Marshallese Language Training Manual - Linguistics

MARSHALLESE LANGUAGE TRAINING BOOKLET
NOTES TO THE TEACHER
The materials constituting the present work were written to
teach Peace Corps Volunteers those aspects of the Marshallese
Language relevant to their teaching assignments in outer-island
schools. While this material was designed specifically with regard to
teachers of grades 1-3 (R.M.I. 9, June 1992), it should also prove
useful to those working with older students and to those in
administrative positions.
The standard spelling as defined by the Marshallese-English
Dictionary (M.E.D.) of Bender et al. has been used throughout this
work. The importance of all students and teachers using the same
spelling system cannot be overemphasized, as this will eliminate
much confusion and hasten the learning process. Since the literal
meaning of all words has been given in the sublinear grammatical
notes at every occurrence throughout the present work, the students
should initially have no need to resort to the M.E.D. Therefore, the
M.E.D. may be withheld until a later stage of the language training.
At the time that it is introduced the students should be instructed to
read the M.E.D.'s introduction, particularly section 2c. (page xv) and
section 7 (page xxix) , where the neutral dialect spelling system used
for "double consonant words", and other difficult aspects of the
dictionary's use are explained.
While Spoken Marshallese (Bender, University of Hawaii, 1969)
has been the definitive work on Marshallese grammar and syntax
since its publication, many readers have found it difficult, to say the
least. Bender's subsequent work on the M.E.D. has in fact rendered
present editions of Spoken Marshallese obsolete. Until a new edition
is published, however, it is best not to totally neglect S.M. as has
been done in past language trainings, for the work even as it stands
is far too valuable a resource.
The principal difficulty in the use of S.M. involves the fact that
all the dialogue materials are written twice, in two adjacent columns.
In the left hand column a traditional spelling system is used (which
is, however, different from that used in the M.E.D. ) , and on the right
the phonemic system of transcription is used to more consistently
depict the actual pronunciation of Marshallese. The use of both these
systems would not be quite so bewildering if the M.E.D. did not
introduce yet a third spelling system on top of these. Although the
differences between the traditional spellings in S.M. and the
reformed standard spelling of the M.E.D. are not large, they do
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