Marshallese orthography

Main article: Marshallese language

Marshallese Alphabet, Public Library, Delap–Uliga–Djarrit (DUD)

Marshallese underwent a change of orthography in recent times. However, most people still use the old orthography. It is written in a form of the Latin script with unusual diacritic combinations. There are different alphabetic systems in use by Marshallese speakers depending on religious affiliation, due to many schools being run by church groups. Each teacher uses his/her preferred method of teaching language. As a result, children who attend Catholic schools tend to use the same spellings because the teachers are trained by a small group of Maryknoll Sisters. Students in public schools vary their spelling from island to island, based upon what their teachers learned about language and spelling.

Here is the current alphabet, as promoted by the Republic of the Marshall Islands and used by the Marshallese-English Dictionary.^[1] It consists of 24 letters.

A

Ā

B

D

E

I

J

K

L

Ļ

M

M̧

N

Ņ

N̄

O

O̧

Ō

P

R

T

U

Ū

W

a

ā

b

d

e

i

j

k

l

ļ

m

m̧

n

ņ

n̄

o

o̧

ō

p

r

t

u

ū

w

Though the standard alphabet stipulates that all diacritics underneath are cedillas and all diacritics above are macrons, this is usually not strictly followed in computer texts or in print, and there are usually ad hoc spellings in their place. Even the widely-referenced online version of the MED uses a variation of the standard alphabet with different diacritics that are more easily encoded in Unicode, with the following alterations:^[1]

