| Carolinian | |
|---|---|
| Refaluwasch | |
| Native to | Northern Mariana Islands |
| Region | Saipan, Anatahan, and Agrihan islands, Marianas |
| Ethnicity | Carolinians |
Native speakers | 3,100 (2000)[1] |
Austronesian
| |
| Official status | |
Official language in |  Northern Mariana Islands |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | cal |
| Glottolog | caro1242 |
| ELP | Carolinian |
Carolinian is an Austronesian language originating in the Caroline Islands, but spoken in the Northern Mariana Islands. It is an official language (alongside English) of the Carolinian people.[2] Carolinian is a threatened language according to the Catalogue of Endangered Languages (ELCat), but available data is scarce. There are approximately 3,100 native speakers in the world.[3] Carolinian has 95% lexical similarity with Satawalese, 88% with Woleaian and Puluwatese; 81% with Mortlockese; 78% with Chuukese, 74% with Ulithian.[4]
- ^ Carolinian at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ "Carolinian Language". Ethnologue. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
- ^ "Carolinian". The Endangered Language Project. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
- ^ Ellis, S. James (2012). Saipan Carolinian, one Chuukic language blended from many (PDF) (Ph.D. thesis). University of Hawaii at Manoa. hdl:10125/100894. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-04-12. Retrieved 2015-08-02.