Kapingamarangi is a Polynesian language spoken in the Federated States of Micronesia. It had 3,000 native speakers in 1995. The language is closely related to the Nukuoro language. Introduction History The Kapingamarangi language is a language spoken on islands in the Pacific Ocean by people from Kapingamarangi, the Pohnpei Island, and in the Pohnrakied village in Pohnpei. A small number of Kapingamarangi speakers are also found on other nearby islands, or in communities around the world to which they have immigrated. Kapingamarangi was first recorded on an expedition in 1557 by Spanish navigator . Kapingamarangi, also known as Kirinit, is categorized in the Austronesian language family, along with many other Pacific languages. The Kapingamarangi language is spoken not only on the atoll of Kapingamarangi, but also in the village of Pohnrakied, located on the island of Pohnpei. Population Kapingamarangi currently has three thousand total speakers: one thousand speakers on the atoll of Kapingamarangi and two thousand speakers in Pohnrakied village on Pohnpei. The people of Kapingamarangi are considered by Lieber and Dikepa to be of Polynesian ethnicity; the other seven states of the Federated States of Micronesia are categorized as being Micronesian. The language status of Kapingamarangi is "educational", which means that the language is in vigorous use, maintaining standardization and literature throughout a widespread system in institutions of education. The language has been developed to a point that it is used and sustained in people's homes and around the community. Alphabet A, B, D, E, G, H, I, K, L, M, N, Ng, O, P, T, U, W Long vowels are written with double vowels. The Lieber-Dikepa lexicon also uses double consonants to represent the aspirated consonants in certain cases, namely nasals (where doubled ng is nng), w, h, and l. Phonology Consonants Kapingamarangi has 18 consonants: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and . Vowels The main vowels in Kapingamarangi are , , , , and . In the Kapingamarangi language, the vowels can be described as long or short vowels. A long vowel means that the vowel sound is stressed more in a word when spoken and held out for longer. The long vowels are written by writing two of the same letters next to each other. Therefore, the Kapingamarangi language is composed of ten vowels. ex. 'bird' 'small' or 'little' Kapingamarangi vowel phonemes have diphthongs