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39-603: Bonriki is a settlement on Tarawa atoll , Kiribati , near Temwaiku and is part of the municipality of South Tarawa . It is in the south-east of South Tarawa. Bonriki International Airport , one of two international airports in Kiribati, is located here. One of the first roads linking islands together in Tarawa connects Bonriki to Bikenibeu . 1°22′20″N 173°09′09″E  /  1.37222°N 173.15250°E  / 1.37222; 173.15250 This Kiribati location article

78-579: A Catholic priest. It was later partially translated into English by Sister Olivia, with the help of the South Pacific Commission . Over 96% of the 119,000 people living in Kiribati declare themselves I-Kiribati and speak Gilbertese. Gilbertese is also spoken by most inhabitants of Nui ( Tuvalu ), Rabi Island ( Fiji ), and some other islands where I-Kiribati have been relocated ( Solomon Islands , notably Choiseul Province ; and Vanuatu ), after

117-584: A French priest in Tahiti wrote in 1888, Vocabulaire arorai (îles Gilbert) précédé de notes grammaticales d'après un manuscrit du P. Latium Levêque et le travail de Hale sur la langue Tarawa / par le P. A. C. . Father Levêque named the Gilbertese Arorai (from Arorae ) when Horatio Hale called them Tarawa . This work was also based on the first known description of Gilbertese in English, published in 1846, in

156-528: A drift Gilbertese of Kuria , that they found near Tabiteuea . However, it was not until Hiram Bingham II took up missionary work on Abaiang in the 1860s that the language began to take on the written form known now. Bingham was the first to translate the Bible into Gilbertese, and wrote several hymn books, a dictionary (1908, posthumous) and commentaries in the language of the Gilbert Islands. Alphonse Colomb,

195-430: A morphological noun-marker system. This means that—by itself—a noun cannot be identified as such. However, singular nouns can be distinguished from other words, as they are preceded by the article "te". However, not all singular nouns can take the article. These include names of people and places, words for cardinal directions, and other specific nouns. Any noun can be formed from a verb or an adjective by preceding it with

234-415: A sleeping mat twenty-five years later, described the situation: "In those days death was on the right hand and on the left. If we wandered north, we were killed or raped. If we wandered south, we were killed or raped. If we returned alive from walking abroad, our husbands themselves killed us, for they said that we had gone forth seeking to be raped. That was indeed just, for a woman who disobeys her husband

273-409: A string of islets from Buariki in the north to Buota in the south. The islets are separated in places by wide channels that are best crossed at low tide, and there is a ferry service between Buota and Abatao. Only Buota is connected by road to South Tarawa, via a bridge. On South Tarawa , the construction of causeways has now created a single strip of land from Betio in the west to Tanaea in

312-416: Is 'te' before names beginning with <i, u, w, b', ng>, 'tem' before <b, m>, 'ten' before <a, e, o, n, r, t> and 'teng' before <k, (ng)>. Pronouns have different forms according to case: nominative (subject), accusative (object), emphatic (vocatives, adjunct pronouns), genitive (possessives). The Gilbertese language employs a system of demonstratives to indicate the spatial proximity of

351-554: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Tarawa Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati , in the Micronesia region of the central Pacific Ocean. It comprises North Tarawa , which has 6,629 inhabitants and much in common with other more remote islands of the Gilbert group , and South Tarawa , which has 56,388 inhabitants as of 2015 , half of

390-543: Is a woman of no account, and it matters not how she dies. Yet how beautiful is life in our villages, now that there is no killing and war is no more... Behold my son and my grandson! These would have died with me that day at Nea if the warship had not arrived. And these"-she pointed out her great and great-great-grandchildren-"would never have been born. We live because the Government of Kuini Kabitoria brought peace to us, and here I sit plaiting this mat to be buried in because of

429-481: Is an exception. The article te also acts as a nominalizer , transforming adjectives into nouns. While te marks singular nouns, the language possesses a plural article taian . However, its use is restricted to countable nouns inherently implying plurality. Collective nouns typically don't take taian . In certain situations, when plurality is evident from surrounding words, taian can be omitted. The personal articles are used before personal names. The masculine form

