WHAT IS THE MARSHALLESE LANGUAGE?
Stories by Christopher Leonard
Photographs by Benjamin Krain

Marshall Islanders had no written language until Christian missionaries arrived, says Alfred Capelle, co-author of the first Marshallese dictionary.
“We kept everything in our brains and memories until the 20th century,” said Capelle, who is Marshallese.
Protestant missionaries from Boston arrived in the Marshall Islands in the mid-1800s with the primary interest of translating the Bible into Marshallese. These missionaries, as others did throughout the Pacific, used the Roman alphabet to interpret the oral language of islanders, Capelle said.
The result was a rough interpretation of the language, with missionaries copying down words as they heard them. The translation is not entirely accurate because English and Marshallese have different vowels and consonants, Capelle said.
The inaccuracies can be seen today. The letters “P” and “B” are often interchanged in different texts because they describe a Marshallese consonant. Some books call a land manager the “alap” while others say “alab.”
Marshallese grammar is difficult to translate, Capelle said. For example, historically, Marshallese traveled hundreds of miles between the atolls by canoe. Navigation was crucial, and the island language does not have simple directional words like “toward” or “away.”
Directional words are modified by many suffixes that change their meaning, Capelle said. “Toward” becomes toward you; away from you and toward them; toward east; toward west; etc.
The origin of the language is unknown, although it resembles those of Southeast Asia.
“It can be very difficult to learn,” Capelle said.

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Source Marshallese phrases: CMI Online, College of Marshallese Islands