| Also Known As: Palau,Belauan,Palauan
Description:
Palauan (also spelled Belauan) is one of the two nationally recognized official languages spoken in the Republic of Palau (the other being English). It is a member of the Austronesian family of languages, and is considered to be one of two languages in Micronesia (the other being Chamorro) belonging to the Western Malayo-Polynesian group; all others are considered to be members of either the Micronesian or Polynesian outlier subgroups of Oceanic.
Palauan is not a Micronesian or Polynesian language like most of its neighbors. Rather, like Chamorro, it constitutes a possibly independent branch of the Malayo-Polynesian languages. Its origins are thus somewhat obscure. A 2008 analysis of the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database suggested at 85% confidence level that it is closest to the Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages.
The phonemic inventory of Palauan consists of 10 consonants and 6 vowels. Phonetic charts of the vowel and consonant phonemes are provided below, utilizing the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
While the phonemic inventory of Palauan is relatively small, comparatively, many phonemes contain at least two allophones that surface as the result of various..... full article at Wikipedia |
