Woleaian Syllabary
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Woleaian is the main language of the island of
Woleai Woleai (), also known as Oleai, is a coral atoll of 22 islands in the western Caroline Islands in the Pacific Ocean, forming a legislative district in the Yap State in the Federated States of Micronesia, and located approximately west-northwest ...
and surrounding smaller islands in the state of
Yap Yap (, sometimes written as , or ) traditionally refers to an island group located in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, a part of Yap State. The name "Yap" in recent years has come to also refer to the state within the Federate ...
of the
Federated States of Micronesia The Federated States of Micronesia (, abbreviated FSM), or simply Micronesia, is an island country in Micronesia, a region of Oceania. The federation encompasses the majority of the Caroline Islands (excluding Palau) and consists of four Admin ...
. 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 A writing system comprises a set of symbols, called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which the script represents a particular language. The earliest writing appeared during the late 4th millennium BC. Throughout history, each independen ...
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 The Federated States of Micronesia (, abbreviated FSM), or simply Micronesia, is an island country in Micronesia, a region of Oceania. The federation encompasses the majority of the Caroline Islands (excluding Palau) and consists of four Admin ...
, and the Central and Eastern
Caroline Islands The Caroline Islands (or the Carolines) are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically, they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) in the cen ...
. More specifically most of the speakers are found in
Yap Yap (, sometimes written as , or ) traditionally refers to an island group located in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, a part of Yap State. The name "Yap" in recent years has come to also refer to the state within the Federate ...
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 Gagil (, dialect ''Ggil'') is a municipality in the state of Yap, in the Federated States of Micronesia. It forms part of Island and covers the eastern side of the island. It has a population of roughly 400 people scattered in village groups. On ...
,
Tomil Tomil or TamilOtto Van der Brug"Water Resources of the Yap Islands".USGS Open-File Report: 82-357. 1984. p. 1. () is a municipality on the island of Yap, in the Federated States of Micronesia. It consists of twelve distinctive villages: Meerur, ...
,
Fanif Fanif () is a municipality in the state of Yap, Federated States of Micronesia The Federated States of Micronesia (, abbreviated FSM), or simply Micronesia, is an island country in Micronesia, a region of Oceania. The federation encompasses ...
, Weloy, and
Rull Rull () is a municipality in the southern part of the island Yap, Federated States of Micronesia. It has a traditional dancing ground. Rull has a population of 1,847. The historic Rull Men's Meetinghouse is located within the town. Education ...
—and the Yap Outer Islands, which is made up of
Ulithi Ulithi (, , or ; pronounced roughly as YOU-li-thee) is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about east of Yap, within Yap State. Name The name of the island goes back to Chuukic languages, Proto-Chuukic ''*úlú-diw ...
, Faris/
Sorol Sorol is a coral atoll of nine islands in the central Caroline Islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district in Yap State in the Federated States of Micronesia. Sorol is located approximately south of Ulithi and southeast of t ...
, Ngulu,
Woleai Woleai (), also known as Oleai, is a coral atoll of 22 islands in the western Caroline Islands in the Pacific Ocean, forming a legislative district in the Yap State in the Federated States of Micronesia, and located approximately west-northwest ...
,
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 ...
,
Ifalik Ifalik, also spelled Ifaluk (), is a coral atoll of four islands in the central Caroline Islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district in Yap State in the Federated States of Micronesia. Ifalik is located approximately east of Wo ...
, Faraulap, Elato,
Lamotrek Lamotrek () 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. The atoll is located approximately east of Elato. The p ...
and
Satawal Satawal is a solitary coral atoll of one island with about 500 people on just over 1 km2 located in the Caroline Islands in the Pacific Ocean. It forms a legislative district in Yap State in the Federated States of Micronesia. Satawal is the ...
. Aside from Woleaian, many speakers in Yap and other nearby places speak other languages, like Yapese, Satawalese, Ulithian,
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...
, Chuukese,
Kosraean Kosraean ( ; sometimes rendered Kusaiean) is the language spoken on the islands of Kosrae (Kusaie), a nation-state of the Federated States of Micronesia, Caroline Islands. In 2001 there were approximately 8,000 speakers in Micronesia, and 9,060 ...
,
Pingelapese The Pingelapese language is a Micronesian language native to Pingelap, an atoll belonging to the state of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia. This atoll is the homeland to the Pingelapese people, consisting of a three-square mile range ...
,
Pohnpeian Pohnpeian is a Micronesian language spoken as the indigenous language of the island of Pohnpei in the Caroline Islands. Pohnpeian has approximately 30,000 (estimated) native speakers living in Pohnpei and its outlying atolls and islands with anot ...
, Mwoakilloan, and some Asian and Polynesian Languages. The Woleaian language and culture is very important to the Woleaian people, as well as their history. The Woleaian history is passed down from generation to generation by storytelling. By doing so this helps to keep their language alive. As well as passing down their history, they also pass down their music, which is important to them. An important part of their culture is their clothing. Their clothing is so important to them that they have strict rules against wearing any type of western clothing. They also enjoy using canoes to get around instead of motorboats, and simple things like beautiful beaches and going fishing. They also enjoy working and spending time with their family and friends.


