Micronesian Languages

Micronesian Languages 

one of the distinct groups in the Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) language family, including dozens of small languages, such as Sonsorol, Yapese, Trukese, and Ponapean in the Caroline Islands, Marshallese and Gilbertese in the Marshall and Gilbert islands, and Nauru on Nauru Island. The grammatical structure of these languages is similar to that of the Melanesian languages. The Micronesian languages have several derivational series of numerals. For example, in the Nauru language the word “four” is āmen (when counting living things), āoe (when counting edible plants), and āeok (for abstract counting). Some scholars classify Palau, spoken in the Palau Islands in the Carolines, and Chamorro, spoken in the Marianas, as Indonesian rather than Micronesian languages.

REFERENCES

Capell, A. “Oceanic Linguistics Today.” Current Anthropology, 1962, vol. 3, no. 4.
Izui, H. “The Languages of Micronesia: Their Unity and Diversity.” Lingua, 1965, vol. 14.
Bender, B. W. “Micronesian Languages.” In Current Trends in Linguistics, vol. 8. The Hague-Paris, 1971.

LU. KH. SIRK