#marshallese

The score was 4-0. The night was still a triumph.

Even as the clock wound down, seven players subbed in within the last 14 minutes, each getting a brief chance to play for their country.

Read Jordan P. Hickey’s new Longreads story about the Marshall Islands’ first national soccer team—and what it means to play for a country, a community, and an idea of home.

Marshallese (Kajin M̧ajeļ)

Basic facts

Number of native speakers: 55,000

Official language: Marshall Islands

Also spoken: Nauru, United States

Script: Latin, 24 letters

Grammatical cases: 0

Linguistic typology: fusional, SVO

Language family: Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Oceanic, Micronesian, Micronesian Proper, Nuclear Micronesian

Number of dialects: 2

History

1969 - first description of the language

Writing system and pronunciation

These are the letters that make up the script: a ā b d e i j k l ļ m m̧ n ņ n̄ o o̧ ō p r t u ū w.

The macron does not distinguish vowel length.

Grammar

Nouns have no gender, number, or case.

The demonstrative system has five levels. First- and second-person personal pronouns have two forms: absolutive or emphatic and objective. Third-person pronouns are only used for human beings.

Verbs are conjugated for tense, person, and number.

Dialects

12/21/20

Medicaid restored to Marshallese under new COVID-19 relief bill

Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) eligibility will be permanently restored to people living in the United States under the Compacts of Free Association (COFA) as part of the bipartisan COVID-19 relief deal. The COFA treaty covers citizens of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Republic of Palau, and the Federated States of Micronesia.