Editing Gilbertese language (section)

== Alphabet ==
The Gilbertese language is written in the [[Latin script]], which was introduced in the 1860s when [[Hiram Bingham II|Hiram Bingham Jr]], a Protestant [[missionary]], first translated the [[Bible]] into Gilbertese. Until then, the language was unwritten. Since the independence of Kiribati in 1979, long vowels and consonants are represented by doubling the character, as in [[Dutch orthography|Dutch]] and [[Finnish orthography|Finnish]]. A few [[Digraph (orthography)|digraphs]] are used for the [[Velar consonant|velar]] [[Nasal consonant|nasals]] ({{IPA|/ŋ ŋː/}}) and velarized bilabials ({{IPA|/pˠ mˠ/}}). Bingham and the first Roman Catholic missionaries (1888) did not indicate in their script the vowel length by doubling the character. The discrepancies between the Protestant and Roman Catholic spellings have been an issue since 1895.<ref>Alterations in spelling adopted by the Roman Catholic Mission. From: Swayne, British Resident C. R., at Suva, Fiji. WPHC 4/IV: Inwards correspondence, 1895., MSS & Archives.2003/1.WPHC 4/IV.1895. File 393/1895. Special Collections, The University of Auckland. https://archives.library.auckland.ac.nz/repositories/2/archival_objects/116412 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726222050/https://archives.library.auckland.ac.nz/repositories/2/archival_objects/116412|date=2020-07-26}} Accessed July 27, 2020.</ref> Neither clearly distinguished the pronunciation of the vowel /a/ after velarized bilabials, like {{IPA|/pˠ/}} (bw) and {{IPA|/mˠ/}} (mw), which result in discrepancies between old scripts and modern scripts. For example, the word [[maneaba]] should be written ''mwaneaba'' or even ''mwaaneaba'' and the atoll of [[Makin (atoll)|Makin]], ''Mwaakin''. The [[Kiribati Uniting Church|Kiribati Protestant Church]] has also recently used a different script for both velarized bilabials, “b’a” and “m’a”, which are found in Protestant publications.
{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+'''Gilbertese spelling system'''{{citation needed|date=November 2021}}
!Letter
|A
|AA
|B
!BW
|E
|EE
|I
|II
|K
|M
!MM
!MW
|N
!NN
|NG
!NGG
|O
|OO
|R
|T
|U
|UU
|W
|- align="center"
|[[Help:IPA|IPA]]
|{{IPA|/a/}}
|{{IPA|/aː/}}
|{{IPA|/p/}}
|{{IPA|/pˠ/}}
|{{IPA|/e/}}
|{{IPA|/eː/}}
|{{IPA|/i/}}
|{{IPA|/iː/}}
|{{IPA|/k/}}
|{{IPA|/m/}}
|{{IPA|/mː/}}
|{{IPA|/mˠ/}}
|{{IPA|/n/}}
|{{IPA|/nː/}}
|{{IPA|/ŋ/}}
|{{IPA|/ŋː/}}
|{{IPA|/o/}}
|{{IPA|/oː/}}
|{{IPA|/ɾ/}}
|{{IPA|/t/}}
|{{IPA|/u/}}
|{{IPA|/uː/}}
|{{IPA|/βˠ/}}
|-
|}

===Vocabulary===
{{Unreferenced section|date=November 2021}}

One difficulty in translating the Bible was references to words such as "[[mountain]]", a geographical phenomenon unknown to the people of the islands of Kiribati at the time, heard only in the myths from [[Samoa]]. Bingham substituted "[[hill]]y", which would be more easily understood. Such adjustments are common to all languages as "modern" things require the creation of new words or the usage of loan words.

For example, the Gilbertese word for airplane is ''te wanikiba'', "the canoe that flies". Some words changed to translate Western words into Gilbertese. For example, ''te aro'' (species or colour) is now used in translating religion. ''Te kiri'' (the dog), found in 1888 vocabulary, is now less used than ''te kamea'' (from English, loan word).{{clarify|date=December 2021}}

Catholic missionaries arrived at the islands in 1888 and translated the Bible independently of Bingham, which led to differences (Bingham wrote [[Jesus]] as "Iesu", but the Catholics wrote "Ietu") that would be resolved only in the 20th century. In 1954, Father [[Ernest Sabatier]] published the larger and more accurate Kiribati to French dictionary (translated into English by Sister Olivia): ''Dictionnaire gilbertin–français'', 981 pages (edited by South Pacific Commission in 1971). It remains the only work of importance between the Kiribati language and a Western language. It was then reversed by Frédéric Giraldi in 1995 to creating the first French-Kiribati dictionary. In addition, a grammar section was added by Father Gratien Bermond (MSC). The dictionary is available at the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library]] Rare Language Department and at the headquarters of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC), [[Issoudun]].

=== Loanwords ===
When arriving, the translation of the Bible (''te Baibara'') was the first duty of the missionaries. Protestants (1860) and Roman Catholics (1888) had to find or create some words that were not in use in the [[Gilbert Islands]], like mountain (''te maunga'', borrowing it from Hawaiian ''mauna'' or Samoan ''maunga''), and like [[Serpents in the Bible|serpents]], but also to find a good translation for God (''te Atua''). Many words were adapted from English, like ''te moko'' (smoke), ''te buun'' (spoon), ''te beeki'' (pig), ''te raiti'' (rice), ''te tai'' (time, a watch), ''te auti'' (house), ''te katamwa'' (cat, from expression ''cat-at-me''). Some words of the [[Swadesh list]] did not exist in Gilbertese like ''te aiti'' (ice) or ''te tinoo'' (snow). But things that did not exist previously also were interpreted to form new Gilbertese words: ''te rebwerebwe'' (motorbike), ''te wanikiba'' (plane, a flying canoe), ''te momi'' (pearl, from Hawaiian).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Alekseev |first1=Fedor |year=2015 |title=Loanword adaptation strategies in Gilbertese |url=https://culturalanthropologyandethnosemiotics.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/loanword-adaptation-strategies-in-gilbertese3.pdf |journal=CAES |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=46–52 |access-date=27 March 2022}}</ref>