograms is called a ''logography''. Non-logographic writing systems, such as alphabets and syllabaries, are ''phonemic'': their individual symbols represent sounds directly and lack any inherent meaning. However, all known logographies have some phonetic component, generally based on the rebus principle, and the addition of a phonetic component to pure ideographs is considered to be a key innovation in enabling the writing system to adequately encode human language. Types of logographic systems Some of the earliest recorded writing systems are logographic; th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Micronesia
Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of approximately 2,000 small islands in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: Maritime Southeast Asia to the west, Polynesia to the east, and Melanesia to the south—as well as with the wider community of Austronesian peoples. The region has a tropical marine climate and is part of the Oceanian realm. It includes four main archipelagos—the Caroline Islands, the Gilbert Islands, the Mariana Islands, and the Marshall Islands — as well as numerous islands that are not part of any archipelago. Political control of areas within Micronesia varies depending on the island, and is distributed among six sovereign nations. Some of the Caroline Islands are part of the Republic of Palau and some are part of the Federated States of Micronesia (often shortened to "FSM" or "Micronesia"—not to be confused with the identical name for the overall region). The Gi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Syllabary Writing Systems
In the linguistic study of written languages, a syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent the syllables or (more frequently) morae which make up words. A symbol in a syllabary, called a syllabogram, typically represents an (optional) consonant sound (simple onset) followed by a vowel sound ( nucleus)—that is, a CV (consonant+vowel) or V syllable—but other phonographic mappings, such as CVC, CV- tone, and C (normally nasals at the end of syllables), are also found in syllabaries. Types A writing system using a syllabary is ''complete'' when it covers all syllables in the corresponding spoken language without requiring complex orthographic / graphemic rules, like implicit codas ( ⇒ /C1VC2/), silent vowels ( ⇒ /C1V1C2/) or echo vowels ( ⇒ /C1V1C2/). This loosely corresponds to ''shallow'' orthographies in alphabetic writing systems. ''True'' syllabograms are those that encompass all parts of a syllable, i.e., initial onset, medial nucleus and final co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avoiuli
Avoiuli (from Raga 'talk about' and 'draw' or 'paint') is a writing system used by the Turaga indigenous movement on Pentecost Island in Vanuatu. It was devised by Chief Viraleo Boborenvanua over a 14-year period, based on designs found in traditional sand drawings, and intended as a native alternative to the Latin alphabet. It is used mainly for writing in the area's native Raga language, although it can also be used for other languages including Apma, Bislama and English. Features The Avoiuli alphabet comprises characters equivalent to the letters ''A''–''Z'', decimal numerals and other symbols, including a range of currency symbols representing the livatu and specific items of traditional value such as pigs and dyed mats. Like the Western orthography used to write Raga, it represents the velar nasal ''ng'' and prenasalised consonant ''ngg'' using modified forms of the letters ''n'' and ''g'' respectively, but represents the labiovelar consonants ''bw'', ''mw'' an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rongorongo
Rongorongo ( or ; Rapa Nui: ) is a system of glyphs discovered in the 19th century on Easter Island that has the appearance of writing or proto-writing. Numerous attempts at decipherment have been made, but none have been successful. Although some calendrical and what might prove to be genealogical information has been identified, none of the glyphs can actually be read. If rongorongo does prove to be writing and to be an independent invention, it would be one of very few inventions of writing in human history. Two dozen wooden objects bearing rongorongo inscriptions, some heavily weathered, burned, or otherwise damaged, were collected in the late 19th century and are now scattered in museums and private collections. None remain on Easter Island. The objects are mostly tablets shaped from irregular pieces of wood, sometimes driftwood, but include a chieftain's staff, a '' tangata manu'' statuette, and two '' reimiro'' ornaments. There are also a few petroglyphs which may incl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Macmillan Brown
