Visitors:

Choa buudoh

Whoever comes from "outside of our island"

"Good Morning"

Mwommwaay llemaaeliyel

"Good Night"

Sa bong

It is night time

Hale maesoer

You go to sleep

Welcome

Buudoh hobe mongoay

Come and eat

"Thank you"

Hosa hachigchig

"You're welcome"

Tooar

"It's nothing"

"Come in"

Buulaong

"Goodbye"

Sa ilae

"Thank you for coming"

Hosa hachigchig irel yamw buudoh

"Please help me"

Faael pecheemw ngoa hobe tipngiyey

"Under your feet help me"

"How are you"

Hosa heeatfae?

"I'm fine"

Ffaaoroey choeg

"As usual"

Different Administrative Eras

Wolmwool means "during the time of"...

Spanish period

Wolmwool Spaeyyool’

German period

Wolmwool Chiyaaman

Japanese period

Wolmwool Saapaan

American period

Wolmwool Maerikeen

Independent

Siyae chiuy moa faaelpaaol...

"Set free from under this arm" (whichever colonial power)

Other Terms:

Government

Aam

Law

Hatoabtoab

Boundary

Hasiisiyae

Community land

Bugtael buwa

Clan's land

Bugtael haaleng

Individual landowner

Semael moa semael lea yoor bugtal’

Inter-linearly: "one person and one person who owns land"

Foreigners

Repeegwey

Those who are "facing the
other side"

Reepsaech

Those of lighter skin color

Yaremtael meadaaw

People of "far away" places.

Disease

Maaes

Dead person; disease; germs; cause of sickness

Sickness

Temwaay

Sick; ill; disease in general

Epidemic

Yoamwaching; Temwaay; Maaes

Doctor

Taaogta

from the English "doctor"

Health, healthy

Kofal’
W ommwaay kofal’

Mariano adds the following explanatory note about the terms for sickness and disease:

"Maaes refers to disease, germs, and the cause of sickness. Temwaay means sick, ill, or disease in general. If you're talking about a headache, you're talking about temwaay. If you're talking about chicken pox then you mean maaes. Yoamwaching, "epidemic" literally means "an old string or line or twine that breaks off easilly," meaning that's how easily people's lives break off. So it is a type of sickness that has claimed more than two lives. Two lives can be tolerated in these islands since the population is small. So besides many lives lost during a war, people who just lay down and die is the talk of
every household."

Note on Pronunciation: This is a brief outline of some of the spelling and pronunciation issues for Ulithian orthography. Its intention is to help readers to better pronounce the many Ulithian words used in this web-site.

• The letters of the consonants are b, ch, d, f, g, h, k, l, l', m, mw, n, ng, p, r, s, t, w and y.

• B is pronounced as bw anywhere it appears, as there is no b as in English "boy" in the Ulithian language, unless it is a borrowed word.

• D is pronounced like th wherever it appears. Ulithians do not have the English sound of d as in "dog," however, they're using the symbol D to represent the th sound.

• Ch is pronounced as ch, unlike the Palauan language where ch represents a sort of glottal stop. There are no glottal stops in the Ulithian language.

• When consonants are doubled, it indicates that the sound in stressed or emphasized.

• Some consonants are already doubled—ch, mw, ng—so when stressing, the symbol in the initial position is doubled. E.g., ch–cch, mw–mmw, ng–nng.

• The consonants g and h, when used at the beginning of a verb, automatically become K.

• When vowels are doubled, it indicates that the sound is held longer.