Carolinian language

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Carolinian
Refaluwasch
Native to	Guam, Northern Mariana Islands
Region	Saipan, Anatahan, and Agrihan islands, Carolines.
Native speakers	2,600 (2000)^[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Micronesian Nuclear Micronesian Trukic Carolinian
Official status
Official language in	Northern Mariana Islands
Language codes
ISO 639-3	`cal`

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. Carolinian has 95% lexical similarity with Satawalese, 88% with Woleaian and Puluwatese; 81% with Mortlockese; 78% with Chuukese, 74% with Ulithian. A 1990 census estimated the number of speakers at about 3,000, currently 5,700. Carolinian is known as Refaluwasch by native speakers. It has 31 characters in its alphabet.

References

↑ Carolinian reference at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)

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