Nauruan (Ekaiairũ Naoero)

Nauruan is a member of the Micronesian branch of the Austronesian languages. It is spoken mainly in Nauru (Naoero) in the southwest Pacific to the north of the Solomon Islands. In 2013 there were about 9,300 native speakers of Nauruan in Nauru. About 1,000 people speak it as a second language in Kiribati, Tuvalu, and in the Marshall and Caroline Islands. The language is spoken mainly by adults. Children speak English instead.

Nauruan was originally written with 17 letters: five vowels (a, e, i, o, u) and twelve consonants (b, d, g, j, k, m, n, p, q, r, t, w). Several more letters were added to the alphabet as a result of influence from other languages, particularly German, Tok Pisin and Kiribati.

Nauruan alphabet

A a	Ã ã	B b	C c	D d	E e	F f	G g	H h	I i
a		be	ce	de	e	ef	ge	ha	i
J j	K k	L l	M m	N n	Ñ ñ	O o	Õ õ	P p	Q q
je	ka	el	em	en	eñ	o	õ	pe	ku
R r	S s	T t	U u	Ũ ũ	V v	W w	X x	Y y	Z z
er	es	te	u	ũ	vau	we	iks	way	zet

Nauruan pronunciation

Sample text in Nauruan

Ñaga ã eitsiõk õrig imim, Gott õrig ianweron me eb.
Me eitsiõk erig imin ñana bain eat eb, me eko õañan, mi itũr emek animwet ijited, ma Anin Gott õmakamakur animwet ebõk.
Me Gott ũge, Enim eaõ, me eaõen.
Me Gott ãt iaõ bwo omo, me Gott õekae iaõ mi itũr.
Me Gott eij eget iaõ bwa Aran, me E ij eget itũr bwa Anũbũmin. Ma antsiemerin ma antsioran ar eken ũrõr adamonit ibũm.

A recording of this text by Jaala Jeremiah, provided by Moshe Ash.

Translation

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Genesis 1:1-4

Sample video in Nauruan

Information about Nauruan | Phrases | Numbers

Links

Information about the Nauruan language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nauruan_language
http://www.trussel.com/f_nau.htm

Information about Nauru
http://www.discovernauru.com

Micronesian languages

Carolinian, Chuukese, Kiribati (Gilbertese), Kosraean, Marshallese, Mokilese, Mortlockese, Nauruan, Pááfang, Pingelapese, Pohnpeian, Puluwatese, Satawalese, Sonsorolese, Tobian, Ulithian, Woleaian

Languages written with the Latin alphabet

Page last modified: 23.04.21

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