Pingelapese language

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 of uninhabited small coral islets, Daekae and Sukora, and the inhabited islet, Pingelap. These islands partially make up the Caroline Islands. Because of natural disasters and emigration consequent to European and U.S. influence, the local population of the Pingelapese people is small. There are at least 2,000 Pingelapese people worldwide. Although the official language of the Pohnpei State is English, 200 of the 250 Pingelap atoll residents and 1,200 Pohnpei residents speak Pingelapese. The Pingelapese language is used for face-to-face communication among speakers of all ages. It is classified as a vigorous language. With the help of linguists like Leilani Welley-Biza sharing knowledge from her elders, significant cultural/historical connections to the Pingelapese language have been more thoroughly documented and preserved, to be passed down between generations. The Doahkaesa and King of Pingelap, His Majesty Dr. Berysin D. Salomon, and His Majesty's chosen traditional leaders, through the Pingelapese customary rite, strive to maintain the traditional language and the cultural/historical heritage of the people of Pingelap. Pingelapese is a Micronesian member of the Austronesian language family. It is closely related to other languages within the Chuukic-Pohnpeic branch, sharing 83% lexical similarity with Mokilese and sharing 79% lexical similarity with Pohnpeian. Approximately 5,000 years ago, the Austronesian peoples voyaged eastward from Taiwan, and eventually made it to Micronesia about 3,000 years later. Morton et al. estimated that the Micronesian peoples have resided on Pingelap for 1,000 years, nearly 800 years before any European contact were to be recorded.

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Related concepts (4)

Pohnpeian language

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 another 10,000-15,000 (estimated) living off island in parts of the US mainland, Hawaii and Guam. It is the second-most widely spoken native language of the Federated States of Micronesia. Pohnpeian features a "high language" including some specialized vocabulary, used in speaking about people of high rank.

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 central and eastern parts of the group, and Palau at the extreme western end. Historically, this area was also called Nuevas Filipinas or New Philippines, because they were part of the Spanish East Indies and were governed from Manila in the Philippines.

Pingelapese language