Chuukese language

Chuukese
Trukese
Chuuk
Native to	Federated States of Micronesia
Region	Chuuk
Ethnicity	Chuukese
Native speakers	51,330 (2000 census)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Micronesian Nuclear Micronesian Chuukic–Pohnpeic Chuukic Chuukese
Writing system	Latin script
Official status
Official language in	Federated States of Micronesia
Language codes
ISO 639-2	chk
ISO 639-3	chk
Glottolog	chuu1238

Chuukese (/tʃuːˈkiːz/), also rendered Trukese (/trʌˈkiːz/),^[2] 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 on Pohnpei, and Guam. Estimates show that there are about 45,900 speakers in Micronesia.^[1]

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.^[3]

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.^[4]

Truk and Chuuk are a difference in orthography, and both older ⟨tr⟩ and current ⟨ch⟩ transcribe the sound [ʈʂ].

Chuukese consonants

		Labial		Alveolar	Postalveolar/ Palatal	Velar
		plain	lab.
Nasal	plain	m	mʷ	n		ŋ
	tense	mː	mːʷ			ŋː
Plosive/Affricate		p	pʷ	t	ʈʂ	k
Fricative	plain	f		s
	tense	fː		sː
Trill				r
Approximant		w		l	j

Consonants are doubled in Chuuk when they have a voiceless sound. Some consonant combinations are frequently denasalized between vowels when doubled.^[5][6][7]

Chuukese vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i	ɨ	u
Mid	e	ʌ	o
Low	æ	a	ɒ

/ɨ/ can be heard as either central [ɨ] or back [ɯ].

Orthography

Chuukese is one of the few languages allowing for word initial double consonants:^[4]

Chuukese spelling
a	á	e	é	i	o	ó	u	ú	f	ff	s	ss	k	kk	m	mm	mw	mmw	n	ng	nng	p	pp	pw	ppw	r	ch	t	tt	w	y
IPA
ɐ	a	e	ə	i	o	ɑ	u	ɨ	f	fː	s	sː	k	kː	m	mː	mˠ	mˠː	nn̩	ŋ	ŋː	p	pː	p~b	pː	r	tʂ	t̪	t̪ː	w	j

References

1. Chuukese at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Bauer, Laurie (2007). The linguistic student's handbook (1 ed.). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 9780748627592.
3. Lynch, John; Ross, Malcolm; Crowley, Terry (2002). The Oceanic languages. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon. ISBN 978-0-7007-1128-4. OCLC 48929366.
4. "Reflexes of initial gemination in Western Micronesian languages" (PDF). University of California, Los Angeles. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 9, 2012. Retrieved 8 September 2005.
5. Goodenough, Ward Hunt; Sugita, Hiroshi (1980). Trukese-English dictionary = Pwpwuken tettenin fóós, Chuuk-Ingenes (1 ed.). Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society. ISBN 978-0871691415.
6. Yunick, Stanley Jr. (2000). "Linguistics, TESL, and language planning in Micronesia". Studies in the Linguistic Sciences. 30 (1). Champaign: University of Illinois Press: 183–200.
7. Goodenough, Ward H. (1992). Gradual and Quantum Changes in the History of Chuukese (Trukese) Phonology. Oceanic Linguistics 31. pp. 93–114.

External links

• Chuukese Wordlist at the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database (Archive)
• Howard, Jocelyne. "CHUUKESE TRANSLATIONS." () University of Hawaii.
• Kaipuleohone have archive materials for Chuukese including written materials, audio recordings, and additional audio recordings from Brian Diettrich's MA thesis.
• Portland State University Multicultural Topics in Communications Sciences & Disorders | Chuukese Archived 2020-05-19 at the Wayback Machine