The Japanese Language in Palau
Daniel Long & Keisuke Imamura
with assistance from Masaharu TmodrangSupervising Editor Shinji Sanada
Nara University

2013
National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics
Tokyo

1

Foreword
In this report we examine the state of the Japanese language, in manyvarious forms, in modern day Palau (Belau).

The science of linguistics

generally concentrates on language in its spoken form, and rightly so, but inthis report we have made a special effort to include visual illustrations ofpoints we are trying to make about spoken language usage by the inclusion ofphotographs of signage, in other examples of written language such as thosefound in Palau’s linguistic landscape.
Concerning the report’s title, “The Japanese Language in Palau”, we havedefined this term to include as many relevant phenomena as possible. We
discuss characteristics of Japanese as a language system as it is used in Palau.
Some of these characteristics are vestiges of native Japanese dialects, whilesome show the effects of Japanese having been acquired as a foreign language
by Palauans.

Furthermore, we include peripheral phenomena such as proper

nouns – names of places and people – of Japanese origin.

We also examine

Japanese-origin loanwords used in the Palauan language.

We examine

writing as well, with examples of how Japanese kana script is used to write the
Palauan language.

2

Table of Contents
1. Historical background1.1. Japanese territorial expansion in the Pacific1.2. Japanese language educational policy
2.

The usage of Japanese names in Palau
2.1. Japanese surnames among Palauans of Japanese descent2.2. Japanese surnames among ethnic Palauans
2.3. Japanese surnames with –san affixed
2.4. Palauan Surnames based on Japanese given names
2.5. Japanese Given names used among ethnic Palauans
2.6. Formation of Nicknames in Palau3.

The usage of Japanese place names in Palau

4. Palauan words of Japanese origin (loanwords)
4.1. Use of Japanese loanwords for foods
4.2. Use of Japanese loanwords for concrete nouns
4.3. Use of Japanese loanwords for abstract nouns
4.4 Japanese loanwords in adjectives
4.5 Japanese loanwords for technical vocabulary
5.

The Current Usage of Japanese Loanwords in Palauan

6.

The Usage of Japanese writing in Palau

7. Japanese as a Constitutionally Recognized Official Language in Palau
8. Japanese Language in the Linguascape of Palau
8.1. Signage for Japanese tourists
8.2. Non-native errors in Japanese Signage
8.3. Prestigious use of Japanese in everyday products
9. Japanese Language Retention in pre-war speakers
10. Japanese “pidginoid” of post-war speakers of Angaur
11. A Century of Japanese Language and Culture in Palau
Bibliography31.

Historical Background1.1. Japanese Territorial Expansion in the PacificArcheological evidence indicates that the islands of Palau were inhabited as

early as 1000 B.C. Linguistic relationships indicate that these people camefrom Sunda in modern-day Indonesia. Ceramics found in Palauan caves havebeen dated to 640 B.C. Some money beads used on Palau are thought to havebeen manufactured in Indonesia as early as 600 A.D. suggesting continuing
trade with that region (Etpison 2004:59).
European (and thus European language) influences in Palau date backcenturies. Although some European explorers may have spotted the islands
centuries earlier, the first major contact with Europeans was in 1783.
Nonetheless Europeans interest in the islands was extremely limited until 1885,
when the Spanish asserted their claim over the other foreign powers lurking in
the region. The Germans took over in 1899 when Spanish power worldwide
was diminished as a result of the Spanish-American War on the opposite sideof the globe. The Japanese influence in Palau dates back to the 1890’s when
traders and merchants such as Yokō Tōsaku began to make their way to Palau.
Land purchases on Palau made by his company Tōshinsha date back to the
Spanish Era (Peattie 1988:22-24).

During the chaos of World War I, Japan

took Palau from the Germans (1914) and this occupation was subsequently
recognized by the League of Nations (1919).

1.2. Japanese Language Educational Policy
Japanese language education in Palau began in 1914 as soon as theJapanese took over the islands. Neither the Spanish nor the Germans had
attempted to establish a comprehensive school system for the locals (although
missionaries had established some schools), but under the Japanese acomprehensive system of education in the Japanese language was establishedfor native Palauans.

From 1917, textbooks for teaching Japanese to the new

South Sea islander members of the empire were published (Figure 1).

4Pictures and some vocabulary reflect the local environment (Figure 1).
Education conducted in Japanese continued until the end of the Second WorldWar.

Figure 1. Textbook for non-native speakers of Japanese5

2.

The Usage of Japanese Names in Palau
2.1. Japanese surnames among Palauans of Japanesedescent
We will examine five topics concerning the use of Japanese names in Palau.

The first three deal with surnames (last names). In Palau one finds many
people with Japanese surnames.

Some of these people have Japanese

ancestors, such as the proprietors of Asanuma Enterprise or Yano Store,
prominent businesses in Koror.

Many other prominent Palauans, including

the family which produced President Kuniwo Nakamura (1992-2000), haveJapanese roots. In Palau, one occasionally sees the names of Palauans written
in kanji. Although Japanese themselves write their names in the Westernorder when they use romanization, they never do so when using kanji, so to see
kanji representations in which the surname comes after the given name is quite
an unusual sight.

Figure 2 shows the stone of two Palauan men who passed

away in the 1970s, engraved 三郎和地 (Saburo Wachi) and 正美浅沼
(Masami Asanuma) with the surnames last.

Figure 2. Japanese name of Palauan people written in Western order
In a television interview for the Open University of Japan (filmed
2010/9/17; initially broadcast 2011/7/1), former Palauan Senator Santy
Asanuma told the author (Long) about his grandfather who came from Hachijo
Island.

Indeed Asanuma is a common Hachijo name.

Because of theimmigration history (Long & Imamura 2013), Okinawan names are also

6

prominent in Palau.

In the same educational television show, Long alsointerviewed Ms. Humiko Kingzio (金城文子) who spoke of her Okinawan
ancestry.

Her surname is indeed one of the most widespread in Okinawa.

2.2. Japanese Surnames among ethnic Palauans
Although the presence of Japanese surnames in Palau is interesting, it isobviously not unique. Admittedly one finds Japanese surnames in abundancein places like Sao Paulo, Honolulu or Vancouver as well. What makes the
profusion of Japanese surnames in Palauans remarkable is that many Palauans
with Japanese surnames make no claim to Japanese ancestry.

Two suchpeople were interviewed by Long for the Open University of Japan educational
television show mentioned above.

Mr. Olkeriil Kazuo described how his

family came to have that Japanese surname, and Mrs. Remusei Tabelual
explained about her adopting the name Fumiko Horikomi during her years ofstudy in Japan during World War II.
The widespread adoption of Japanese names is unique to Palau even among
the former South Seas (Nan’yo-cho) colonies of Japan, those islands which are
now the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, the Federated States ofMicronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

In places such as

Saipan, islanders had adopted the practice of surnames during the Spanish era.
Hence when the Japanese took over, islanders had already taken Spanish
surnames and had no need of adopting Japanese ones. The situation of the
Palauans was similar in that they did not have a tradition of using surnames(individuals belong to maternal clans but this is not part of one’s name), but
the laissez-faire administration of the Spanish and Germans in Palau meantthat islanders still had not adapted surnames when the Japanese arrived.
Modern civil government practices, such as birth certification, marriage
licenses, property inheritance, taxes, etc., required the adoption of surnames,
and under the Japanese administration Palauans began to use them.
Some chose traditional Palauan names or words for their surnames, such as

7

Olkeriil or Remengesau but others chose Japanese names. Thus today wefind Japanese surnames even among families with no Japanese blood. For
example, in an oral history collection compiled by Maki Mita (2009), one
woman speaks of her father’s job possibilities being limited because he was
Palauan, so we can be certain her family is not of Japanese descent.
Nonetheless, the family’s surname is Kazuma.

This is an example ofPalauans adopting a Japanese given name for their own surname. Next wewill examine two more related phenomena.

2.3. Japanese surnames with –sang affixed
In Palau, there are a notable number of families with Japanese surnames towhich the Japanese term of respect -san, (the equivalent of the English Mr.,
Mrs., etc.) has been permanently affixed.
phonological reasons.

In Palauan it becomes –sang for

If one visits the Belau National Museum, one finds thesurnames Oikawasang and Yamazakisang among the exhibits, but these names
are not found in current phone directories and all information the authors havebeen able to gather from Palauans indicates that these surnames have not been
carried down to the present.

Other names are quite visible in Palau.

One

prominent Palauan family with such a name is the Katosangs, which haveproduced Senators and cabinet ministers (Figure 3).

8

Figure 3. Surnames fused with Japanese respect term -sang

2.4. Palauan Surnames based on Japanese given names
Many Palauan families have surnames which come from Japanese given
names (what in English are referred to as “first names”). One such person
appearing in the television interviews mentioned above is Mr. Olkeriil Kazuo.
The name Kazuo is a given name in Japan, not a surname, but his family hastaken it as their surname.

Many prominent families in Palau such as the

Umetaro family, which has produced past cabinet ministers, have such “firstnames for last names” (Figure 4). Other Palauan surnames derived fromJapanese given names include Hideo, Hideyos, Ichiro, Kikuo, Kintaro, Kioshi,
Koichi, Kotaro, Masaharu, Nobuo, Tadao, Saburo, Sadao and many others.

Figure 4. Election poster for Mr. Warren S. Umetaro

92.5. Japanese Given names used among Palauans
One does not have to search long to find Japanese given names used in
Palau. When one author (Long) wanted to interview Palauans with Japanesenames for a Japanese educational show in 2010, he had only to stand in frontof a Koror convenience store for a half hour and ask customers their names tofind a half dozen such people to interview.

A simple walk about town shows

the abundance of Japanese given names in Palau. The photo on the left in
Figure 5 shows a Japanese given name in the name Singichi Ikesakes
Memorial Law Library. On the right is a senate election poster for Masayuki“Yuki” Adelbai.

The list of former Palauan Presidents and Koror High

Chiefs (Ibedul) include names like Haruo Remeliik and Yutaka M. Gibbons.

Figure 5. Japanese given names used in Palau
Below we will examine the following topics: (1) Japanese given names
among Palauans born during the Japanese era, (2) Japanese given names
among Palauans born in the 1980s and 1990s, (3) Japanese surnames used asgiven names in Palau, (4) the use of Japanese words as given names, and (5)the formation of new given names on the basis of Japanese-sounding models.
Many elderly Palauans’ given name consists only of a Japanese name, or ofa Japanese name used they use alongside their Palauan given name.

This istrue not only Palauans with Japanese ancestry but among ethnic Palauans as
well.

10

Such people are among those the authors have met and interviewed

personally such as Sato Remoket, Tokie Morei and Remusei Fumiko Tabelual.
Since these people were born during the Japanese reign, it is easy to explain
their parents’ inclination towards Japanese names.
There are innumerable cases of Japanese given names among young people
today as well. A look at high school class yearbooks reveals the following
given names for Palauans born in the late 1980s and 1990s: Kazue, Tamae,
Katsumi, Sato and Yamato.
In the previous section we saw that Japanese given names have become
surnames in Palau.

We also find the opposite phenomenon as well, in which

Japanese surnames are used as given names in Palau. A look at the 2010
Palauan telephone directory reveals that the Ongklungel family has anindividual name Okada, and the Mtoched family a person whose given name is
Yamamoto.

Other individuals have given names such as Yanagi, Koshiba,

Oda, Morimatz, Oyama, Ongino, Okada, Katosang, Simane, Yashiro and
Yamada.

In certain cases these phenomena even coincide to produce theunusual situation of an individual who names appear to Japanese people
completely reversed.

We saw in the last section that Palau has the Nobuo

family and the Ichiro family.

A look at the 2010 Palauan telephone directory

reveals individuals in these families named Matsuoka Nobuo and Tani Ichiro.
In the interest of clarity, we reiterate that in Japan Matsuoka and Tani aresurnames while Nobuo and Ichiro are common given names.
It is a common observation that linguistic norms are less stringent among
non-natives than among native populations.

This laxness is evident when

Palauans select Japanese given names for their children as well.

Of course,

one finds unusual given names in Japan as well, but in Japan one might
encounter such names once in a thousand or in ten thousand people, whereas in
the tiny population of Palau, it takes no effort at all to find such unusual names.
One finds Palauans with Japanese common nouns such as Shogun and Oiran,for example, as their given names.
Finally, not only does one find Palauans who have Japanese given names

11like Masaharu and Hideko, but also people who have “Japanese-sounding”
names which are non-existent (or at the least, extremely rare) in Japan, such as
Tumiko (Wahl 2000: 183), Hinao, Kasko, Kazumoto, Kirino, Mitaro, Naemi,
Nagomi, Nanumi, Otoichi, Sieko, Umai, Urako, Yosuko and Yonami (2010
Palauan telephone directory).

2.6. Formation of Nicknames in Palaua
Another feature which we found interesting is the manner in which given
names are abbreviated to form nicknames in Palau.

In Japanese, as inEnglish, the more common way to do this is to use the beginning of the nameand omit the end. This is how Pat or Jo(e) are derived from Patrick/Patricia
and Joseph/Josephine. True, Western languages can shorten Elizabeth to Liz
or Beth and Antonio to Tony, but these posterior shortening seem less common
than the anterior ones.

In Palau one finds an abundance of this type of

posterior-type truncations. Such people use the latter half of their names
rather than the former half of their names to form nicknames.

For example,

Olympia becomes Pia, Elizabeth to Sabeth, and Faustina becomes Tina.

Inthe English world, if Victorio was truncated it would likely be to Vic, but in
Palau, it becomes Torio.
This is an example of how Palauan culture has retained it own charactereven in the midst of Japanese and English influences. While Palau shows an
openness to importing names from different languages, it does not simply
conform to all the practices involved with naming in those cultures. One of
the main sources of names may be foreign cultures, but Palauans nonethelesshave their own way of abbreviating these names which differs from the way
used with the original names.

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3.

The Usage of Japanese Place Names (Toponyms) in Palau
In Palau, we find the influence of Japanese not just in people’s names, but

in place names as well. A suburban area east of Koror’s city center is known
today as Mokko, as revealed in the names Mokko Village Apt. and DNR Mokko
Retail Store (Figures 6 and 7; the use of initials in business names is extremelycommon in Palau). The place name Mokko dates back to the Japanese era
and refers to the Woodworking Vocational School which was located in thearea (Figure 8).

The school name came to refer to the neighborhood and it

continues to do so decades after the school itself has ceased to exist.

Figure 6. Mokko ‘wood-working school’ in the name of an apartment house

Figure 7. Mokko in a retail store name13

Figure 8. Mokko (wood-working school) in 1932
The area of Arai State just across the bridge from Koror Island toBabeldaob Island is today known as Renrak. This comes the Japanese word
renraku ‘connection’ and comes from the pre-war period when no bridge
joined the two islands and a renraku-sen ‘connecting boat, ferry’ connected
them instead.

Even a United Nations map prepared in December 2012

(OCHA 2012) contains the place name Renrak (Figure 9).

Figure 9. Aerial photos showing the area known as Renrak

14

Figure 9. Map listing the toponym Renrak
There are other cases in which Japanese common nouns have become
proper nouns (place names) in Palau. One such word is todai ‘lighthouse’(Figure 10).

These are originally common nouns, and may be considered assuch in Palauan as well, but the reality is that in the small geographical areathat is Palau, the words are strongly associated with specific spots and as suchare close to proper nouns (place names).

Figure 10. Todai ‘lighthouse’

15

A pamphlet published by the Palau Conservation Society for Ngarchelong
State shows how Todai has come to be used as a proper noun in Palau. Thisis clear in its lack of definite or indefinite articles and it use of an initial capitalletters (not “the todai” or “a todai”, but “Todai”). It contains the following(underlining added by the present authors).
Todai Communications Center
The Japanese occupied Palau from 1918 to 1945. Todai served as aCommunications Center and a headquarters during World War II.
Completed in 1936, Todai was built entirely by hand without the use ofvehicles. Rocks and cement were carried from the nearby Ollei Port by
Palauans from Ngarchelong and neighboring Ngaraard. From its
amazing vantage-point, Todai offers a nearly 360 degree view of theadjacent reefs and waters.

Today Todai stands as a testament to

Palau’s varied political and cultural history. State employees at theBadrulchau and Todai historical sites can assist with permits on
weekends. (Ngarchelong State Government, 2013)
A similar shift from a common noun to a proper noun is seen with the takiof Ngardmau State (Figure 11).

It is referred to on the official State

homepage as “Taki Falls” and “Taki Waterfall” (Ngardmau 2013), and the areasurrounding it is know as “Taki Nature Reserve”.

