Trukic languages
Encyclopedia
The Trukic languages are a dialect continuum
Dialect continuum
A dialect continuum, or dialect area, was defined by Leonard Bloomfield as a range of dialects spoken across some geographical area that differ only slightly between neighboring areas, but as one travels in any direction, these differences accumulate such that speakers from opposite ends of the...

 of Micronesian languages
Micronesian languages
The family of Micronesian languages is a branch of the Oceanic languages. It consists of twenty languages, the nineteen Micronesian Proper languages and Nauruan...

, conventionally divided into a dozen languages.

Components

The database seems to say that Sonsorol is the most divergent of the Trukese languages. However, the results are defective and it is not clear that they support a Trukese classification at all. Nonetheless, Sonsorol has traditionally been classified as a Trukese language, and has limited intelligibility with Woleaian, the closest of the continuum. Tobian
Tobian language
Tobian is the language of Tobi, one of the Southwest Islands of Palau, and the main island of Hatohobei state...

 is close enough to Sonsorol to often be considered a dialect:
  • Sonsorol and Tobian
    Tobian language
    Tobian is the language of Tobi, one of the Southwest Islands of Palau, and the main island of Hatohobei state...



Except for Satawalese and Mortlockese, which are very close, the subgrouping of the remainder of the languages is not reliable (85% probability). They are,
  • Chuukese
    Chuukese language
    Chuukese is a Trukic language of the Austronesian language family spoken primarily on the islands of Chuuk in the Caroline Islands in Micronesia. There are some speakers on Pohnpei and Guam as well...

  • Woleaian
    Woleaian
    Woleaian is the main language of the island of Woleai and surrounding smaller islands in the state of Yap of the Federated States of Micronesia. Woleaian is a Trukic language, and within that family its closest relative is Satawalese, with which it is largely mutually intelligible. Woleaian is...

     and Ulithian
    Ulithian language
    Ulithian is the name of the language spoken on Ulithi atoll and neighboring islands. Ulithian is one of the 6 official languages of the Federated States of Micronesia. There are some 3,000 speakers, although only 700 of these live on Ulithi atoll....

  • Puluwatese, Namonuito, and Tanapag
    Tanapag language
    Tanapag is a Micronesian language of the Austronesian language family. It is spoken by about 4,400 people on the island of Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands. The language may be endangered, as younger people tend to speak Chamorro instead of Tanapag, but there are also efforts being made to...

  • Carolinian
    Carolinian language
    Carolinian is an Austronesian language spoken in the Northern Mariana Islands, where it is an official language along with English and Chamorro. Spoken mostly by the Carolinian people, Carolinian is most closely related to Satawalese, Woleaian, and Puluwatese...

  • Satawalese and Mortlockese


The only Trukese language not included in the database is Pááfang.
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