ISO 639-2 chk | Native speakers 51,000 (2000 census) | |
Language family AustronesianMalayo-PolynesianOceanicMicronesianNuclear MicronesianChuukic-PohnpeicChuukicChuukese Official language in | ||
Chuukese /tʃuːˈkiːz/, also rendered Trukese /trʌˈkiːz/, is a Trukic language of the Austronesian language family spoken primarily on the islands of Chuuk in the Caroline Islands in Micronesia. There are communities of speakers on Pohnpei and Guam as well. Estimates show that there are about 45,900 speakers in Micronesia.
Phonology
Chuukese has the unusual feature of permitting word-initial geminate (double) consonants. The common ancestor of Western Micronesian languages is believed to have had this feature, but most of its modern descendants have lost it.
Truk and Chuuk are a difference in orthography, and both older tr and current ch transcribe the sound [tʂ].
References
Chuukese language Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA