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Nauruan Ekaiairũ Naoero
Spoken in:	Nauru
Total speakers:	6,000
Language family:	Austronesian  Malayo-Polynesian   Central-Eastern MP    Eastern MP     Oceanic      C-E Oceanic       Remote Oceanic        Micronesian         Nauruan
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	na
ISO 639-2:	nau
ISO 639-3:	nau
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

The Nauruan language (dorerin Naoero) is an Austronesian language spoken in Nauru. It is estimated that it has 7,000 speakers, approximately 50% of the population. Almost all speakers are bilingual in English.

It is a member of the Micronesian family of Austronesian languages. Its ISO 639 codes are 'na' and 'nau'. Nauruan is a UN recognized language.

Contents 1 Dialects 2 Delaporte's Nauruan Dictionary 3 Alphabet 3.1 Attempt at language reform of 1938 3.2 Pronunciation of the vowels 3.3 Pronunciation of consonants 4 Sample text 5 A few phrases 6 References 7 External links

According to a report published in 1937 in Sydney, there was a diversity of dialects until Nauru became a colony of Germany in 1888, and until the introduction of publication of the first texts written in Nauruan. The variations were largely so different that people of various districts often had problems understanding each other completely. With the increasing influence of foreign languages and the increase of Nauruan texts, the dialects blended into a standardized language, which was promoted through dictionaries and translations by Alois Kayser and Philip Delaporte.

Today there are practically no variations or dialects remaining. Solely in the district of Yaren is there a dialect still spoken, which is only slightly different; the eponymous dialect is spoken in Yaren and the surrounding area.

In 1907, Philip Delaporte published his pocket German-Nauruan dictionary (http://www.trussel.com/kir/naudel.htm Taschenwörterbuch Deutsch-Nauruisch). The dictionary is small (10.5 x 14 cm), with 65 pages devoted to the glossary and an additional dozen to phrases, arranged alphabetically by the German. Approximately 1650 German words are glossed in Nauruan, often by phrases or synonymous forms. There are some 1300 'unique' Nauruan forms in the glosses, including all those occurring in phrases, and ignoring diacritical marks. The accents used there are not common; just one accent (the tilde) is in use today.

In the Nauruan written language, 17 letters were originally used:

• The five vowels: a, e, i, o, u
• Twelve consonants: b, d, g, j, k, m, n, p, q, r, t, w

The letters c, f, h, l, s, v, x, y and z were not included. With the growing influence of foreign languages (most of all German, Pidgin English and Kiribati) ever more letters were incorporated into the Nauruan alphabet. In addition, phonetic differences of a few vowels arose, so that umlauts and other similar sounding sounds could only be seen with a tilde.

In 1938 there was an attempt by the Nauruan language committee and Timothy Detudamo to make the language easier to understand for Europeans and Americans. It was intended to introduce as many diacritical symbols as possible for the different vowel sounds to state the variety of the Nauruan language in writing. Finally it was decided to only introduce diacritical symbols, an accent, in the place of the former tilde, so that the umlauts "õ" and "ũ" were replaced by "ò" and "ù". The "ã" was substituted with "e".

Further, the "y" was introduced, in order to differentiate words with the English "j" (e.g. puji). Thus words like ijeiji changed to iyeyi. The "ñ" was replaced with "ng", in order to differentiate the Spanish Ñ. Also the double consonants "bu" and "qu" were replaced with "bw" and "kw". In addition, the usual "ts", which is pronounced like the English "j", was replaced with this "j". Also the "w" written at the end of words was removed.

These reforms were only partly carried out: the umlauts "õ" and "ũ" are still written with tildes. However today the letters "ã" and "ñ" are only seldomly used and are replaced with "e" and "ng", as it is prescribed by the reform. Likewise the writing of the double consonants "bw" and "kw" has been implemented. Although the "j" took the place of "ts", certain spellings with "ts" remain. For example, the districts Baiti and Ijuw (according to the reform Beiji and Iyu) are still written with the old writing style. The "y" has largely become generally accepted.

