Editing Carolinian language (section)

==Vocabulary==
Some researchers indicate that the Carolinian language is part of the western half of the Chuukic continuum. Its closest sister language is usually described as [[Satawalese language|Satawalese]]. Carolinian has more in common with [[Woleaian language|Woleaian-]] [[Mortlockese language|Mortlockese]] than with either [[Puluwat language|Polowat]]-[[Pulusuk]] or [[Satawalese language|Satawalese]], but with Polowat-Pulusuk shows slightly more influence than Satawalese. The lexical stock of [[Chuukic languages]] can help determine Carolinian’s relationship to its source languages, as there is significant diversity among their lexicons. Even though each [[Chuukic languages|Chuukic]] language has a high lexical similarity of nearly 50% with other members of the continuum. the remaining 50% provides enough differences to refine Carolinian’s lines of lexical inheritance.<ref name="Ellis 2012" />

===Past orthographies===
# Most [[Saipan]] Carolinians are bilingual or trilingual. Their writing has reflected many foreign language orthographic systems. Despite the variations of Carolinian writing, the following generalizations can be made. First, the vulgarized consonants / bw, mw, pw / were often written as digraphs when the following vowels are unrounded. However, / w / or / u / was virtually never indicated before rounded vowels or word finally. This phenomenon can be traced to [[Chamorro language|Chamorro]] writing, there is a rounded velar glide that occurs only after consonants and only before unrounded vowels. The Carolinians seem to have interpreted their vulgarized consonants as plain consonants followed by glides, like the [[Chamorro language|Chamorro]] phones. For instance:
#: {{Transliteration|cal|italic=no|libual}} means hole of for / {{Transliteration|cal|italic=no|libwal}} /, but lib means hole for / {{Transliteration|cal|italic=no|liibw}} / the form {{Transliteration|cal|italic=no|imual}} for / {{Transliteration|cal|italic=no|imwal}} / means his house, but {{Transliteration|cal|italic=no|imom}} / {{Transliteration|cal|italic=no|imwɔmw}} / means your house, {{Transliteration|cal|italic=no|puel}} for / {{Transliteration|cal|italic=no|pwpwel}} / means dirt, but po for / {{Transliteration|cal|italic=no|pwo}} / means pound.
# The geminate consonants were not represented initially and finally, though some people wrote geminate consonants medially. This may be a result of [[Chamorro language|Chamorro]] influence. The only geminates in [[Chamorro language|Chamorro]] are medial and as a consequence only these geminates are reflected in writing. For example:
#: '''pi''' / ppii / means sand
#: '''lepi''', '''leppi''' for / leppi / means beach sand
#: '''mile''', '''mille''' for / mille / means this one
#: '''lol''' for / llɔl / means in it
# Carolinian are used to the 5 vowel symbols of the [[Roman Alphabet|Roman alphabet]]. These were used to identify the 9 distinctive vowels of the Carolinian language.
# Long vowels were not represented maybe due to [[Chamorro language|Chamorro]] impact, as there are no distinctive long vowels in that language. For example:
#: '''fi''' / fii / means star
#: '''set''' / sææt / means sea
#: '''il''' for / iil / means mother
# In writing morphophonemic regularities such as the predictable vowel qualities before possessive suffixes, Carolinians paid no attention to the underlying regulations. On the other hand, they focused on the surface phonemes. This is the same as Chamorro practice as well as to most of other [[Micronesia]]n orthographies.
# Directional suffixes were usually attached to the preceding verbs. For instance:
#: '''{{Transliteration|cal|italic=no|muatiu}}''' / mɔɔttiu / means sit down
#: '''mela''' / mæællɔ / means die
#: '''touo''' / {{Transliteration|cal|italic=no|towou}} / means get out
# The subject pronoun was almost invariably attached to whichever part of the verb phrase immediately was following. For example, the negative marker, the aspect marker, an aspectual adverb, or the verb itself.
#: '''ese''' / e se / means he not
#: '''{{Transliteration|cal|italic=no|ebue}}''' / e bwe / means he will
#: '''eke''', '''{{Transliteration|cal|italic=no|eghal}}''' / e kke, e ghal / means he progressive
#: '''{{Transliteration|cal|italic=no|emuel}}''' / e mwmwel / means he can
# When the determines were singular, they were usually connected to the preceding noun. For example:
#:: '''{{Transliteration|cal|italic=no|mualue}}''' /mwææl-we/ means that man
#:: '''mualie''' /mwææl-ie/ means this man
#: Plural determiners, which were generally written separated. For example:
#:: '''mual kal''' /{{Transliteration|cal|italic=no|mwææl + kkaal}}/ means these men
#:: '''mual kelal''' /mwææl kke + laal/ means those men
#:: '''{{Transliteration|cal|italic=no|mual keue}}''' /mwææl kke + we/ means those men in the past
# The longer object pronouns were sometimes separated from the preceding verb stem, while the shorter pronouns are identically attached. For example:
#: '''{{Transliteration|cal|italic=no|e weriei}}''' means he sees me
#: '''{{Transliteration|cal|italic=no|e uri ghisch}}''' means he sees us
# Sometimes morphemes were not written if they were phonologically assimilated to other morphemes. For example:
#: '''ito''' for / i + itto / means I come.<ref name="Elameto" />

