Carolinian language

Carolinian
Refaluwasch
Native toNorthern Mariana Islands
RegionSaipan, Anatahan, and Agrihan islands, Marianas
EthnicityCarolinians
Native speakers
3,100 (2000)[1]
Official status
Official language in
 Northern Mariana Islands
Language codes
ISO 639-3cal
Glottologcaro1242
ELPCarolinian

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]

  1. ^ Carolinian at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ "Carolinian Language". Ethnologue. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
  3. ^ "Carolinian". The Endangered Language Project. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
  4. ^ 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.