16Figure 11. Taki ‘waterfall’
Many Palauan places names are difficult to pronounce for outsiders andmispronunciations resulted in dual names for the major regions of Palau (i.e.
the states and islands of Koror). These foreigner pronunciations seem to havebeen formed well before the Japanese era by the various waves of European
power-holders, but they were certainly codified and used by the Japanese.
The list below (Table 1) shows some of the spelling variations (and in somecases the underlying pronunciation variation they represent) found in current
usage. We have included the common katakana representation for reference.

17

Table 1. Variation in Palauan Place Names
Palau, Belau, パラオ
Aimeliik, Imeliik, アイメリーク
Airai, アイライ
Angaur, Ngeaur, アンガウル
Arakabesan, Ngerkebesang, Ngarkebesang, アラカベサン
Babeldaob, Babelthuap, バベルダオブ
Hatohobei, Tobi, Tochobei, Hatobei, ハトベイ
Kayangel, Ngcheangel, カヤンゲル
Koror, Oreor, コロール
Malakal, Ngemelachel, マラカル
Melekeok, Melekeiok, マルキヨク
Ngaraard, Ngerard, ガラルド
Ngarchelong, Ngerchelong, アルコロン
Ngardmau, Ngerdmau, ガラツマオ
Ngatpang, Ngetbang, ガスパン
Ngchesar, Ngesar, エサール
Ngeremlengui, Ngaremlengui, アルモノグイ
Ngiwal, オギワル
Pelilieu, Beliliou, ペリリュー
Sonsorol, ソンソロル

18

4.

Palauan words of Japanese origin (loanwords)
The Japanese language left its mark on Palau and its language. One area

in which this is clear is the large number of loanwords (borrowings) whichcome from Japanese. Because both the Spanish and German administrationsof Palau each lasted only a decade and a half, and because neither colonizer
took a boots-on-the-ground approach to the administration of the islands,
neither language left much of a linguistic influence.

Compared to the

Chamorro language of Guam and the other Marianas Islands, for example,
which has been inundated by the Spanish language to the extent that evengreetings, numerals and some pronouns are borrowed from the colonial
language, Palauan shows an extremely small amount of Spanish influence.
German language influence is equally minute.

According to Josephs,

Japanese is the major contributor of loanwords, followed by English in second
place, with Spanish and German showing a “much weaker impact” (1979:146).
Another source who claims to have counted the dictionary entries lists thefollowing statistics for the total number of loanwords found in a Palauan
dictionary, according to source language: Japanese 62.9%, English 23.4%,
Spanish 9.3%, German 4.2%, Others 0.2% (Engelberg 2006).
There are various ways to gauge the effect Japanese has had on the Palauan
language. In section 5, we examine entries in a Palauan dictionary.

In thissection, we look at the linguistic landscape (linguascape) of Palau.
Linguists tend to concentrate on spoken language, and understandably so, but
the written language used in public spaces, like signage, plays a major role inconstructing the physical environment in which a speaker conducts his
everyday life.

Sections of a town with signs in immigrant languages can be

comforting to minority residents. On the other hand, they can be seen as
older residents are a threatening sign of encroachment. Chinese signage inplaces like New York or San Francisco can also serve as a draw for tourists
who crave a bit of exoticism close to home.

The fact that bilingual signage inareas such as Northern Ireland, Quebec or Belgium can be highly contentious

19and be a target for vandalism is commonly mentioned in linguistic texts andreference books.
In a place like Palau, signage containing Palauan words of Japanese origin
serves as a day-to-day visual reminder of the languages influence for locals
and can serve to educate otherwise uninterested and uninformed outsiders (likeJapanese scuba diving tourists) on the island nations linguistic past.

In thefollowing sections we will look at examples of Japanese loanwords in Palauan
signage and use these and opportunities to discuss linguistic interesting
characteristics of such loanwords such as phonological adaptation of semantic
shift.

4.1. Use of Japanese loanwords for foods
One semantic field in which one finds an abundance of Japanese words in
Palau is food related words. The menu on the left in Figure 12 contains thewords, yaki soba, yaki niku, teriyaki, udong, miso, tonkatsu, yasai tempura andbento. The one on the right shows oyako donburi, futairo donburi, yakitori,kushi katsu, katsudong, tsukemono and bento.

Figure 12. Japanese words seen in menus
Figure 13 shows the use of the Japanese-origin word katsu in a store
display selling pork cutlet box lunches. All of the writing on the box is in
Chinese, not Japanese.

This is an interesting word because it itself is aloanword into Japanese from the English word cutlet. The loanword nappa

20

in Figure 14 has undergone a semantic shift.

In Japanese it applies to loose

leafy ‘greens’ such as those of the daikon radish or the turnip. In Palauan(and in other parts of the Pacific, such as in Hawaiian English), nappa refers toa thicker leafed Asian vegetable which forms a tight head called the ‘long
cabbage’.

Figure 13. Katsu ‘cutlet’

Figure 14. Nappa ‘greens’ in supermarket and restaurant
In addition to semantics, there are interesting points to be made here in thephonology of loanwords as well.

The Japanese word udon, for example, uses

the spelling “ng”, rather than the “n” used in Japanese Romanization.

In

Japanese the final nasal sound is alveolar, while in Palauan it becomes velar,
and this subtle pronunciation difference is reflected in the spelling “udong”(Figure 15).

The same phenomena can be seen in the spelling “katsudong”.

The words katsudong and donburi (both seen in Figure 12) both contain the21same morpheme don ‘bowl’, and this relationship would be clear in Japanese.
In Palauan spellings, however, this is less clear since the word final position
becomes /ng/.

Interestingly, in the University of Hawaii Press’s New

Palauan-English Dictionary, the spellings tamango domburi ‘rice topped withegg’ and tamango udong ‘noodles topped with egg’ both appear. To be clear,domburi and udong do not derive from the same morpheme (as was the casewith katsudong and donburi), rather our point here is that in Japanese these arephonemically the same /doN/ (the capital /N/ represents the Japanese syllabic
nasal phoneme), but are spelled phonetically (rather than phonemically) in
Palauan. The nasal sound in domburi is spelled with an “m” to show thephonetic shape this phoneme takes when it comes before a bilabial consonant
such as /b/.

Figure 15. Udong ‘type of noodle’ in a sign and a menu
To notice semantic differences, one has to order certain dishes. In Japan,
yaki soba, for example, is fried noodles, but ironically not soba noodles. In
Palau, yaki soba is actually soba (buckwheat) noodles which are stir fried.
Another interesting semantic change is in the word bento (all four signs inFigure 16 and visible in Figure 27). In Japanese this word is used to mean aboxed lunch containing the traditional Japanese meal of rice and other foods(fish, vegetables).

In Palau, interestingly, there has been semantic expansion

in not one but two directions. One the one hand, the Palauan meaning of
bento has expanded even to include non-rice meals like sandwiches (personalcommunication Momotaro Timothy Rafael, 2012/06). On the other hand, theterm bento in Palau includes even box lunches that are not take-out but rather

22eaten at the restaurant (what would be termed various types of go-zen in
Japan).

Figure 16. Bento ‘box lunch’, tama ‘deep fried cakes’
The menus in Figure 12 would of course be of benefit to Japanese tourists
and as such could also have been included in section 8. We have reservedthat section however for signage that can be judged as exclusively aimed at
Japanese.

One reason we can make the case that the Japanese words here

are aimed at the locals is that they are in the Roman alphabet rather than being
written with the Japanese script.

(Although the Roman alphabet is used towrite proper nouns like place names and people’s names, it is almost neverused to write common nouns in Japan.) We can also assume that locals aresupposed to know these Japanese words, in other words that these areconsidered “loanwords” rather than “foreign words”. This judgment can bemade because these words appear with no translations or explanations. In
other words, yaki soba is not explained (as ‘stir fried noodles’). By contrast a23

a sign containing the word minshuku (seen later in this report as Figure 49)
also contains the word motel on it, indicating (as other evidence corroborates)that the word minshuku is not a word which is expected to be understood by
Palauans who don’t speak Japanese.
Figure 16 contains another Japanese-origin food word besides bento. In
smaller print the sign at the lower left reads tama tuu/mini donut. The wordis visible at the upper right as well. Tama means ‘ball’ in Japanese but in
Palauan it has come to be used for ‘deep-fried cakes’ about the size of a tennis
ball.

