Marshallese language

Marshallese
Kajin M̧ajeļ[1]
(new orthography) Kajin M̧ajel‌̧
(old orthography) Kajin Majōl
Native toMarshall Islands
EthnicityMarshallese
Native speakers
(55,000 cited 1979)[2]
Austronesian
Latin (Marshallese alphabet)
Official status
Official language in
 Marshall Islands
Language codes
ISO 639-1mh
ISO 639-2mah
ISO 639-3mah
Glottologmars1254
Map of Micronesian languages; Marshallese is spoken in the orange area.

Marshallese (Marshallese: Kajin M̧ajel‌̧ or Kajin Majōl [kɑzʲinʲ(i)mˠɑːzʲɛlˠ]), also known as Ebon, is a Micronesian language spoken in the Marshall Islands. The language of the Marshallese people, it is spoken by nearly all of the country's population of 59,000, making it the principal language.[3] There are also roughly 27,000 Marshallese citizens residing in the United States,[4] nearly all of whom speak Marshallese, as well as residents in other countries such as Nauru and Kiribati.

There are two major dialects, the western Rālik and the eastern Ratak.

  1. ^ "Marshallese". SIL International. Archived from the original on 2015-04-11. Retrieved 2012-12-05.
  2. ^ Marshallese at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  3. ^ "Population, total – Marshall Islands". The World Bank.
  4. ^ Susanne Ruststaff (December 31, 2019). "They came here after the U.S. irradiated their islands. Now they face an uncertain future". Los Angeles Times.