Standard						MED
Ļ	M̧	Ņ	N̄	O̧		Ḷ	Ṃ	Ṇ	Ñ	Ọ
ļ	m̧	ņ	n̄	o̧		ḷ	ṃ	ṇ	ñ	ọ

Letter	Ad Hoc	Phonology	Notes
A a		[ɑ, ʕ, ɑ͡æ, ʕæ̯, ɑ͡ɒ, ʕɒ̯, æ͡ɑ, æ̯ʕ, ɒ͡ɑ, ɒ̯ʕ, æ͡ɒ, æ̯ɒ̯, ɒ͡æ, ɒ̯æ̯]	Will always be used for the phoneme /a/ between two velarized consonants. May also be used in a syllable that begins or ends with /ɦˠ/, particularly at the edge of a word. May also be used as a neutral symbol for [æ͡ɒ] or [ɒ͡æ], despite neither diphthong including the [ɑ] articulation.
Ā ā	àã Ä ä	[æ, æ̯, ɑ͡æ, ʕæ̯, ɒ͡æ, ɒ̯æ̯, æ͡ɒ, æ̯ɒ̯]	Will always be used for the phoneme /a/ between two palatalized consonants. May also be used in a syllable that begins or ends with /ɦʲ/, particularly at the edge of a word.
B b		/pˠ/, [p̙, -b̙-]	The spelling ⟨bw⟩ always represents an alternate form of ⟨b⟩ when not written as a consonant cluster.
D d	Dr dr	/rʲ/, [r̘]
E e		[ɛ, ɛ̯, ʌ͡ɛ, ʌ̯ɛ̯, ɔ͡ɛ, ɔ̯ɛ̯, ɛ͡ʌ, ɛ̯ʌ̯, e, e̯, ɤ͡e, ɤ̯e̯, o͡e, o̯e̯, e͡ɤ, e̯ɤ̯], /ɦʲ/	May be used for three different phonemes without additional written distinction. As a vowel, this will always be used for the phonemes /ɜ/ and /ɘ/ between two palatalized consonants. May also be used in a syllable that begins or ends with /ɦʲ/, particularly at the edge of a word. As a consonant, may be used to indicate /ɦʲ/ before any of ⟨a o ō o̧⟩.
I i		[i, j, i͡ɯ, jɰ, i͡u, jw, ɯ͡i, ɰj, u͡i, wj], /ɦʲ/	May be used for two different phonemes without additional written distinction. As a vowel, this will always be used for the phoneme /ɨ/ between two palatalized vowels. May also be used in a syllable that begins or ends with /ɦʲ/, particularly at the edge of a word. As a consonant, may be used to indicate /ɦʲ/ before a vowel, particularly one of ⟨u ū⟩.
J j		/tʲ/, [t͡ɕ, -ʑ-]
K k		/k/, [k, -ɡ-], /kʷ/, [kʷ, -ɡʷ-]	The spelling ⟨kw⟩ always represents /kʷ/ if it represents a single consonant (as opposed to a cluster). The spelling ⟨k⟩ without additional distinction represents both /k/ and /kʷ/ when written before any of ⟨o̧ o u⟩ or at the end of a shut syllable.
L l		/lʲ/, [l̘]
Ļ ļ	Ḷ ḷ L l Ł ł	/lˠ/, [ɫ], /lˠʷ/, [ɫʷ]	The spelling ⟨ļw⟩ always represents /lˠʷ/ if it represents a single consonant (as opposed to a cluster). The spelling ⟨ļ⟩ without additional distinction represents both /lˠ/ and /lˠʷ/ when written before any of ⟨o̧ o u⟩ or at the end of a shut syllable.
M m		/mʲ/, [m̘]
M̧ m̧	Ṃ ṃ M m	/mˠ/, [m̙]	The spelling ⟨m̧w⟩ always represents an alternate form of ⟨m̧⟩ when not written as a consonant cluster. In regards to the letter itself, the official ⟨m̧⟩ spelling can be difficult to represent in Unicode as there is no precombined glyph for it. The ad hoc spelling ⟨ṃ⟩ can sometimes be seen in its place.
N n		/nʲ/, [n̘]
Ņ ņ	Ṇ ṇ N n	/nˠ/, [n̙], /nˠʷ/, [n̙ʷ]	The spelling ⟨ņw⟩ always represents /nˠʷ/ if it represents a single consonant (as opposed to a cluster). The spelling ⟨ņ⟩ without additional distinction represents both /nˠ/ and /nˠʷ/ when written before any of ⟨o̧ o u⟩ or at the end of a shut syllable.
N̄ n̄	Ñ ñ Ŋ ŋ	/ŋ/, [ŋ], /ŋʷ/, [ŋʷ]	The spelling ⟨n̄w⟩ always represents /ŋʷ/ if it represents a single consonant (as opposed to a cluster). The spelling ⟨n̄⟩ without additional distinction represents both /ŋ/ and /ŋʷ/ when written before any of ⟨o̧ o u⟩ or at the end of a shut syllable. In regards to the letter itself, the ad hoc ⟨ñ⟩ spelling is almost always used in practice, especially since there is no precombined Unicode glyph for ⟨n̄⟩.
O o		[ɔ, ɔ̯, ɔ͡ɛ, ɔ̯ɛ̯, ɔ͡ʌ, ɔ̯ʌ̯, ɛ͡ɔ, ɛ̯ɔ̯, ʌ͡ɔ, ʌ̯ɔ̯, o, o̯, o͡e, o̯e̯, o͡ɤ, o̯ɤ̯, e͡o, e̯o̯, ɤ͡o, ɤ̯o̯]	May be used for two different phonemes without additional written distinction. Will always be used for the phonemes /ɜ/ and /ɘ/ between two labio-velarized consonants. May also be used in a syllable that begins or ends with /ɦˠʷ/, particularly at the edge of a word.
O̧ o̧	Ọ ọ Ǫ ǫ O o	[ɒ, ɒ̯, ɒ͡æ, ɒ̯æ̯, ɒ͡ɑ, ɒ̯ʕ, æ͡ɒ, æ̯ɒ̯, ɑ͡ɒ, ʕɒ̯]	Will always be used for the phoneme /a/ between two labio-velarized consonants. May also be used in a syllable that begins or ends with /ɦˠʷ/, particularly at the edge of a word. In regards to the letter itself, the official ⟨o̧⟩ spelling can be difficult to represent in Unicode as there is no precombined glyph for it. The ad hoc spellings ⟨ọ⟩ or ⟨ǫ⟩ can sometimes be seen in its place.
Ō ō	Õ õ Ö ö	[ʌ, ʌ̯, ʌ͡ɛ, ʌ̯ɛ̯, ʌ͡ɔ, ʌ̯ɔ̯, ɛ͡ʌ, ɛ̯ʌ̯, ɔ͡ʌ, ɔ̯ʌ̯, ɛ͡ɔ, ɛ̯ɔ̯, ɔ͡ʌ, ɔ̯ʌ̯, ɤ, ɤ̯, ɤ͡e, ɤ̯e̯, ɤ͡o, ɤ̯o̯, e͡ɤ, e̯ɤ̯, o͡ɤ, o̯ɤ̯, e͡o, e̯o̯, o͡ɤ, o̯ɤ̯]	May be used for two different phonemes without additional written distinction. Will always be used for the phonemes /ɜ/ and /ɘ/ between two velarized consonants. May also be used in a syllable that begins or ends with /ɦˠ/, particularly at the edge of a word. May also be used as a neutral symbol for any of [ɛ͡ɔ ɔ͡ɛ e͡o o͡e], despite none of these diphthongs including either [ʌ] or [ɤ] in their articulations.
P p		/pʲ/, [p̘, -b̘-]
R r		/rˠ/, [r̙], /rˠʷ/, [r̙ʷ]	The spelling ⟨rw⟩ always represents /rˠʷ/ if it represents a single consonant (as opposed to a cluster). The spelling ⟨r⟩ without additional distinction represents both /rˠ/ and /rˠʷ/ when written before any of ⟨o̧ o u⟩ or at the end of a shut syllable.
T t		/tˠ/, [t̙, -d̙-]
U u		[u, w, u͡i, wj, u͡ɯ, wɰ, i͡u, jw, ɯ͡u, ɰw]	Will always be used for the phoneme /ɨ/ between two labio-velarized consonants. May also be used in a syllable that begins or ends with /ɦˠʷ/, particularly at the edge of a word.
Ū ū	Ũ ũ Ü ü	[ɯ, ɰ, ɯ͡i, ɰj, ɯ͡u, ɰw, u͡ɯ, wɰ, i͡ɯ, jɰ, i͡u, jw, u͡i, wj]	Will always be used for the phoneme /ɨ/ between two velarized consonants. May also be used in a syllable that begins or ends with /ɦˠ/, particularly at the edge of a word. May also be used as a neutral symbol for [i͡u] or [u͡i], despite neither diphthong including the [ɯ] articulation.
W w		/ɦˠʷ, -ʷ/	Has two uses — as a consonant /ɦˠʷ/ in its own right, or part of the spelling digraphs ⟨bw kw ļw m̧w ņw n̄w rw⟩. Marshallese orthography does not distinguish between these uses.

Marshallese spelling is highly variable. Not only are there multiple orthographies in common use, but spelling is inconsistent within an orthography. For example, ejjelok (no or not) is sometimes spelled ejelok and aoleb is sometimes spelled aolep (final obstruent devoicing). The standard alphabet was introduced in an attempt to bring order to this variation, but even without the standard orthography there is great room for fundamentally different approaches to spelling. Additionally, the orthography does not distinguish between a variety of articulations, and there are many phonetically distinct words with identical spellings that can only be told apart by context.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Marshallese-English Dictionary