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Mortlockese
Mortlock, Kapsen Mwoshulók, or Nomoi
Native to	Federated States of Micronesia
Region	Caroline Islands
Native speakers	(5,900 cited 1989 census)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Micronesian Nuclear Micronesian Trukic Satawalese–Mortlockese Mortlockese
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mrl
Glottolog	mort1237

Mortlockese (Kapsen Mwoshulók), also known as Mortlock or Nomoi, is a language that belongs to the Chuukic group of Micronesian languages in the Federated States of Micronesia spoken primarily in the Mortlock Islands (Nomoi (Lower Mortlock) Islands and the Upper Mortlock Islands). It is nearly intelligible with Satawalese, with an 18 percent intelligibility and an 82 percent lexical similarity, and Puluwatese, with a 75 percent intelligibility and an 83 percent lexical similarity. The language today has become mutually intelligible with Chuukese, though marked with a distinct Mortlockese accent. Linguistic patterns show that Mortlockese is converging with Chuukese since Mortlockese now has an 80 to 85 percent lexical similarity.

Classification

The Mortlockese Language is an Austronesian language that currently holds a 6b language status meaning that it is threatened for extinction. More specifically, a language is given the 6b language status when it is used by its speakers for in person communication between people of all generations, but the amount of speakers is decreasing. In the nuclear Micronesian languages, Mortlockese Language falls under the Chuukic catagory.

History

The Mortlock islands, where Mortlockese is mainly spoken, is estimated to have had its first settlement around eight hundred to nine hundred years ago. There is evidence showing that the Mortlockese Language originated from the Chuuk Lagoon since many Mortlock natives trace their history back to the Chuuk Lagoon islands. Along with the genealogies, many clans that exist in the Mortlock islands also exist in the Chuuk Lagoon islands.

Geographic Distribution

The Mortlockese language is spoken in the Chuuk state. It is spoken in eleven distinct dialects over the eleven Mortlock Islands (Ettal, Kutt, Lekinioch, Losap, Moch, Nama, Namoluk, Oneop, Piis-Emwar, Satowan, Ta), all of which have mutual intelligibility. Speakers of Mortlockese are able to discern where other speakers are from, whether a different island or a different village, based on nuanced variations in speech patterns. There are approximately five to seven thousand speakers of the language, located mostly in the Mortlock Islands and throughout Micronesia, but also in the Pacific Islands (Hawaii and Guam in particular) and in the United States of America. In March of 1907, in the wake of destruction caused by a typhoon that struck the Mortlock island Ta, the Mortlock people living on that island relocated to Saipan and Pohnpei. On Pohnpei, the Mortlocks spoke one of three Mortlockese dialects and Pohnpeian or English as a second language in the multilingual community they formed. After a number of years, Mortlockese people living in Pohnpei returned to Pakin Atoll in the Mortlock Islands, where they spoke the kapsen Mwoshulok dialect, which exhibits adaptation and evolution, while retaining Pohnpeian as a second language. English is the national language in the Mortlock islands, but most only use it when interacting with people from other places or in school. Rather than English, Mortlockese and Pompeinian are the common spoken languages.

Sounds and Phonology

Lukunosh (a dialect of Mortlockese) has nine vowel phonemes and 15 consonant phonemes.

Vowel Phonemes

	Front	Central	Back
High	i	ʉ	u
Upper-Mid			o
		ɞ
Lower-Mid	ɛ		ɔ
Low	æ	a

Table retrieved from pg.100 of Odango, Emmerson.

Consonant Phonemes

	Bilabial	Labial- velar	Labio- dental	Dental	Alveolar	Alveo- palatal	Palatal	Velar
Stops	p	pw		t				k
Nasals	m	mw			n			ŋ
Fricatives			f		s	ʃ
Affricates						tʃ
Trill					r
Lateral Approximant					l
Glides	w						j

Table retrieved from pg.96 of Odango, Emmerson.

Gemination is possible for all consonants. (pg.98)

Syllables are in the form of (C)(C)V(V)(C)(C), where (C) is an optional consonant and (V) is an optional vowel. An example of a CCVVCC syllable is so.ko.ppaat (meaning assorted in Lukunosh Mortlockese). (pg.110)

Reduplication

Reduplication occurs in some verbs to express extreme measure. It may also indicate an imperfective or habitual aspect.

a.	/ŋiimw alɛɛtɛj/ - 'hate him/her/it'	/ŋii~mw al~mw alɛɛtɛj/ - 'really hate him/her/it'
b.	/jææjæ/ - 'to use something'	/jæj~jææjæ/ - 'to use something repeatedly or habitually'

Dialects

According to researchers, Mortlockese speakers can tell the difference between different Mortlockese dialects. Most of these differences are in how words sound and how the spellings of words differ.

Word	Piis-Emwmwar	Lukunosh	Satawan	Té
chicken	mélúk	malek	malek	malak
to go	ló	la	ló	ló
inside	llón	llan	llón	llón
to sleep	méúr	maur	maúr	méúr
to go with	eeti	itei	iti / eti	etei
land	fénú	fanéú	fanú	fénú
from	sengi	sangei	sangi	sengei
large ant sp.	uukéch	ukash	ukosh	ukésh
dog	kolaak	kómwia	komwia	Monday
Monday	Saranfál	Mástánfal	Saranfál	Mistánfél
Tuesday	Aruwou	Aruwowan	Aruwowan	Ráán Ruwou
Saturday	Ammól	Ráán Amwól	Ráán Amwól	Ráán Ukumw
small ant sp.	lúúlú	lengeleng	likúkkútong / lengúleng	lúlú

Table retrieved from pg.24 of Odango, Emmerson.

Grammar

The different dialects of Mortlockese have varying degrees of place diexis. For example, Lukunosh Mortlockese as spoken in Pukin has four levels of diexis (near speaker, near listener, far from speaker and listener, in the minds of speaker and listener) while Kúttú Mortlockese has five levels.

In addition to common nouns and proper nouns are relational nouns, which are further divided into three categories: oblique, locational, and partitive.

Noun Phrases

A noun phrase is at minimum a bare noun. This bare noun can then be modified by demonstratives, possessive, and numeral classifiers. It is also possible to attach the stative TAM marker /mii/ after a bare noun and then add an adjective. An example is /uuʃ/ 'banana' turning into /uuʃ mii par/ 'red banana'. (pg.129)

Inclusive and Exclusive Pronouns

Mortlockese exhibits usage of inclusive pronouns such as the second-person plural word "aumi" which addresses a larger group than the individual with whom one is speaking to; the second-person singular "aumi" which involves just the speaker; the first-person plural exclusive "aimi", all of which can be translated to mean "you" but indicate different conditions of use.

Vocabulary

Verbs can be transitive, intransitive, or semitransitive.

External links

• A collection of Mortlockese recordings are available through Kaipuleohone

Bibliography

Each member of the group has tentatively selected a topic to include in the article: Selena will cover History, Kiana will cover grammar, and Clifton will cover vocabulary of the Mortlockese language. In addition to some of the sources already referenced in this article stub on Mortlockese, we will contribute information from the following sources.

Reference is available from Hamilton Library, and talks about the history and possibly evolution of the Mortlockese language.

Dialects and Classification

Can be found in Hamilton Pacific (Call Number: DZ 95L30.30 )

Hamilton Pacific (Call Number: DU568.N6 W37)