This is the same type of food referred to in Okinawa as saataa andagii

or in Ogasawara as simply donuts.

Tuu is the Palauan word for banana, sothese are selling banana flavored fried cakes. The spelling tamma is seen as
well (Figure 17).
There is further semantic expansion of tama beyond this.

In Palau (as inJapan) the word may refer to ‘light bulbs’ as well, but only incandescent lightbulbs because of their somewhat spherical shape. Using tama for ‘light bulb’
is less common among younger speakers but it found in speakers middle-aged
and over.

In Palauan, the term may refer to the compact spiral-shaped

fluorescent tubes as seen in Figure 18.

Thus word tama was originallyapplied to light bulbs because of a “form analogy”, but the semantic field of
the term has recently expanded because of a “function analogy” thus: tama‘spherical object, especially for play’ --> ‘spherical object made of deep-friedbatter’ or ‘spherical object to provide light’ --> ‘object (of any shape) to
provide light’.

24Figure 17. Alternative spelling of tama, “tamma”

Figure 18. Semantic expansion of the word tama
Some Japanese-derived food terms in Palauan show the effects ofphonological adaptation or semantic shift; in a few cases they provide topics
for morphological discussion as well. Figure 19 photos show the use of theword musubi ‘rice ball’.

In Japanese the word is almost always fused withthe polite prefix –o, as o-musubi.

With many words (uchi, o-uchi ‘house’),this prefix is optional, but with a few words (o-cha ‘tea’), the prefix is rarely
dropped. The Japanese term o-musubi is such a word, so there is a slightmorphological difference between the Japanese source and the loanword in
Palauan.

Another interesting aspect is the label on the left combines aloanword of Japanese origin (musubi) with a loanword from Hawaiian (aloha).
A musubi (in Japanese and in Palauan) is rice shaped as a ball, cube or triangle
wrapped in seaweed.
spam on top.

In Palau, it is commonly called aloha musubi if it has

Interestingly, the term aloha musubi is not used in Hawaii itself.

25

This case brings to mind food names like French fries (used in the US but not
in France) or americkan koohii (used in Japan and Korea but not in the US).

Figure 19. Aloha Musubi ‘spam and egg rice ball’Many Japanese-derived Palauan words show the effects of thepronunciations being adapted to the Palauan phonological system. Abrabang‘deep-fried bread’ (Figure 20) comes from the Japanese abura-pan (literally
oil-bread) and reveals three different phonological adaptations.

Firstly, we

have seen how Japanese syllable nasals change to Palauan /ng/ sounds and thischange is seen in this word as well.

Secondly, the initial consonant change

from pan to bang reminds us that Palauan does not distinguish between voiced
and voiceless plosives such as /g/ and /k/ (as we will examine more closely inthe next section) and /b/ and /p/ (consider the fact that the name of the nation is
written both as Palau and as Belau). Thirdly, the dropping of the /u/ in abra
seems at first glance to be the result of vowel de-voicing which occurs
commonly in front vowels (/i/ and /u/).

We must be remind ourselves,

however, that such devoicing only occurs when vowels are sandwiched
between voiceless consonants, and not following voiced consonants like /bu/.
We must thus look for another explanation, such as the removal of the vowel toprevent the occurrence of the syllable /bu/.

Syllables can be stressed (as in/a-BU-ra/ which would differ greatly from the original Japanese pronunciation),but the spelling “abra” could only be syllabized as /ab-ra/ or /a-bra/, either of26which is closer to the original pronunciation.
This is a good place to point out that the spelling of abrabang used in thephoto begins with a vowel, while the spelling in the dictionary becomeschaburabang, with the initial “ch” indicating prevocalic glottal stop. Palauan
dictionaries list only a few words (most of them functional morphemes) which
begin /a/ without the initial glottal stop. The number of words beginning with“cha” indicates that the initial glottal stop is the phonotactic rule. The tiny
number of words without the initial glottal stop indicates that no minimal pairs
are uncommon and thus that the initial glottal stop before /a/ is a phonologicalrule.

Thus aburabang and chaburabang can only be pronounced one way

and the spelling “ch” is likely considered unnecessary by native users. In fact,
native Palauan speakers often explain the “ch” spelling as being “silent
letters”.

Figure 20. Abrabang ‘deep-fried bread’
Figure 21 shows a package of the deep-fried crunchy sweet karingtong,derived from the Japanese karintou, particularly popular in Okinawa. We see,at the end of the second syllable, the substitution of the velar nasal /ng/ for thesyllable nasal /N/ of Japanese.

The addition of the velar nasal at the end of

the word is more difficult to account for. One possibility (which the authors27

admittedly have not thoroughly investigated) is that the Palauan phonotactic
rules forbid the /o/ at the end of words.

A casual glance through a Palauan

dictionary revealed few indigenous Palauan words ending in /o/ (although
there appears to be no such rule against final /u/).

Figure 21. Karintong ‘deep fried snack’
The types of Japanese food item names one comes to expect to see in
foreign countries becomes quite predictable. Grocery store items like tofu
and shiitake, natto have become standard fare, but the sight of not only a single
product but an entire aisle marker hawking arare was a surprise to the authors(Figure 22).

Figure 22. An aisle at a Koror grocery sells arare ‘dry snacks’
The examples of Japanese loanwords we have seen thus far have been used28

individually, perhaps giving the false impression that they occupy an isolated
place in the language. This is mainly due to the semantic nature of the words(food terms in signage, rather than contained in sentences). The last sign inthis section (Figure 23) shows the Japanese-derived word kohi ‘coffee’ used ina phrase, abai er a kohi ‘house of coffee’.

Figure 23. Abai er a kohi ‘house of coffee’

4.2. Use of Japanese loanwords for concrete nouns
Japanese-origin loanwords for food items are common in languages like
English as well as Palauan, because the foods themselves are (were) new to
American or Palauan culture. One area in Palauan differs from languages
like English is in the plethora of Japanese-origin words for objects which are
not necessarily connected to Japanese culture.

In this section we will look atsome such concrete nouns.
The Japanese word denwa has entered Palauan as dengua. Interestingly
we find a slight difference in the usage (and “usage” is the more appropriate
term here, not “meaning”) of the Palauan word dengua and the Japanese
denwa. In Japanese a cell phone or mobile phone is called a keitai denwa.
While it is very common to shorten this to simply keitai, it is not shortened tosimply denwa.

Thus a young person searching in their purse or back packwould say keitai ga mitsukaranai ‘I can’t find my cell’ but not denwa ga
mitsukaranai ‘I can’t find my phone’. Compare this with English where bothare used.

29

Just as in English and Japanese, the Palauan word dengua can refer to atelephone call as well as the machine which one uses to make such a call.
The sign in Figure 24 contains a usage in this sense. It is a sign at the sea
shore warning people that the adjacent ocean is under buai ‘a temporary
fishing moratorium to let stock replenish’ and that fishing is prohibited. It
lists the fines (from 100 to a hefty 1,000 dollars) and also a number to which
one can phone in information on suspected offenders.

Figure 24. Dengua ‘phone’
Gomi is the Japanese word for garbage, but it has been borrowed into
Japanese as komi (Figure 25).

We will discuss the phonological situation

which has lead to this change.

In Palauan’s phonological inventory, one finds/ng/ and /k/, but not /g/ or /n/ (Table 2). Because of this, Japanese /g/ issometimes substituted by /k/ in Palau. This works out fine in words likekeskomu ‘pencil eraser’, from the Japanese word keshi-gomu, because /k/ is30

voiced in word-medial position (in other words, k-sounds become g-sounds inthe middle of a word) in Palauan anyway.

Consider the person’s name

Olkeriil, which is pronounced like “olgeriil”.

Since keskomu comes out

sounding like kesgomu, to Japanese ears the Palauan word sounds recognizable.
However, since Palauan has no /g/, Japanese words which start with /g/ (likegomi ‘trash’) also have to use a /k/ as in the Palauan word komi ‘trash’. But
here the initial /k/ remains voiceless (it stays a /k/ sound), so the word comesout sounding quite unrecognizable to Japanese ears.

Figure 25. Komi ‘garbage’Initial /k/ sounds in Japanese are fine because they come out that way in
Palauan, so kōhosha ‘candidate’ still sounds voiceless like it did in Japanese.
But word-medial /k/ in Japanese becomes voiced in Palauan, rendering thewords unrecognizable to Japanese ears.