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468-464: Is closer to [ä] except after velarized /mˠ/ and /pˠ/ . Quantity is distinctive for vowels and plain nasal consonants but not for the remaining sounds so that ana /ana/ (third person singular article) contrasts with aana /aːna/ ( transl.  its underside ) as well as anna /anːa/ ( transl.  dry land ). Other minimal pairs include: Gilbertese has a basic verb–object–subject word order (VOS). Gilbertese lacks

507-479: Is not equal to that of your brother. ) Superlatives are formed with the intensifier moan and the article te preceding the adjective. For example, raoiroi (“good”) becomes moan te raoiroi (“the best”). Verbs do not conjugate according to person, number, tense, aspect or mood. These verbal categories are indicated by particles . Nonetheless, a passive suffix -aki is used as in: Any adjective can also be an intransitive verb. Transitive verbs can be formed by

546-795: The Phoenix Islands Settlement Scheme or emigrated (to New Zealand and Hawaii mainly). 97% of those living in Kiribati are able to read in Gilbertese, and 80% are able to read English . It is one of the Oceanic languages. The largest individual Oceanic languages are Eastern Fijian with over 600,000 speakers, and Samoan with an estimated 400,000 speakers. The Gilbertese, Tongan , Tahitian , Māori , Western Fijian and Tolai ( Gazelle Peninsula ) languages each have over 100,000 speakers. In 2020 Finlayson Park School in Auckland became

585-574: The Gilbertese) are still excellent seafarers, capable of making ocean crossings in locally made vessels using traditional navigation techniques. Thomas Gilbert , captain of the East India Company vessel Charlotte , was the first European to describe Tarawa, arriving on 20 June 1788. He did not land. He named it Matthew Island, after the owner of his ship Charlotte . He named the lagoon Charlotte Bay. Gilbert's 1788 sketches survive. The island

624-613: The Island. The Kiribati Government began a road restoration project funded in part by the World Bank in 2014 to re-surface the main road from Betio in the west to Bonriki in the east, upgrading the main road that transits Tarawa from a dirt road. As of 2018, all that remained to be completed of this project was the sealing of the Japanese Causeway, connecting Bairiki and Betio, done in 2019. Gilbertese language The word Kiribati ,

663-429: The adverb riki (“more”) after the adjective (e.g., ririeta (“high”) becomes ririeta riki (“higher”)). Expressing “better than” requires the preposition nakon (“than”) along with a construction that compares the noun-like qualities derived from the adjectives: E aki bootau an aakoi tar im. E aki bootau an aakoi tar im. You are not as kind as your brother. (lit. Your kindness

702-521: The annual average is 3,000 mm (120 in) in the north and 500 mm (20 in) in the south of the Gilbert Islands. Most of these islands are in the dry belt of the equatorial oceanic climatic zone and experience prolonged droughts. Tarawa atoll has three administrative subdivisions: Betio Town Council (or BTC), on Betio Islet; Teinainano Urban Council  [ it ] (or TUC), from Bairiki to Tanaea; and Eutan Tarawa Council (or ETC), for North Tarawa or Tarawa Ieta , consisting of all

741-420: The article "te". Nouns can be marked for possession (by person and number). Plurality is only marked in some nouns by lengthening the first vowel. Even then, the singular form might be used—despite plural referents—if no other indicators of their plurality are present. There is no obligatory marked gender. Sex or gender can be marked by adding mmwaane (male) or aiine (female) to the noun. For human nouns,

780-687: The atoll. The Marines captured the island after 76 hours of intense fighting that killed 6,000 people in total. The fierce fighting was the subject of a documentary film produced by the Combat Photographers of the Second Marine Division entitled With the Marines at Tarawa . It was released in March 1944 at the insistence of President Roosevelt . It became the first time many Americans viewed American servicemen dead on film. . The US built bases on

