Proto-Micronesian language explained

Proto-Micronesian
Also Known As:	PMc
Familycolor:	Austronesian
Ancestor:	Proto-Austronesian
Ancestor2:	Proto-Malayo-Polynesian
Ancestor3:	Proto-Oceanic
Target:	Micronesian languages

Proto-Micronesian (abbreviated as PMc) is the reconstructed ancestor of the Micronesian languages. It belongs to the Oceanic branch of the Austronesian languages.

It was first reconstructed in detail by Byron W. Bender in 2003.

Descendants

Proto-Micronesian is the ancestor of almost all of the languages of Micronesia, except for Chamorro, Palauan, Yapese, and the two Polynesian languages of Nukuoro and Kapingamarangi, which are only distantly related to Proto-Micronesian.

With regards to subgrouping by Jackson (1986), it was thought that Nauruan fell outside the Nuclear Micronesian group. However, Hughes (2020) argues instead for the classification of Nauruan as a Nuclear Micronesian language, either as a primary branch of Micronesian, a subgrouping with Kosraean, or belonging within Central Micronesian.

Phonology

The consonants of Proto-Micronesian, according to Jackson, are:

!Labiovelar!Bilabial!Dental!Alveolar!Palatal!Velar

Stop		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Nasal		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Fricative			pronounced as /link/	S	pronounced as /link/	Z	pronounced as /link/
Affricate				T
Approximant		pronounced as /link/			pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/

The values of *S, *T, and *Z are unknown, the latter only occurring in two words: *kiaZo "outrigger boom" and *laZe "kind of coral".

The vowels of Proto-Micronesian, according to Jackson and Hughes, are:

Vowels! ! Front! Back

Close	align=center	pronounced as /i/	align=center	pronounced as /u/
Close-mid	align=center	pronounced as /e/	align=center	pronounced as /o/
Open	pronounced as /a/

Example sentence

From Jackson (1986, 205), modified to fit Bender (2003)'s orthography:

Further reading

• .
• Hughes . Kevin . 2020 . The Synchronic and Diachronic Phonology of Nauruan: Towards a Definitive Classification of an Understudied Micronesian Language . PhD dissertation . City University of New York.

External links

• Micronesian Comparative Dictionary