Banaban language
| Banaban | |
|---|---|
 Astronaut photo of Banaba | |
| Native to | Kiribati |
| Region | Banaba |
| Era | prior to the late 1890s |
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| ELP | Lua error in Module:Endangered_Languages_Project at line 21: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). |
Banaban was a little-attested extinct Micronesian language previously spoken on the island of Banaba.
Banaban was spoken by the Banaban people prior to the arrival of Captain Walkup of the American Mission Society in the 1890s. His attempts to promote Kiribati as oppose to Banaban because there existed a Kiribati translation of the Bible resulted in Banaban being replaced by Kiribati on the island.[1][2]
It was mutually unintelligible from Kiribati.
Remnants
[edit | edit source]Little sample texts remain from Banaban. The most notable possible remnant is a transcription of a lullaby from the Dalton Family collection, possibly written in Banaban according to Banaban Elders.
Te Karanga, also called the stick dance, is a Banaban war dance. The traditional chants from this dance, which is still practiced, use Banaban words.[3]
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ "Banaban Lost Language"K. Sigrah, Stacey M. King, Banaban Voice, 2001
- ^ "Navigating the complexities of identity as a Banaban"Hele Christopher-Ikimotu, Pasifika Medical Association Group, July 13, 2023
- ^ "IMPORTANCE OF BANABAN DANCE TO PRESERVE HISTORY"Stacy M. King, History, February, 2025
Further reading
[edit | edit source]- Te Rii ni Banaba:backbone of Banaba (2019), Stacey M. King & Raobeia Ken Sigrah