Population

In 1987, a
Yap Yap (, sometimes written as , or ) traditionally refers to an island group located in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, a part of Yap State. The name "Yap" in recent years has come to also refer to the state within the Federate ...
Census was taken and reported that there were about 1,630 people speaking the language. 13 years later when the census was taken in 2000 there was an increase of speakers and about 5,000 people were speaking or knew the language. Of these 5,000 speakers about 4,500 of them spoke Woleaian as their first language and 500 of them as their second language.


Classification

Woleaian is classified as an: *
Austronesian Austronesian may refer to: *The Austronesian languages *The historical Austronesian peoples The Austronesian people, sometimes referred to as Austronesian-speaking peoples, are a large group of peoples who have settled in Taiwan, maritime Sout ...
** Malayo-Polynesian *** Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian **** Eastern Malayo-Polynesian ***** Oceanic ****** Central-Eastern Oceanic ******* Remote Oceanic ******** Micronesian ********* Micronesian Proper ********** Chuukic-Pohnpeic *********** Chuukic language (Woleaian)


Phonology

Woleaian has
geminate In phonetics and phonology, gemination (; from Latin 'doubling', itself from '' gemini'' 'twins'), or consonant lengthening, is an articulation of a consonant for a longer period of time than that of a singleton consonant. It is distinct from ...
(long) consonants and vowels. In the orthography of Sohn (1975), along with a few approximations in the
IPA IPA commonly refers to: * International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation ** International Phonetic Association, the organization behind the alphabet * India pale ale, a style of beer * Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound IPA ...
, the inventory is, Note that both ''sh'' and ''r'' become ''ch'' when long, and that ''l'' becomes ''nn''. Vowels occur long and short, except for ''eo'' and ''oa,'' which are only found long. All simple vowels except ''a'' can occur as voiceless vowels in word-final position. (All simple vowels can also occur as word-final voiced vowels.) Though these voiceless vowels are generally not spelled out by native speakers, they represent an important change in pronunciation between words which are otherwise spelled the same. For example: * "hot" * "lime" * "ghost" * "beard" * "mosquito" * "lagoon"


Syllable structure

In the Woleaian language words can have anywhere from one to three consonants in a row. Words may either have CV, CCV, CCCV, or VV
syllable structures A syllable is a basic unit of organization within a sequence of speech sounds, such as within a word, typically defined by linguists as a ''nucleus'' (most often a vowel) with optional sounds before or after that nucleus (''margins'', which are ...
, and words can end in consonants.


Grammar


Word formation


Inflectional patterns

There are four inflectional paradigms in Woleaian: possessive, objective, progressive, and plural.


=Possessive

= These suffixes, attached to nouns, convey the person and number of a possessor. There are seven regular possessive suffixes and one defective possessive suffix. The "defective" suffix is always followed by a noun, unlike regular possessive suffixes. It is equivalent to
his genitive The his genitive is a means of forming a genitive construction by linking two nouns with a possessive pronoun such as "his" (e.g. "my friend his car" instead of "my friend's car"). The construction enjoyed only a brief heyday in English language, ...
. Examples: * 'his eyes' * 'eyes of John' * 'their eyes' * 'eyes of John and Mary'


=Object

= These suffixes occur with all transitive verbs and show person, number, and animateness of the object of that verb.


=Progressive

= Progressive action is shown in Woleaian through reduplication of initial parts of verbs. For example: "to stay" becomes "to be staying."


=Plural

= Plurality of nouns is generally left up to context, but the plural marker is added when nouns are accompanied by a demonstrative pronoun.


Basic word order

Woleaian has many different sentences types—and the type of sentence determines the word order. The first types of sentences are major and minor sentences. Major sentences are expressions that contain a subject and a predicate. Within a major sentence it can be broken up into two types, simple and complex sentences. Simple major sentences have a subject associated with a predicate. In a simple major sentence, the subject and predicates are interchangeable—so sometimes the subject comes first, and sometimes the predicate comes first. Simple major sentences can then be broken up into either equational or predicative. In an equational sentence the subject always follows the predicate, whether a question or statement. In predicative sentences, a subject or noun phrase usually follows a predicate. Two or more simple sentences together within one sentence produces a complex major sentence. Complex major sentences can either be coordinative or subordinative. Minor sentences are without "...a subject, a predicate, or both, but still express a complete thought.” Just as major sentence can be divided into two types, so can minor sentences. Some refer back to the context and complete it, (completive), and some that appear independently, (exclamatory). The problem with equational and predicative statement and question sentences in Woleaian is that you cannot differentiate between the question and statement based on how the words are arranged. An example of this: * Equational sentence: , which can translate to “He is a student" or "is he a student?” * Predicative sentence: , which can translate to “You saw the child" or "Did you see the child?”


