| Chuukese | |
| Also Known As: | Trukese |
| Nativename: | Chuukese: Chuuk |
| States: | Federated States of Micronesia |
| Region: | Chuuk |
| Speakers: | 51,330 |
| Ethnicity: | Chuukese |
| Date: | 2000 census |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | Austronesian |
| Fam2: | Malayo-Polynesian |
| Fam3: | Oceanic |
| Fam4: | Micronesian |
| Fam5: | Nuclear Micronesian |
| Fam6: | Chuukic–Pohnpeic |
| Fam7: | Chuukic |
| Iso2: | chk |
| Iso3: | chk |
| Glotto: | chuu1238 |
| Glottorefname: | Chuukese |
| Script: | Latin script |
Chuukese, also rendered Trukese,[1] 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 on Pohnpei, and Guam. Estimates show that there are about 45,900 speakers in Micronesia.
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, Carolinian.[2]
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.[3]
Chuukese: Truk and Chuukese: Chuuk are a difference in orthography, and both older and current transcribe the sound pronounced as /link/.
| Labial | Alveolar | Postalveolar/ Palatal | Velar | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | lab. | ||||||
| Nasal | plain | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /mʷ/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||
| tense | pronounced as /mː/ | pronounced as /mːʷ/ | pronounced as /ŋː/ | ||||
| Plosive/Affricate | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /pʷ/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||
| Fricative | plain | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||
| tense | pronounced as /fː/ | pronounced as /sː/ | |||||
| Trill | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||||
| Approximant | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||
Consonants are doubled in Chuuk when they have a voiceless sound. Some consonant combinations are frequently denasalized between vowels when doubled.[4]
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| High | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| Low | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ |
Chuukese is one of the few languages allowing for word initial double consonants:
| 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 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| pronounced as /ɐ/ | pronounced as /a/ | pronounced as /e/ | pronounced as /ə/ | pronounced as /i/ | pronounced as /o/ | pronounced as /ɑ/ | pronounced as /u/ | pronounced as /ɨ/ | pronounced as /f/ | pronounced as /fː/ | pronounced as /s/ | pronounced as /sː/ | pronounced as /k/ | pronounced as /kː/ | pronounced as /m/ | pronounced as /mː/ | pronounced as /mˠ/ | pronounced as /mˠː/ | pronounced as /nn̩/ | pronounced as /ŋ/ | pronounced as /ŋː/ | pronounced as /p/ | pronounced as /pː/ | pronounced as /p~b/ | pronounced as /pː/ | pronounced as /r/ | pronounced as /tʂ/ | pronounced as /t̪/ | pronounced as /t̪ː/ | pronounced as /w/ | pronounced as /j/ | |
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