For example, ‘phosphate’ (which has

31been an important resource in Palau and is thus common in conversation) is
ringko in Palauan, from the Japanese word rinkō. Remember that although
the spelling (and underlying phonemic form) has a /k/, it undergoes
word-medial voicing and sounds like ring-go. To Japanese ears, this wordsounds like the word for ‘apple’.
Table 2 Phonological Correspondences in Japanese-origin loanwords
Japanese

Palauan phoneme

loanword example/g/ initial/k/ phonetically [k]Jp gomi >Pal. komi ‘trash’/g/ medial/k/ phonetically [g]Jp keshigomu> Pal. keskomu ‘eraser’/k/ initial/k/ phonetically [k]Jp kōhosha > Pal. kohosia ‘candidate’/k/ medial/k/ phonetically [g]Jp rinkō > Pal. ringko ‘phosphate’

/g/

/ng/

Jp ringo > Pal. ringngo ‘apple’

/N/

/ng/

Jp ringo > Pal. ringngo ‘apple’

phoneme

To make matters more complicated, the word for ‘apple’ has also beenborrowed from Japanese into Palauan, but in this case, the Palauan phoneme/ng/ has been substituted for Japanese /g/.

This substitution is also common.

For example, the surname Kumagai becomes Kumangai (not Kuman-gai, but
Kuma-ngai) in Palauan (Figure 26). Palauan also often substitutes /ng/ for
the Japanese syllabic nasal /N/, so ‘apple’ becomes ringngo. Consequently,
to Palauans the words for ‘apple’ and ‘phosphate’ are distinguishable, but toJapanese ears the Palauan pronunciations sound almost the same.

32

Figure 26. The Prominent Surname Kumangai’
Returning once more to Figure 25, we see here different signs with theword komi ‘trash’ (< Jp. gomi). The sign at top is above the trash can at theBelau National Museum. At lower left is a from a picnic table, admonishingpatrons to take responsibility for their trash.

At lower right is an oil drum

being used for an outdoor trash can.
In Japanese tane is the generic word for ‘seed’.

Hence, just as with its

English equivalent, it would be odd to walk into a store and ask to buy simply
tane without specifying what kind. Whether the seeds are for planting or foreating, this context would require the speaker to ask for a specific kind ofseeds.

In contrast, when tane is used in Palauan (Figure 27), the word does

not refer to seeds in general (the Palauan term chius already serves thisfunction; Humiko Kingzio PC 2012/2) but to a type of seeds eaten as a snack.

Figure 27. Japanese loanword tane ‘edible seed’33

In Figure 28, we see the Japanese-origin Palauan words benjo ‘toilet’,siashing ‘photograph’ and arukor alcohol’.

Figure 29 shows a tee-shirt forsale at a local shop. The shirt pictures a beach with only sandals on it. The
price tag identifies it as the “zori t-shirt”.

Figure 28. Benjo ‘toilet’, siashing ‘photo’, arukor ‘alcohol’ in posted notices

Figure 29. Zori ‘sandals’
Figure 30 shows the loanword sumi ‘charcoal’ used at three different stores.
In all three the word is used in tandem with the English charcoal. Our surveyof Japanese loanwords in the Palau dictionary (see section 5 below) revealed
that the English loanword charcoal is increasing in usage, but from the looks oflocal signage, the Japanese-origin word is holding its ground.
Figure 31 is a notice, containing the word dengki ‘electricity’, posted in a
Koror restaurant in 2008. At the time electricity prices had increased to thepoint that some local businesses had had to shorten their business hours. We
again see the used of the “ng” spelling discussed above.

34

Figure 30. Sumi ‘charcoal’Figure 31. Dengki ‘electricity’35

4.3. Use of Japanese loanwords for abstract nouns
Many languages borrow words for animals and plants, the dishes madefrom them, and other objects like sumi or dengua which can be handed from aspeaker of the sender language (the source of the loanwords) to a speaker ofthe receiver language.

We see loanwords of this type even in cases where thesender language is seen as culturally inferior by speakers of the receiverlanguage. Words from Ainu which entered Japanese, for example, such as
konbu ‘kelp’, todo ‘sea lion’, ottosei ‘fur seal’, rakko ‘sea otter’, and tonakai‘reindeer’.

Words which European explorers and settlers borrowed from theAboriginal languages of Australia show the same trend: koala and wombat(both from the Dharug language), kangaroo (Guugu Yimithirr), billabong(Wiradjuri), and so on. When Europeans entered the Americas, in spite of
their view of indigenous cultures as inferior, they borrowed from them words
like alpaca, jerky (both from the Quechua language), avocado, tomato(Nahuatl), tobacco, potato (Taino), chipmunk, hickory, moccasin andtomahawk (Algonquin).

While it is true that some terms for more abstract

concepts such as caucus (also from Algonquin) were borrowed from American
Indians, these are few and far between. Abstract concepts are more likely to
be borrowed from the languages of cultures one sees as superior to one’s own,
and thus ones which can be learned from.

This is the situation we see inEnglish and Japanese which in centuries past borrowed half of their modern
vocabularies from Latin and Chinese, respectively.

All of this is goes

towards saying that the Palauan language has borrowed not just concrete nouns
from Japanese but terms for more abstract concepts as well.
The billboard in Figure 32 is trying to raise Palauans’ awareness of illness
and encourages them to undergo kensa ‘medical examination’. This campaign
was specifically aimed at the influenza.

Figure 33 is from an election poster.

(Palau has been called the most over-governed nation on earth, so election
posters are ubiquitous.)

It prominently contains the term keizai with theEnglish translation ‘economics’ in the following line.

36

Figure 34 contains aterm related to a facet of economics, siobai ‘business, commerce’, which theJapanese instilled into Palau life.

Figure 32. Kensa ‘medical examination’Figure 33. Keizai ‘economy’Figure 34. Siobai ‘business, commerce’37

Sengkyo has come to mean ‘to vote’ in Palauan, while retaining the original
Japanese of ‘election’ as well (Figure 35).

Other Japanese-origin words

found in these campaign posters are kohosia ‘candidate’ and even hutsu‘common’.

Palauan orthography was not standardized when these words

came into use and as a result we find variation in spellings.

The spelling usedin modern-day Palauan dictionaries, sengkio, more closely reflects thelanguages phonological structure.

Figure 35. Sengkyo ‘vote, election’, kohosia ‘candidate’, hutsu ‘common’38

It may seem odd that words pertaining to democratic elections have entered
Palauan from Japanese since the realization of Palauan self determination did
not come until well after the Japanese era was over. One must remember,
however, that the decision-makers of Palau in the latter half of the 20th century
were people of the age that had been educated under the Japanese (see chapters
6 and 7 on the language choices made by the framers of Palau’s many
constitutions).

So even though the modern election system did not start underJapanese rule, the vocabulary to describe it was acquired during that time.
Indeed the word daitorio ‘president’ is used in Palauan as well, although theword order is different from Japanese. Thus the 5th President of the Republicof Palau was known as “Daitorio Kunio Nakamura” rather than “Nakamura
Kunio Daitōryō”. Another fact one has to remember is that although there
were no national elections under the Japanese, sengkyo for class leaders were
held at pre-war schools, both those for Japanese children and those for Palauanchildren alike (interview with Masaharu Tmodrang, 2013/03).
Many other school terms entered the Palauan vocabulary from Japanese.
These include bumpo ‘grammar’, bungsu ‘fraction’, chanzang ‘mentalarithmetic’, chundo ‘physical exercise’, daingak ‘university’, iotsieng ‘kindergarten’, kokubang ‘blackboard’, kumi ‘group’, kurangd ‘playground’, kureiong‘crayon’, manneng ‘fountain pen’, mokko ‘wood-working school’, mondai‘problem’, oengdang ‘cheerleading squad’, ouskeng ‘to give test’, sensei‘teacher’, and teng ‘grade, test score’, to name a few.
Figure 36 shows more school vocabulary in the form of the sheet music fora song called Engsok ‘school outing’, written by the imminent Palauan
songwriter Ymesei O. Ezekiel.

39

Figure 36. Engsok (ensok) ‘class outing’Figure 37 contains the word basio ‘place’, a seemingly unlikely candidate
for a loanword.

Most of the other words examined thus far, keizai‘economics’ siobai ‘business’, sengkyo ‘election’, kohosia ‘candidate’, kensa‘medical exam’, and so on, are terms for new ways to doing things, or at least
new ways of viewing things, that were brought in by the Japanese.

