Carolinian | |
---|---|
Refaluwasch | |
Native to | Northern Mariana Islands |
Region | Saipan, Anatahan, and Agrihan islands, Marianas |
Ethnicity | Carolinians |
Native speakers | 3,100 (2000)[1] |
Austronesian
| |
Official status | |
Official language in | ![]() |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | cal |
Glottolog | caro1242 |
ELP | Carolinian |
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]