Today the following 28 Latin letters are used.

• Vowels: a, ã, e, i, o, õ, u, ũ
• Semivowels: j
• Consonants: b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, ñ, p, q, r, s, t, w, y, z

To this day the letters v and x are not used.

This article contains only non-IPA pronunciation information which should be expanded with the International Phonetic Alphabet. For assistance, see Wikipedia:Manual of Style (pronunciation).

• The vowel a has five different sounds:
  • as in the English word "father". Example: abab ("kill")
  • as in the French word "madame". Example: e man ("he has died")
  • as in the English word "quantity". Example: ouwak ("wide, large")
  • as in the French word "lâche". Example: eokwan ("the sun")
  • as in the German word "Mähne" (ã). Example: imuinãn ("the (piece of) news")

• The vowel e has three different sounds:
  • as in the English word "pet" . Example: emedena ("the street")
  • as in the English word "pain". Example: innen ("his mother")
  • as in the French word "épée". Example: bebe ("light, not heavy")

• The vowel i has two different sounds:
  • as in the German word "Sinn". Example: imin ("thing, item")
  • a combination sound of "ü" and "i", which also appears sometimes in Swiss German. Example: ninenin ("to pull")

• The vowel o has three different sounds:
  • as in the English word "roll". Example: bobo ("to smell")
  • as in the English word "son". Example: ekom ("inquiry")
  • as in the German word "Möhre" or in the French word "feu" (õ). Example: ebõg ("fresh water")

• The vowel u has four different sounds:
  • as in the English word "took". Example: dudu ("to water")
  • as in the German word "Mühe" (ũ). Example: ibũgibũgi ("grass")
  • a deep sound as in the ü in "Mühe". Example: iju ("fish")
  • a combination sound of "u" and "ü". Example: ewadudu ("hill")

The letter N with a tilde (Ñ) stands for the sound ng. Although Nauruan words with "ñ" should today instead be written "ng," the old "ñ" is still commonly used. Example: The district of Meneng is called in Nauruan Meneñ as well as Meneng.

The following example of text is from the Bible (Genesis, 1.1-1.8):

¹Ñaga ã eitsiõk õrig imim, Gott õrig ianweron me eb. ²Me eitsiõk erig imin ñana bain eat eb, me eko õañan, mi itũr emek animwet ijited, ma Anin Gott õmakamakur animwet ebõk. ³Me Gott ũge, Enim eaõ, me eaõen. ⁴Me Gott ãt iaõ bwo omo, me Gott õekae iaõ mi itũr. ⁵Me Gott eij eget iaõ bwa Aran, me E ij eget itũr bwa Anũbũmin. Ma antsiemerin ma antsioran ar eken ũrõr adamonit ibũm. ⁶Me Gott ũge, Enim tsinime firmament inimaget ebõk, me enim ekae ebõk atsin eat ebõk. ⁷Me Gott eririñ firmament, mõ õ ekae ebõk ñea ijõñin firmament atsin eat ebõk ñea itũgain firmament, mõ ũgan. ⁸Me Gott eij egen firmament bwe Ianweron. Ma antsiemerin ma antsioran ar eke ũrõr karabũmit ibũm.

It is notable that the Nauruan vocabulary contains a few German loanwords (e.g. Gott, God; and Firmament, celestial sphere), which is traced back to the strong influence of German missionaries. There are also Latin loanwords such as "õrig" (from Lat. origo, beginning) that appear.

Nauruan	English
Anubumin	Night
Aran	Day
Bagadugu	Ancestors
(E)kamawir Omo	Best wishes
Ebok	Water
Firmament	Earth; celestial sphere
Gott	God
Ianweron	Heaven
Iao	Light
Iow	Peace
Itur	Darkness
orig	Beginning
Tarawong (ka)	Goodbye

• "Nauru Grammar", by Alois Kayser compiled (1936); distributed by the German embassy 1993, ISBN 0-646-12854-X

• Ethnologue on Nauruan

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