Figure 37. Basio ‘place’40

How do we account for such a non-modern, non-specific, non-technicalterm like ‘place’ then? Actually, it is not at all odd that such a term should beincorporated into a language as a loanword. To understand this phenomenon
we need to understand the concepts of hyponym and hypernym. Hyponyms
are words included within another word’s semantic field, so bear, dog and cat
are all hyponyms of animal.

Animal, in turn, is the hypernym of these terms.

If we think of words as belonging to a semantic hierarchy, going from specificto general, we could imagine Cesky Terrier < Terrier < dog < carnivore <mammal < organism. People are aware that the more hyponymic (specific) a
word is the more likely it is to be non-everyday vocabulary, but the same thingis true the more hypernymic (general) a word is as well. Hence dog is morebasic vocabulary than either Bull Terrier or mammal are. To put this anotherway, words in the middle levels (like dog, cat, bear, tree, grass) are more
likely to be everyday terms than either the hyponyms of these words or thehypernyms of these words. Furthermore, in language like English the words
in the middle levels are more likely to be word indigenous to English (words
from Anglo-Saxon, Old English), while words at either extreme are more
likely to be loanwords from languages like Latin.
It is illogical to believe that the Palauan language lacked a word for ‘place’
before the Japanese basio was borrowed. Indeed, the English word place is aloanword from French, which replaced the Old English word stede (source ofhomestead, steadfast, steady).

A quick look at the New Palauan-English

Dictionary reveals the language has indigenous words for many concrete
concepts like ongereoll ‘fishing place’, tungl ‘sacred place’, mocheuekl‘hiding place’ etc. but lacked a hypernym to include all these, just as English
always had words for concrete objects like tree, grass and bush, but until a
few hundred years ago lacked a hypernym like plant (borrowed from French)
to group these all together.
Figure 38 also contains a word, which at first glance appears to be a
surprising choice for a loanword, but which in fact fits into a more general41pattern in linguistics.

The word is siukang ‘custom’ from the Japaneseshūkan, a word with the same core meaning.

The sign on the left reads Ng

diak el siukang, meaning literally ‘it (domestic violence) is not a custom’.
The poster on the right explains that “Intangible cultural heritage” includes
things such as klengar er a rechad ‘life histories’, cheldecheduch ‘oral
histories’, klechad ‘social & cultural practices’, duch ‘knowledge & skills’,
ngloik ‘performing arts’, klechedaol ‘social & cultural landscapes’, blekerdelira rengalek ‘cultural values’, and siukang ‘ceremonies, rituals, festive events’.
The last term is a Japanese-origin loanword.

It may seem a contradiction interms that some of the most important and valued aspects of indigenous culture
required a foreign term to describe them.

However, in parts of the Pacificwhere Britain or the US were the foreign overlords, the English word custom(kustom in many Pacific pidgins) is used to describe the same type ofindigenous culture.

(Indeed the English word custom itself originates in

French.)One factor in the understanding the borrowing of siukang may have to dowith the concept of hypernym.

In other words, Palauan had words todescribe things like buuldiil ‘pregnancy divining ceremony’, omesurech‘ceremonial hot bath’, ‘ngasech and omengat ‘first-born ceremony’ andkemeldiil ‘funerals’, but in a sense it needed a single term to group these terms
together. However, there is a more appropriate concept that is relevant here,that of the retronym.

A retronym is a newly coined word to describe somethat used to be the norm (and thus didn’t formerly require a special label).
For example, in English we only had telephones, but after a special kind called
cell phones came along, we needed a new term like landline phone to describethat which used to need no special name. Similarly the term snail mail wascoined as a retronym after e-mail came along.

The retronym silent movie

became necessary only after the advent of talkies, and so on. When Pacificcultures began to incorporate foreign and modern ways of doing things into
their lives, they suddenly need to go back and find a new word (and siukang or42

kustom fit the bill) to describe what, up to that point, had been simply ‘the way
things are’.

Figure 38. Siukang ‘custom’

4.4. Japanese loanwords in adjectives
We will examine in this section abstract words of a different type, notnouns, but adjectives. We have photos of only one term in this category,
abunai ‘dangerous’ which is currently popular on fashion items (Figure 39).

Figure 39. Abunai ‘dangerous’ in clothing and car fashion

43

Borrowings of Japanese into English and other European languages are
overwhelmingly limited to nouns, but Palauan has no shortage of adjective,
verbs, phrases and other parts of speech which do not fit this model.

Some ofthe stative verbs in Japanese are used like adjectives in Palauan.

These

include words like chauanai ‘inappropriate, mismatching’ and its opposite
chatter ‘appropriate, fit, becoming’.

Just glancing at words which beginningwith the pre-vowel glottal stop (“ch” in standard orthography) we find words
like charai ‘harsh’, chabarer ‘to get angry, violent’, chaiamar ‘to apologize’,and chakimer ‘to give up’, to name just a few.

4.5. Japanese loanwords for technical vocabulary
Japanese loanwords are commonly found in technical vocabulary such as
the names of various strains of tubers (Figure 40).

Figure 40. Japanese names for various tuber species strains
At the Palau Community College’s Agriculture Experiment Station in44

Ngaremlengui State on Babeldaob, we saw displays on new strains, including
nikangets (二ヶ月 lit. ‘two months’), ningsing (人参, lit. ‘carrot’, although as
is obvious in the photograph, this is the name of a potato, not an actual carrot),
dokoiso (どっこいしょ, ‘expression used when lifting’ like heave-ho) andishiobing (一升瓶, lit. ‘a two liter bottle’).

45

5.

The Current Usage of Japanese Loanwords in Palauan
In this section, we will examine how the Japanese loanwords are used inthis age. We interviewed Palauan speaker, Masaharu Tmodrang (Figure 41),
who had been a teacher of history and assisted with projects such as the
Palauan Reference Grammar (Josephs 1975).

He speaks English and

Palauan, but not Japanese, which made him an ideal person to inform us which
Japanese-origin words listed in the dictionary were still used. We asked him
about all 537 Japanese loanwords found in New Palauan-English Dictionary(1977) to see if the words were still used and to verify their meanings in
Palauan.

Figure 41. Mr. Masaharu Tmodrang, Imamura, Long
Below, we have listed the information obtained from Masaharu Tmodrang
in the form of Table 3.

The “Word” column lists the Palauan word ofJapanese origin using the spelling of the dictionary. The “Jap.” column theoriginal Japanese word from which the Palauan loanword derives.

Many ofthe words have changed in meaning, but these changes are not reflecting theJapanese word here.

The “Meaning” column shows the current Palauan

meaning(s) whether they are the same as the original Japanese meaning or not.
The “Use” column uses the following symbols:○ used currently by middle-aged or younger speakers who do not speak
the Japanese language46

△still used but not by younger speakers

×

not used by middle-aged or younger speakers＞ Palauan word has a narrower meaning than the original Japanese word
＜ Palauan word has significantly shifted in meaning from original47

Table 3. Current Usage of Palauan Loanwords from JapaneseComment from Sensei Masaharu
Word
Jap.
Use Meaning
Tmodrang (SMT)
ばい菌 〇 disease, germ
commonly usedbaikingbakudang

爆弾

×dynamite, bombbakuhats

爆発△

explodebakutsi

博打△

gambling

bando

バンド

〇

belt

bangk

パンク

〇

flat tirebangngo番号△

number

bara

バラ

〇

rose

rarely used, young people use
number, older people use theword to refer to dancing steps(‘one, two, one, two’), also usedin sense of ‘what is your (phone)number?’the only word for ‘rose’barikang

バリカン 〇

hair clipper

commonly used

basio

場所

place

bastaorbath towelbata

バスタオ 〇
ルバター 〇very commonly used even young
peoplecommonly usedbuttercommonly usedbengngos

弁護士 △lawyerinterchangeable with lawyer,
younger people use lawyer more,
people over 40 years old use
bengngos more

benia

ベニヤ

〇

〇

〇
＜
bento bako 弁当箱 〇便所〇
benziobento

berangu

48

弁当

プラグ

〇

not commonly used because there
is a Palauan word dub
not used by young people
not used by young, young use
twenty one or gamblingplywoodfood taken to eat
at another placelunch box

used everywhere

toiletcommonly used

spark-plug

commonly usedcommonly used

bio

秒

〇

second(in time)bioing病院

×hospitalbioing seng 病院船 ×
ボーイ △
boi

hospital ship
servant

used only a little, now use maid,
dictionary lists didelboi as
Japanese, but it does not seem tobe accurate
large wooden trey container, almost like a table,with legs
made of woodelephant grassboks