819-605: The country's total population. The atoll was the site of the Battle of Tarawa during World War II . Tarawa is an old Gilbertese form for Te Rawa , meaning "The Passage" (of the Lagoon), named for the unusual large ship channel to the lagoon. In the popular etymology based on Kiribati mythology , Nareau , the God-spider, distinguished Karawa , the sky, from Marawa , the Sea, from Tarawa ,

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858-896: The current name of the islands, is the local adaptation of the European name "Gilberts" to Gilbertese phonology . Early European visitors, including Commodore John Byron , whose ships happened on Nikunau in 1765, had named some of the islands the Kingsmill or Kings Mill Islands or for the Northern group les îles Mulgrave in French but in 1820 they were renamed, in French, les îles Gilbert by Admiral Adam Johann von Krusenstern , after Captain Thomas Gilbert , who, along with Captain John Marshall , had passed through some of these islands in 1788. Frequenting of

897-659: The first school in New Zealand to set up a Gilbertese language unit, where Erika Taeang was employed as the teacher. The Gilbertese language has two main dialects , Northern and Southern. Their main differences are in the pronunciation of some sounds. The islands of Butaritari and Makin also have their own dialect that differs from the standard Kiribati in some vocabulary and pronunciation. Sometimes when reflecting Proto-Micronesian /t/ . Sometimes when reflecting Proto-Micronesian /k/ . Gilbertese contrasts 13 consonants and 10 vowel sounds. The /a/ pronunciation

936-466: The high commissions of Australia and New Zealand. The United Nations are also present in Kiribati, including UNICEF , UNDP , UNFPA , UNOPS , UN Women , WHO and FAO . In Kiribati mythology, Tarawa was the earth when the land, ocean and sky had not been cleaved yet by Nareau the spider. Thus, after calling the sky karawa and the ocean marawa , he called the piece of rock that Riiki (another god that Nareau found) had stood upon when he lifted up

975-454: The islands by Europeans, Americans and Chinese dates from whaling and oil trading from the 1820s, when no doubt Europeans learnt to speak it, as Gilbertese learnt to speak English and other languages foreign to them. The first ever vocabulary list of Gilbertese was published by the French Revue coloniale (1847) by an auxiliary surgeon on corvette Le Rhin in 1845. His warship took on board

1014-660: The islets on the east side from Buota northwards. The meaning of Te inainano in Gilbertese language is "down of the mast", alluding to the sail-shape of the atoll South Tarawa hosts the capital of the Republic of Kiribati and was also the central headquarters of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands since 1895. The House of Assembly is in Ambo, and the State House is in Bairiki . The offices of

1053-473: The kindness of that woman, with all my generations around me to wrap me in it when I die." The aftermath of land claims and counter-claims between Auatubu and Teabike nevertheless caused high tension for years afterwards. Charles Richard Swayne , the first Resident Commissioner , decided to install the central headquarters of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands protectorate in Tarawa in 1895. Tarawa Post Office opened on 1 January 1911. Sir Arthur Grimble

1092-500: The land. Tarawa has a large lagoon , 500 square kilometres (193 square miles) in total area, and a wide reef. The lagoon is widely open to the ocean, with a large ship pass. Although naturally abundant in fish and shellfish of all kinds, marine resources are being strained by the large and growing population. Drought is frequent, but in normal years rainfall is sufficient to maintain breadfruit , papaya and banana trees as well as coconut and pandanus . North Tarawa consists of

1131-799: The language are never considered to be inalienable. The meanings of certain words may vary according to whether or not they are considered alienable. Adjectives can also be formed from nouns by reduplication with the meaning of "abundant in", e.g., karau ("rain"), kakarau ("rainy"). There are two articles used in Gilbertese: Neither of them implies definiteness, therefore both can be translated as "a(n)" and "the". When preceding collective nouns or names of substances, "te" can be translated as "some." A limited set of nouns, typically referring to unique entities, dispense with te . This includes words like taai “ sun”, karawa “sky”, taari/marawa “sea”, among others. Interestingly, Te Atua , “God”,