John Macmillan Brown (5 May 1845 – 18 January 1935) was a Scottish-New Zealand academic, administrator and promoter of education for women. Brown was born in Irvine, the sixth child of Ann Brown and her husband, James Brown, a sea captain. John was raised in a family that placed high value on education—for both sexes. He attended Irvine Academy, then University of Edinburgh and University of Glasgow. He declined a Balliol scholarship in mathematics instead taking a Snell exhibition for Classics and philosophy. In 1874 he was selected as professor of Classics and English, one of three foundation chairs at the newly established Canterbury College in Christchurch, then part of the University of New Zealand. In his new role, he worked 16 hours a day, covering English literature and composition, Latin and Greek; inspecting secondary schools and examining for teachers' certificates. After a professor of classics was appointed in 1879, he took on history and political eco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Faraulep
Faraulep Atoll () is a coral atoll of three islands in the central Caroline Islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district in Yap State in the Federated States of Micronesia. Its total land area is only , but it encloses a deep central lagoon of with a single opening on the southwest side. Faraulep is located approximately southwest of Gaferut, northeast of Woleai, and east of Yap. The population of Faraulep was 221 in 2000. The first recorded sighting of Faraulep Atoll by Europeans was by a Spanish ship sailing from Manila piloted by Juan Rodríguez in 1696.Brand, Donald D. ''The Pacific Basin: A History of its Geographical Explorations'' The American Geographical Society, New York, 1967, p.141. As with all of the Caroline Islands, they were sold by Spain to the Empire of Germany in 1899. The island came under the control of the Empire of Japan after World War I, and was subsequently administered under the South Seas Mandate. Following World War II, the i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chuukese Language
Chuukese (), also rendered Trukese (), is a Chuukic language of the Austronesian language family spoken primarily on the islands of Chuuk in the Caroline Islands in Micronesia. There are communities of speakers in Pohnpei, and Guam. Estimates show that there are about 45,900 speakers in Micronesia. Classification Chuukese is an Austronesian language of the Micronesian subbranch. It is one of the dialects making up the Chuukic subgroup of Micronesian languages, together with its close relatives like Woleaian, and Carolinian. Phonology Chuukese has the unusual feature of permitting word-initial geminate (double) consonants. The common ancestor of Western Micronesian languages is believed to have had this feature, but most of its modern descendants have lost it. and are different in orthography, and both older and current transcribe the sound . Consonants are doubled in Chuuk when they have a voiceless sound. Some consonant combinations are frequently denasalized bet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eauripik
Eauripik Island is a coral atoll of three islands in the western Caroline Islands in the Pacific Ocean. It forms a legislative district in Yap State in the Federated States of Micronesia. Its total land area is only 23.6 hectares, . It encloses a deep lagoon of . With light southwest winds, there are usually breakers on both sides of the atoll. All of the islets are covered with coconut palms. There used to be five islets. Two were washed away in the late 1970s by typhoon waves. Eauripik is located approximately southwest of Woleai. The population of Eauripik Island was 113 in 2000. Many islanders usually reside on the mainland Yap as temporary laborers. The Caroline Islands' sovereignty passed to the Empire of Germany in 1899. The island came under the control of the Empire of Japan after World War I and was subsequently administered under the South Seas Mandate. Following World War II, the island came under the control of the United States. The islands were administered as p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chuuk State
Chuuk State (; also known as Truk) is one of the four states of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). It consists of several island groups: Nomoneas, Faichuk, Faichuuk, the Hall Islands, Namonuito Atoll (Magur Islands), Pattiw (Western Islands), and the Nomoi Islands, Mortlock Islands. Chuuk is by far the FSM's most populous state, with 50,000 inhabitants on . Chuuk Lagoon is where most people live. Weno island, in the lagoon, is Chuuk's state capital and the country's biggest city. It may Proposed Chuukese independence referendum, hold a referendum on independence in the near future, although this referendum has been repeatedly postponed. History Indigenous settlement Chuuk was first settled by Austronesian peoples, Austronesians, believed to be from the Lapita culture of Island Melanesia. Archaeological evidence indicates that islands of Fefan, Feefen and Wééné Islands had human settlements in the second and first century BCE. Later evidence indicates that widespread ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