Reduplication

Many words in Woleaian, especially verbs, use
reduplication In linguistics, reduplication is a Morphology (linguistics), morphological process in which the Root (linguistics), root or Stem (linguistics), stem of a word, part of that, or the whole word is repeated exactly or with a slight change. The cla ...
. They use both whole stem and partial reduplications “as initial or medial consonant doubling and initial or final reduplication,” An example of this is the word , which means to squeeze and comes from the word , which means squeeze it. Some nouns also use reduplication, like or gallbladder, which reduplicates the word for net. Reduplication in Woleaian can be found in adjectives—like the word , meaning to be yellow, yellowish of ginger color, which comes from the word yang, which means ginger. Another type of reduplication in Woleaian is reduplication-prefixation, which is when “a neutral verb has both reduplication and the causative prefix/”. An example of this is the Woleaian word , which means to get close. This word comes from the words meaning approach to it, and , meaning to be near.


Vocabulary


Indigenous vocabulary

* means ‘to stir’ * means ‘to marry’ * means ‘to remember’ * means ‘to be strong’ * means ‘to lick’ * means ‘to scatter’ * means ‘to chip off’ * means ‘to broil’ * means ‘to vomit’ * means ‘to hug’


Loanwords

Many loanwords in Woleaian come from
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...
,
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
and English. Words from Spanish: * from ('ship') * from ('flower') * from ('
carabao Carabaos () are a genetically distinct population of swamp-type water buffaloes ('' Bubalus bubalis kerabau'') from the Philippines.FAO 2013''Philippine Carabao/Philippines''In: Domestic Animal Diversity Information System. Food and Agriculture ...
' in Spanish, 'cow' in Woleaian) Words from Japanese: * comes from the Japanese word ('soldier') * comes from the Japanese word ('ice') * comes from the Japanese word ('to be in trouble') * comes from the Japanese word ('congratulations/happy holidays' in Japanese; 'New Year' in Woleaian) * comes from the Japanese word (drum) Words from English: * means ‘flag’ * means ‘fry pan’ * means ‘inch’ * means ‘clock’ * means ‘America’ * means 'papaya'


Endangerment


Materials

There are many resources on the Woleaian language—including books, websites, research papers, and even YouTube videos. Two books in particular are helpful in learning about the Woleaian language: the Woleaian Reference Grammar book by Ho-Min Sohn, and a Woleaian-English Dictionary by Ho-Min Sohn and Anthony Tawerilmang. These two books contain much information about the Woleaian language, such as the sentence structures, types of reduplication, vocabulary, etc. Many websites contain useful information. The 2000 Yap Census also provides information about the language and speakers. A few research papers are helpful as well. One by Tsz-him Tsui from the University of Hawaii at Manoa describes the Woleaian vocabulary and phonemes. A paper by Robert Kennedy from the University of Arizona is about Woleaian reduplication. Lastly, a YouTube channel provides Woleaian videos. Some of the videos are of church services, cultural dances similar to the
hula Hula () is a Hawaiian dance form expressing chant (''oli'') or song (Mele (Hawaiian language), ''mele''). It was developed in the Hawaiian Islands by the Native Hawaiians who settled there. The hula dramatizes or portrays the words of the oli ...
, and Woleaian people singing Woleaian songs.


Vitality

Woleaian, under the
Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale The Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGIDS), developed by Lewis and Simons (2010) as an expansion of Joshua Fishman's GIDS, measures a language's status in terms of Language endangerment, endangerment or development. The table ...
(EGIDS, which determines the status of a language, is level five, a developing language. This means that it “is in vigorous use, with literature in a standardized form being used by some people, though it is not yet widespread or sustainable.” From the rapid growth of Woleaian in 1987 to 2000 it is pretty safe to say that Woleaian is being transmitted and taught to young children. There is intergenerational transmission involved in Woleaian because of its language status on the EGIDS. It is described as a developing language in vigorous use—which means that the Woleaian speakers must pass it down from generation to generation.


References


Bibliography

* ** * * * *


External links

* {{Authority control Chuukic languages Endangered Austronesian languages Languages of the Federated States of Micronesia Severely endangered languages