Sonsorolese language

The Sonsorolese language is a Micronesian language spoken in Palau, originally on the islands composing the state of Sonsorol, and spreading through migration elsewhere in the country. It is very close to Tobian.

Introduction

History

Sonsorolese is mostly spoken in the Palau archipelago, particularly in Sonsorol, Pulo Anna, and the Merir Islands.^[3] It is one of two indigenous languages spoken in the area.

Population

There are about 360 speakers spread out across 60 islands. Most speakers of Sonsorol are bilingual, with their second language being English.^[4] The language is an official language for the areas where it is spoken. Some closely related languages of Sonsorol are Ulithian, Woleaian, and Satawalese. The language is part of the Austronesian language family.

Geographic distribution

Northern Mariana Islands: unknown (immigrant language)
Palau: 600 speakers
- Sonsorol: 60 speakers+
  - Merir: 5 speakers+
  - Pulo Anna: 25 speakers+
  - Sonsorol: 29 speakers+
- Rest of the country: 540 speakers

Dialects

Phonology

Consonants

In Sonsorolese, there are 19 consonants. These consonants are: /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /c/, /k/, /g/, /m/, /n/, /f/, /v/, /j/, /x/, /ɣ/, /r/, /w/, /s/, /ŋ/, and /ʟʲ/ (Capell, 1969).

**IPA chart Sonsorolese consonants**
	Labial		Dental-Alveolar		Palatal		Velar
Nasal		m		n				ŋ
Plosive	p	b	t	d	c		k	g
Fricative	f	v	s			j	x	ɣ
Continuant		w		r				ʟʲ

Vowels

Sonsorolese has 5 vowels: /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/. There are also diphthongs, including /ae/, /ai/, /ao/, and /au/. An example of the diphthong /ae/ is mae, which means "breadfruit" (Capell, 1969).

Voiceless vowels

Voiceless vowels occur in three contexts: “as finals, after a consonant, after a full, generally long vowel, and before a consonant, when they are acoustically similar to falling diphthongs, after non-final consonants a furtive /i/ or /u/ produces palatalization or velarisation (respectively) of the consonants” (Capell, 1969).^{[clarification needed]}

Orthography and pronunciation

Sonsorolese is primarily a spoken language. Many of the sounds are like those in Tobian and Woleaian. A couple of dialects include the pronunciation of d, which is common at the beginning of words and similar to [ð]; r is pronounced as in Spanish; also, l is always pronounced with tongue touching the back roof of the mouth and sounds something like a combination of the [ɡ] and [l] sounds. For that reason, some Sonsorolese prefer to spell their els as ⟨ɡl⟩. As in Woleaian, voiceless vowels are usually found at the end of Sonsorolese words. For example, in Dongosaro, the native name for Sonsorol island, the final -o is voiceless.

Grammar

Basic word order

Sonsorolese’s basic word order is subject, object, verb (SOV).

An example of the use of the SOV word order is:

Etai maho tipel = I am not happy.

Etai (I) is the subject, maho (happy) is the object, and tipel (not) is an adverb.

In questions, the word order stays the same.

Emaho tipomu = Are you happy?

Reduplication

There is full reduplication in the Sonsorol language. E.g. 'orange' = hulu, 'oranges' = huluhulu.

Numerals

The numeral system of Sonsorolese is base-10. The numeral system can go up to 1,000, which is “da ngaladi”^[5].

deo "one"
luwou "two"
doruw "three"
fauw "four"
rimouwa "five"
worouwa "six"
fuduwa "seven"
waruwa "eight"
tiwouwa "nine"
delh "ten"
liyelh "twenty"

Vocabulary

Indigenous vocabulary

meta?: "what?"
ehamatahutohu: "dangerous"
fou: "cold"
itei hae ramari Dongosaro: "I don't speak Sonsorolese"
halifato: “apple”
fadolo: “banana”
buu: “betel nut”
farawo: “bread”
hayang: “chicken”
rutouya: “coconut”
sahai: “egg”
iha: “fish”
als: “ice”
woto: “taro”
lahumu: “land crab”
babai: “papaya”
pelhi: “pork”
raes: “rice”
bito: "come"

References

^ Sonsorolese at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
^ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Sonsorol". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
^ https://www.ethnologue.com/18/language/sov/
^ https://web.archive.org/web/20070314051132/http://www.sonsorol.com/language/index_eng.htm
^ https://web.archive.org/web/20070314051132/http://www.sonsorol.com/language/index_eng.htm

External links

(in English) Language page at Sonsorol.com
Recordings of lexical items, paradigms and narratives archived with Kaipuleohone

[e18-1] Sonsorolese at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)

[Glottolog-2] Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Sonsorol". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

[3] ttps://www.ethnologue.com/18/language/sov/

[4] ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070314051132/http://www.sonsorol.com/language/index_eng.htm

[5] ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070314051132/http://www.sonsorol.com/language/index_eng.htm

[3]

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