Fwd: South pacific language question

[Bill Palmer]

Hi Steve

The linguistic evidence suggests Nauru was settled very early in the human occupation of Micronesia. It appears to be a first-order branch of the Micronesian subgroup of Oceanic languages, either as the first offshot from the proto language that also gave rise to the other Micronesian subgroup languages, or as a sister of Proto Micronesian. This alone suggests that either Nauru was the first stepping stone on the way to populate Micronesia, or was the first island settled away from the Micronesian homeland (propably in Kiribati, possibly Kosrae). The time depth for Micronesia overall is probably roughly right for Nauru.

However, despite Nauruan appearing to be a highly interesting and divergent language, and being very highly endangered (fewer than 50% of the population of Nauru speak Nauruan - less than about 3000 speakers in total), little is known about it. In 1993 the German Embassy in Canberra published a facsimile of a set of typewritten 1930s missionary notes on the language by one Father Alois Kayser. Apart from that, no descriptive work has been published on the language that I am aware of.

Bill Palmer

Dr Bill Palmer
Convenor, Pacific Languages Research Group
Linguistics Research Higher Degree and Honours coordinator
School of Humanities and Social Science
University of Newcastle
Callaghan NSW 2308
Australia
email bill.palmer at newcastle.edu.au
>>> Stephen Wechsler <wechsler at mail.utexas.edu> 28/10/09 1:17 AM >>>
Can anyone help with this question (from a non-linguist friend) about Nauru
and Nauruan?
Thanks.

Steve

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Howdy!  I'm writing an essay about the role of history in understanding
ecosystems at the supplying fringe of urban areas, and I'm using Nauru for
my example.  I haven't yet found references that say how long people have
been on Nauru, but I have found sources that say most of Micronesia became
populated around 3,500 years ago.  Also, Nauru has its own unique language.
 I wonder, are you aware of any work on their language and the degree to
which it has diverged from whatever gave rise to it that could be used as
evidence for how long people have been on the island?
Thanks!
-KP

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