===Saipan Carolinian Orthography Committee===

A preliminary meeting was called at the Headquarters Education Department conference room on July 21, 1976. The site was decided on since it was equidistant from both the northern and southern Carolinian communities. The meeting was to review the initial steps for setting up an orthography acceptable to both communities and to select the members of the orthography committee. The official orthography conference was held from July 26 to August 4, 1976. The meeting opened with an address by the Director of Education for the Marianas. Mr. Jesus M. Conception, representatives from the [[Mariana Islands|Marianas]] Education Department and the [[Chamorro language|Chamorro]] Orthography Committee also appeared at the convention on an irregular basis.

This convention decided that no dialect would be chosen as the official dialect for school and government documents. In other words, the committee agreed to pick standard systems of presenting the pronunciations of all three dialects, and Carolinians should use that framework to reflect the specific dialectical pronunciations. School teachers would not have to enforce one dialect but instead, allow students to use the correct spelling for the dialect they speak.<ref name="Elameto">{{cite book|last=Elameto|first=Jesus Mareham|title=Linguistic Dimensions of Vernacular Education for Saipan Carolinians|date=1977|publisher=University of Hawaii}}</ref>

===Alphabet===

There were 28 letters in 1977 and they were expanded to 33 letters in 2004.<ref name="Elameto" />
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Letter !!  Phoneme  !! Name of Letter
|-
| a  || /a/  || aa
|-
| á || /æ/   || áá
|-
| e  || /e/  || ee
|-
| ė  || /ʌ/  || ėė
|-
| i  || /i/  || ii
|-
| o  || /o/  || oo
|-
| ó || /ɔ/  || óó
|-
| u || /u/  || uu
|-
| ú || /ʉ/ || úú
|-
| f  || /f/  || fii
|-
| h  || /h/  || hii
|-
| s  || /s/  || sii
|-
| sch  || /ʂ/  || schii
|-
| gh  || /x/  || ghii
|-
| k  || /kː/  || kkii
|-
| l  || /l/  || lii
|-
| m  || /m/  || mii
|-
| mw  || /mʷˠ/  || mwii
|-
| n  || /n/  || nii
|-
| ng  || /ŋ/  || ngii
|-
| p  || /p/  || pii
|-
| pw  || /pʷˠ/  || pwii
|-
| bw  || /bʷˠ/  || bwii
|-
| r  || /r/  || rii
|-
| rh  || /ɻ/  || rhii
|-
| tch  || /ʈ͡ʂːʲ/  || tchii
|-
| t  || /t/  || tii
|-
| w  || /w/  || wii
|-
| b  || /b/  || bii
|-
| d  || /d/  || dii
|-
| g  || /g/  || gii
|-
| y  || /j/  || yii
|-
| z  || /z/  || zii
|}