ボックス 〇

bokso

牧草

bokungo

防空壕 〇pit, tunnel forstoragebomadoポマード 〇

pomadebongkura

ボンクラ ×dull, slow-witted

boruu

ボール 〇

ball

bozu

坊主

〇

shaved headbotang

牡丹〇

type of flower

botangボタン〇

button

budo

ブドウ

bumpo

文法

〇
＜
×

capulin, panama
cherry treegrammar

bung

文

〇

minutebungsu

分数×fractionbussonge

仏桑花 〇hibiscusbuta buta

ブタブタ 〇
ブタ

pigs, way ofcalling pigs

buta

〇

most people use hospitalchabarer

暴れる〇

get angry, violent

chabunai

危ない〇dangerous

interchangeable with word cave,natural cave is called chii,bokungo is for manmade cavespecific for one with hair tonics
with scents; now gels are also
used, but bomado is still usedbecause of the meaning word has
fallen into disuse
not ballused for the flower and for
clothes buttons
used for the flower and for
clothes buttons
not grape (as in Japanese) , but
for the fruit of a tree
now grammar is used
not known, now fraction is used

49

油パ
ン？

〇

fried bean pastebunchabura sasi 油さし×

oil can〇apologize

chaburabang
chaiamar

謝る

chaiko相子で 〇しょdetsiu合いの △子chais keeki アイスケ 〇ーキchais kurim アイスク 〇
リーム
諦める △
chakimerchainokochamatter

余ってる 〇

chambang
chami

アンパ
ン
網

chana

穴かがり ×〇〇not known at allused even by young,interchangeable with English
apologize
term meaning
still a common activity among‘draw’ or ‘even’ in children
the game ofziankeng
half-caste childsomewhat used, but young people
use English word half
popsicle
ice creamsurrender

old people use, young people use
give upbe left overbaked bean-pastebunscreen(forwindows)
button hole
not known

kangarichangar

あがる〇changari

あがりchangko‘nervous’, as in when one gives aspeech〇increase, getnervousrise, increase餡子〇bean paste

probably used, but terms likechampan and chaburapan are
more commonchansing安心〇chanzang

暗算△

feel relaxed, atease
mental arithmetic not very common

chanzeng

安全

〇

Safe

50

〇

charai荒いcharumi-アルミニ ×
ウム

nium

harsh
aluminum

English word aluminum is morecommonnot known at allchasangao

朝顔×chasebo汗疹〇

plant in morning
glory familyrashchasiba足場〇

scaffolding

chasuart

chautsアスファ 〇
ルト
合って 〇
いる
合わな 〇
い
アウト
〇

chazi

味

chazino味の素 〇chatterchauanai〇asphalt
appropriate, same,
match
inappropriate, not commonly usedmatching
out(in baseball)commonly used, but perceived as
being from English, not Japanese
taste
pronounced /aji/flavor enhancer

written on containers of the
product
for putting in tires (consideredJapanese). young people would
say it more like English word

moto
chea

エア

△

air

cheio

栄養

〇

nutritioncheisei

衛生〇

sanitation

cheki

液

battery acid

chi

胃

〇
＞
〇

chibatter×

arrogant

chihukuro

威張っ
ている
胃袋

×

stomachchikes生簀〇fish farm

chimi

意味

〇

meaning

chiro

色

〇

color

stomachrarely used, only by older people,
younger people use English
not know at all (only chi is used)
used even among young,interchangeable with meaninginterchangeable with English
color

51

〇

chirochiro

いろいろchisiobing

一升瓶 〇chitabori

板彫り〇

different colour,
different people,
anything that's
different
large (half gallon) only for certain size, only forbottlecontainer regardless of contents
story board

chito

糸

△

threadchoisii○

tasty, delicious

chokura

美味し
い
オクラ

○

okra

chomote表南洋 〇×

territory outside of only this term (not Pacific Island)
Japanese Pacific is usedmandategetting too close used in a marble game (calledin marbles
tama, not bii dama); when players
cheat and put their marker beyonda certain line, this is called chos.
The name of a snack comes fromthis word as well.
a kind of game
more common among young
people, same as chotedama whichis also known among older
people, ouchosarai is a verb
meaning to play this gamepowdered sweet known
bean soupof same clothes, very commonly used
wearing the same
cloth
flirtatious
only rarely used

〇

sound

nangio
〇
＞

chos

押す

chosarai

おさらい 〇

chosiruko

お汁粉 〇chosoroi

お揃い 〇chotemba

おてん
ば
音

choto

52

think it is still used, but not that
common, for people who sew
they use the word, but now thepeople who sew now are mostly
Pilipino word
commonly used

used also by young

chudeオートバ 〇
イ腕○

chundo運動

chundon運動靴 △chotobai

＞
〇

gutsu

motorcycle

motorcycle of any size, rat from
German means ‘bicycle’bicep
not used for ‘arm’ which is theJapanese meaning, young people
use muscle more, but the two areinterchangeable
physical exercise interchangeable with Eng.
loanword exercise
athletic shoe
not used by young people who
use shoes, Palau word oachoer

chuntens

運転手 △driverchusangi

兎〇rabbitchusui薄い〇

thin, weak, lightchuts(i)us

映す,
移す

○
＜

take a photo
copy a picture

dai

台

○

platformvery common, used in the senseof mixing drinks or when ink orcomputer print is not dark enoughto read, cannot be used in sense ofthin boards, etc.
needs no affix to make it a verb,
also used for transfer files fromUSB flash memory to hard discfor a machine to sit on

daia

ダイヤ

×

diamondonly English diamond is useddaikong大根〇radishcommonly useddaiksang

大工さ
ん
ダイナ
モ―

〇

carpenter〇

generator

daingak

大学〇

university

daitai大体〇

generally

daitorio

大統領 〇president

dainamoyoung people use driverthought of as a Japanese word,
used as a technical term, dainamo
is use for the part that actually
generates, mesil er a dengki isused for the whole generator
machineas with Palau Community College
used in sense of ‘generally how
many people are coming’, notused for ‘okay’ as dictionary says

53

daiziob

大丈夫 〇datsio脱腸demadofine, all rightvery commonly used〇herniaused as a technical medical term

出窓

×

dempo

電報

○
＞

enclose sitting
spacetelegram

dengki電気〇

dengkibu

電気部 〇power plantdengki電気柱 〇electric polecommonly used

電気蓄 ×
音機

electric
phonographskonki was used only forhand-cranked phonographs, now
turntable is used
sometimes shortened to just tama

electricity

used for ‘telegram’, but morecommonly for ‘long distance two
way short wave, ham radio’common on places like Hatohobei
where there were no phones
very commonly usedbasiradengkiskongki

球 er a電気〇

light bulb

dengu

デング

〇

dengue feverdengua電話〇

telephonedents(i)電池〇

battery

dobu

溝

〇

ditch

also use oudengua but only forthe call itself, not for the machine,
the machine is only called
dengua, meanings aredifferentiatedinterchangeable with battery,used by young people, only used
for small dry cell batteries, but
cars they used battery
very commonly used

dois

ドイツ

〇

Germany

Germany is not used

dok

毒

〇

poisondokurits

独立〇

independence

dongu

道具

〇

tool

tama er adengki54

used more as a formal term as in
the congress, young people use
independence morevery commonly used

dongu bako 道具箱 〇泥棒×dorobotoolboxrobberPalauan word merechorech isusedcommonly used with older
people, pronounced as /dose/ not/dosei/not known

dosei

どうせ

△

anyway

dotei

土手

×

rampart, terrace

ensok

遠足

〇
＜

picnichaburas△toothbrushhadaka歯ブラ
シ
裸〇nude, naked

hadasi裸足〇bare-footed

haibio肺病△

tuberculosis

rarely used now, now TB is usedhaisara灰皿×

ashtray

now ashtray is usedhaisia歯医者 △dentistused but now use dentist or dental
interchangeably

haitsio蝿帳〇

cabinet

hake

刷毛

〇

paint brush

brush is for teeth

hambung

半分

△

half

hanabi花火〇

fireworks

used only by older people; insome cases Palauan words areused more by educational policy.
A 2010 language commission had
this word as one of theirrecommendations for replacement
commonly usedhanahuda

