Chuukese language

Chuukese (Template:IPAc-en), also rendered Trukese (Template:IPAc-en), 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 in Pohnpei, and Guam. Estimates show that there are about 45,900 speakers in Micronesia.

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.

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.

and are different in orthography, and both older Template:Grapheme and current Template:Grapheme transcribe the sound Template:IPAblink.

Chuukese consonants

		Labial		Alveolar	Postalveolar/ Palatal	Velar
		plain	lab.
Nasal	plain	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link
	tense	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link			Template:IPA link
Plosive/Affricate		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Fricative	plain	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link
	tense	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link
Trill				Template:IPA link
Approximant		Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link

Consonants are doubled in Chuuk when they have a voiceless sound. Some consonant combinations are frequently denasalized between vowels when doubled.

Chuukese vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Mid	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Low	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link

can be heard as either central Template:IPAblink or back Template:IPAblink.

Orthography

Chuukese is one of the few languages allowing for word initial double consonants:Template:R

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

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 Template:Webarchive