PROBLEM: POORLY DOCUMENTED PLACE NAMES

Place names on all extant maps of Micronesian islands are incorrect and inadequate. Varying from slightly imprecise to downright wrong, toponyms labeled on maps are misapplied, misspelled or mislabelled foreign relics of the colonial era. They include Spanish, German, and more typically, Japanese and English renditions of original native names; more complex transmuted English versions of Japanese pronunciations of original local names; names on one island recorded in a language of another (e.g., Chuukese Lagoon enunciation for Outer Island places); names of one place incorrectly applied to another, etc. All these various errors have entered common usage in English-language conversations and publications although they do not correspond to traditional place names in active daily use in local languages.

Even more alarmingly, many small-scale toponyms have never been documented. Each island in the FSM, no matter how small, contains dozens, but more commonly hundreds of place names referring to parts of reefs, small islets, house plots, taro patches, fishing spots, etc. Place names are integral parts of living island cultures. They are important not only for interpretations of the past (using their etymologies to recall past events) but also for interpretations of the present (regulating fishing rights, resource use patterns, land ownership). For countless reasons, it is important that local place names are documented and made available both to local educators as well as outside researchers.

SOLUTION: AUDIO AND ORTHOGRAPHIC RECORDINGS

IREI is working to document local place names. So far, we have recorded hundreds of place names in interviews with island chiefs and community leaders and still have much work to do. At this point, we are focusing on names of islets, villages, reefs and channels, hoping that cultural anthropologists and linguists would take over with the more detailed work of documenting thousands of names for individual land, reef and ocean plots. Digital sound recordings are stored in our database and will eventually be made available to the public via this website.

Place names are written down using official orthographies. There are 17 native languages spoken in the Federated States of Micronesia today. Each has its own unique sound system and spelling idiosyncrasies, although much of that is ignored in written form, as frequent revisions of official orthographic rules seem to have worn out local people already unconcerned with correct spellings. With regard to place names, this has led to countless spelling variants and near complete lack of standardized toponyms. We strive to write down place names for each island so to reflect local pronunciation as closely as possible. We use accepted orthography for each particular language (and phonetic transliteration where there are significant dialectical variations or no official writing rules). For this, we are grateful to those few individuals, local linguists and educators, who contribute their time and expertise to this effort.

Status: Researching funds

iREi is looking for funding to create a website dedicated to the documentation and promotion of Micronesian languages. The core of the site is a comprehensive information center that includes user-updateable bibliography, on-line PDF library, and on-line dictionary access. There will also be a bulletin board, electronic mailing list, registry of points of contact, and other language-related features. We hope that this digital “nerve-center” for Micronesian languages will help connect language educators, linguists, and other interested people and enable their cooperation and information exchange, provide accessible reference materials and research tools, and promote awareness, use, and development of indigenous languages in the region.

2010

As part of our efforts to create comprehensive phrasebooks for Micronesia’s indigenous languages, we are sending linguists to do fieldwork all over the region. Andrea Ordaz-Nemeth left Vancouver, Canada to spend 2.5 challenging months working on seven languages of Yap and Palau. Emerson Odango tackled the linguistic diversity of Chuuk State during his break from studies in Hawai’i. Misato Hiraga is heading from Tokyo to Saipan and Guam to work on Carolinian and Chamorro languages.

2000-Present

Many indigenous languages spoken in Micronesia are under threat. Some are spoken with less fluency and by fewer people than before. IREI is addressing this problem by working on a comprehensive series of phrasebooks designed to increase interest and facilitate learning and communication in local languages. Once published, each book will be a handy, user-friendly communication tool focusing on one of Micronesia’s 24 indigenous languages. We are collaborating with hundreds of experts throughout the region to create these truly groundbreaking language books, sure to become irreplaceable resources in education, language learning, responsible tourism, and cultural preservation.