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Mortlockese

kapasen Mwoshulók

Mortlockese is an Austronesian language spoken in Micronesia. Glottolog rates it shifting.

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Mortlockese · 5.5°N 153.7°E

Mortlockese (Mortlockese: Kapsen Mwoshulók), also known as Mortlock or Nomoi, is a language that belongs to the Chuukic group of Micronesian languages in the Federated States of Micronesia spoken primarily in the Mortlock Islands (Nomoi or Lower Mortlock Islands and the Upper Mortlock Islands). It is only somewhat intelligible with Satawalese, with an 18 percent intelligibility and an 82 percent lexical similarity, and more intelligible with Puluwatese, with a 75 percent intelligibility and an 83 percent lexical similarity. The language today has become mutually intelligible with Chuukese, though marked with a distinct Mortlockese accent. Linguistic patterns show that Mortlockese is converging with Chuukese since Mortlockese now has an 80 to 85 percent lexical similarity.

There are approximately five to seven thousand speakers of Mortlockese in the Mortlock Islands, Guam, Hawaii, and the United States. There are at least eleven different dialects that show some sort of correspondence to the Mortlock Island groups.

From Wikipedia · Mortlockese language · CC BY-SA 4.0

Words in Mortlockese

MeaningWordRomanization
nameit*
eyemas*
earjaliN*
nosepot*
toothNi*
tonguetranmENa*
handpa*
bloodtra*
skinkili*
breasttut*
watershaan
fireef*
sunial*
starfu*
stonefau*
mountaintruk*
treeura*
leaftra*
nightpoN*
dogkolak*
fishik*
louseku*
oneaman*
tworuman*
Inai*
younaom*
weat*
drinkun*
seeuerai*
hearausaloN*

* in the simplified ASJP transcription

Most similar languages

Vocabulary

Grammar

Vocabulary compares 40 basic words (ASJP); grammar compares 195 features (Grambank). Similar is not always related.

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Glottolog · mort1237 · Wikipedia (English) · Ethnologue · mrl