1170-427: The linker 'n' may be used. Agent nouns can be created with the particle tia (singular) or taan(i) (plural). In Gilbertese, nouns can be classified as either animate or inanimate . The category of animate nouns includes humans and most animals, whereas inanimate nouns refer to all other entities. Possession , when the possessor is inanimate, is marked with the "n" clitic. In writing, it may be joined with

1209-529: The northeast. Previously, Benito, the site of the battle of Tarawa , was only 291 acres in size. Tarawa features a tropical rainforest climate under the Köppen climate classification . The climate is pleasant from April to October, with predominant northeastern winds and stable temperatures close to 30 °C (86 °F). From November to March, western gales bring rain and occasional cyclones . Precipitation varies significantly between islands. For example,

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1248-756: The past. Ngkana is used for situations whereof the outcome or truth is not yet known. While they share many similarities with intransitive verbs, there are a few patterns that can be observed among adjectives. Many adjectives, such a s mainaina (“white”), contain a repeated element. While some non-reduplicated adjectives exist, reduplication appears to be dominant. Nouns typically lengthen their first vowel to indicate plural. Conversely, adjectives tend to shorten their first vowel for pluralization (e.g., anaanau (long - singular) becomes ananau (long - plural)). Gilbertese employs distinct strategies for forming comparative and superlative constructions. Comparatives are relatively straightforward, achieved by adding

1287-468: The previous word, or written separately. In cases where the "n" marker would be otherwise incompatible with the language's phonotactics, one might use "in" or "ni" instead. In phrases where the possessor is animate, a special possessive pronoun needs to be employed (see Pronouns ). Nouns can also be classified as alienable or inalienable . Inalienable nouns include, among others, parts of the body, family, and feelings. Words which are newly introduced into

1326-443: The referent to the speaker. These demonstratives are postnominal, meaning they follow the noun they modify. The feminine demonstrative has no plural form, as opposed to the masculine, and the human plural encapsulates groups of mixed gender. Adverbial pronouns also have a three-way distinction of distance: proximal, medial and distal . Ngke is used for hypothetical scenarios that would have an effect today, have they changed in

1365-510: The sky as, Tarawa . Nareau then created the rest of the islands in Kiribati and also Samoa. Gilbertese arrived at these islands thousands of years ago, and there have been migrations to and from Gilbert Islands since antiquity. Evidence from a range of sources, including carbon dating and DNA analyses, confirms that the exploration of the Pacific included settlement of the Gilbert Islands by around 200 BC. The people of Tungaru (native name of

1404-417: The various ministries of the government range from Betio at the south-west extreme to Nawerewere (on an easterly island in its chain), close to Bonriki (International Airport) and Temwaiku . Settlements on North Tarawa include Buariki , Abaokoro , Marenanuka and Taborio . Four resident diplomatic missions exist: the embassies of China (closed in 2003, re-opened in 2020) and Japan (opened in 2023), and

1443-494: The volume Ethnology and Philology of the U.S. Exploring Expedition , compiled by Horatio Hale . The official name of the language is te taetae ni Kiribati , or 'the Gilbertese language', but the common name is te taetae n aomata , or 'the language of the people'. The first complete and comprehensive description of this language was published in Dictionnaire gilbertin–français of Father Ernest Sabatier (981 pp, 1952–1954),

1482-611: Was a cadet administrative officer based at Tarawa (1913–1919). He became Resident Commissioner of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony in 1926. During World War II , Tarawa was occupied by the Japanese , and beginning on 20 November 1943 it was the scene of the bloody Battle of Tarawa . On that day U.S. Marines landed on Tarawa and fought Japanese Marines of the Special Naval Landing Forces occupying entrenched positions on

1521-598: Was surveyed in 1841 by the US Exploring Expedition . For nine generations, the island was divided between two warring factions, the House of Auatubu and the House of Teabike, until in 1892 HMS Royalist (1883) arrived, with Captain Edward Davis proclaiming that the island was now a British Protectorate . This saved Auatubu from massacre; the day before, they had been badly defeated by Teabike. A very old lady, plaiting

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