Marshallese language
The Marshallese language (Marshallese: Kajin M̧ajeļ) or Ebon is a Malayo-Polynesian language of the Marshall Islands.
Information on Marshallese is scant but it appears to have had a change of orthography in recent times. It is written in a form of the latin script with some very unusual diacritic combinations.
Here is the (current) alphabet:
- 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
Here is the Hail Mary in Marshallese Unicode. to see how it should look with all the diacritics in place.
- Io̧kwe eok Maria, kwo lōn̄ kōn
- menin jouj;
- Iroo ej pād ippam̧.
- Kwo jeram̧m̧an iaan kōrā raņ im
- ejeram̧m̧an ineen lo̧jiōm̧, Jesus.
- O Maria kwojarar, jinen Anij,
- kwōn jar kōn kem rijjerawiwi.
- Kiiō im ilo iien
- amwōj mej. Amen.
One Marshallese word is yokwe, which means both hello and good-bye. It also means love. (Compare Hawaiian aloha.) This word may also be written lakwe and io̧kwe.
