Nauruan

NAU

wider communication

Status Notes: De facto national working language.

Genealogy:

Austronesian
Malayo-Polynesian
Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian
Eastern Malayo-Polynesian
Oceanic
Central-Eastern Oceanic
Remote Oceanic
Micronesian
Nauruan

Demographics: 6,000 (Bender and Rehg 1991), decreasing. L2 users: 1,000.

Language Use: Children not learning it anymore (Wurm 2007). Mainly adults. Almost all are bilingual in English [eng]. Used as L2 by Kiribati [gil], Kosraean [kos], Marshallese [mah], Tuvaluan [tvl].

Language Development: School attendance required from age 6 to 17. Literacy is high. Bible: 1918.

Spoken In: Nauru

Writing System: Latin

Nation of Origin: Nauru

Other Comments: Christian.