花札

〇

hang

班

〇
＞

a kind of card
game
hamlethangkats

ハンカチ〇

handkerchiefvery common, used for family
picnics, but also for school trips,
meaning has changed
young people say toothbrush or
brush
not only for ‘completely nude’,
but also for ‘shirtless’in Japanese used as ippan, nihan‘squad 1, squad 2’, but not usedas number like this in Palauan;
see minatohangcommonly used55

hansubong 半ズボ △shortsン

young people use shorts, but
young understand this word aswellhantai反対〇

opposite

harau

払う

〇

to payhasi

箸〇chopsticks

hatoba波止場 △pier, dock

hats

蜂

〇

bee

heia

部屋

〇

room

henzi

返事

〇

hinbiokai

品評会 〇answer (toquestion)fair, exhibition

himits秘密△

secretcelebration with displays andgames, a fair
only old people use it now

hokori

ほこり

〇

dust

very common

hong

本

〇

book

always used, rather than book

honto

本島

〇

Babeldaobused as alternate name ofBabeldaob Island

hosengkahotai

ホウセン 〇
カ
包帯
〇

huda

札

very common
English or Palauan words used
more now, but young know
meaningcommonly used, not for ‘honeybee’, but for the insects that build
dirt nests in eaves and attack you
interchangeable with rooms, alsoouheia (Palauan prefix, verb)

garden balsam
bandageinterchangeable with bandage

×name tags

now English name tags is used

hu(i)riping フィリピ 〇Philippines

huransン
フランス 〇

Francejust for place name, not forpeople; pronouced [h], not [f]not /h/ sound, but /f/huseng風船〇

balloonmore common than balloon

huto

封筒

〇

envelope

hutsu

普通

〇

56

commonly used, interchangeablewith envelope
common, ordinary commonly used, not just forpeople but for anything〇

baseballiakkotsiang やっこち 〇parrots○＞

promiseiakiu

野球commonly used even by young
peopleiaksok

ゃん
約束

iama

山

○
＞

raised hairdo at
front of hair

ianangi柳〇

willow tree

iasai

野菜

〇

vegetable

iasai bune

野菜船 ×

iasui

安い

iasumba

休む場 〇iorosku

宜しく

〇

iotei

予定

〇

iotsieng

幼稚園 〇kindergarten

interchangeable with kindergarten

kaba

カバー

△

armor, coverkabaiaki

蒲焼〇＞

canned eelsome people use it but notcommoncanned eel only, not way of
cooking as in Japanese〇boat fortransporting
vegetables
cheap

iaksok is not used for meaning of‘appointment’ as in Jap., but for‘engagement between boy andgirl’; there is a similar word in
Palauan but that is more like
‘agreement’
not used for ‘mountain’ as inJapanese, because for thisPalauan word rois is used; iama isused for a hair style when the hairis combed up and back into a‘mountain of hair’

not used anymore, during
Japanese time they used boats forbringing vegetables, etc.
used among young people

bench of resting

used, bench to sit on or to sleeponregards, greetings used by younger people as well,used as a parting greeting, also insense of ‘give my regards to (athird person)’ or as in ‘he sends
his regards’, but not used upon
first meeting someone as in Jap.
schedule

57

kabur

かぶる

〇
＜

kaer

帰る

kai

commonly used, wrestling term〇

flip over one's
shoulder andthrow him down
return home

貝

〇

shell

kaisia会社

×company

this is the only word for thisconcept; so ingrained in thelanguage that SMT thought it was
indigenous Palauan word
rarely used now

kaker

かける

〇

kakine垣根〇

to express, tocomplainfence

kamang鎌〇sicklekamatsiri

カマチリ 〇

kanadarai

small basinkanaria

かなだら 〇いカナリア 〇

kangkei関係〇

connectionused among young people as wellkangkeister 関係し 〇related to,
involved inkangkodang 観光団 △kangngob 看護婦 △touristused for any kind of connection
like of a person to a crime, notused for romantic relationships
now tourist is used more

nurse

nurse is used more now
shortened to bisket, now Palauan
word brel used also; this productis packaged and imported fromJapan(*not in dictionary)＜ている

tree name, placename

カニビス 〇
ケット

crab biscuit

kansoki

乾燥期 〇dry season

kansok観測

kansume

缶詰58

as in kaker a monku to make acomplaintused for metallic chain link fenceor barbed wire fence,
distinguished from wooden fence
now this is also the name of aplace, close to Eptison museum,so named because there was astore there named Kamachiri
this is the only word used, tarai isalso used for bigger ones

canarykanibisket〇＞〇

used even by young people

weather bureau
canned food〇＞×

simple, plain

used in sense of ‘simple clothing’patient

Palauan word smecher is usedkaras, glas ガラス○＞(window) glass

kare

カレー

×

curry

used for ‘window panes’ and notfor ‘drinking glasses’ which are
only glass
pronounced as English currykasorin

ガソリン ×kasteraカステラ ×

kata

型

〇

katai

硬い

〇
＞

stubbornkataki

仇

△

enemy

katangami

型紙△

sewing pattern

katate片手〇

dexterous

katatsumuri 蝸牛〇African snail

蚊取線 〇
香

mosquito coilkantang

簡単

kanzia患者

katorisengkogasoline

often shortened to gas, butgasorin is also common
plain yellow cake cake or pancake is more common;
SMT has never seen or tasted
kasterastyle, shape

kats

勝つ

〇

to win

kats

カツ

〇

cutletfor person who is stubborn, hardto persuade, oukatai is a verb, to
be stubborn
perhaps used; but not for meaningof ‘revenge’ as dictionary states,
for this younger speakers would
use the Palauan word; if young
people knew kataki at all, it
would be in the meaning as‘enemy’maybe used in dress shops, but
not common
used by younger speakers as wellthere is no Palauan word for thisanimal, this is with shellused now shortened just to
sengko, so young kids know

very common, but only used in
combinations like pork kats, not
alone

59

〇

katsudo活動katsukang

活動館 〇katsuo鰹

movie

young people also use this, but
only for theater movies, not for
DVD or television movies forwhich movie is used; see
oukatsudo

movie theatre〇

bonitokatsuo busi 鰹節△

dried bonito

katsuo seng 鰹船〇

bonito-fishingboat
leather shoes

maguro and katsuo are notdistinguished by ordinary
Palauans (as it is the case inJapanese) , but fish market
professionals do make a
distinction; yellow fin is also used
word remains but the object is notfound in Palau anymore

kaua

革

〇
＞

kauar

変わる

to changekeikak計画△＞〇

keisang

計算〇

calculatekeizai経済〇

economics

kekka

結果

〇

resultkembei憲兵×policekengri

権利

×

right

kensa

検査

〇

keskomu

消しゴム 〇kes

消す〇

SMT does not know this word at
allinspection,used mostly for medical checkmedical check up ups, but also maybe for boats, etc.
pencil eraser
young people use eraser also but
they use this word also
to erase

kiab

キャブ

〇

carburetor

60

plan

used only for shoes, oukawa is ‘towear leather shoes’, the word may
be used for leather things otherthan shoes, but not commonly
only rarely used anymore, usedfor ‘changes in wind direction’commonly used, especially‘economic or political plans’

only police is used nowkiabets

キャベツ 〇

kikanai
kilo

効かな
い
キロ

kimots気持ち 〇feeling

kinga

気がつ △
かない

be unaware

maybe used by older people

noticemaybe used by older people

kingko

気がつ △
く
金庫
×

kintama

金玉

kirioke

霧避け 〇kisets

気絶

〇

kisu

傷

〇

kiter
kitsingai

聞いて 〇
いる
気違い 〇

kitte

切手

×

postage stamp

not known at all

kiubio

急病

heart attack

heart attack is used more now

kobito

小人

△
＞
〇

kohi

コーヒー 〇

coffeemost common word for coffeekohosia

候補者 〇candidatekoi

濃い

Not in dictionary, because
dictionary was made during U.S.
time when there were noelections. When elections came,
the Americans used candidate but
kohosia came to be used more in
1970s and 1980s because elders
understood it.
used for drinks like coffee, or
dark colors etc.

tskanaikingatsku

cabbagecommonly used△

ineffective

used only among old people〇

kilogram

not pronounced /kiro/△〇safety box
testicles

used by older people

projecting eaves
faint, lose
consciousness
scar

used by young people as well
The pronunciation /kizu/ is alsousedeffective or strong
crazy

midget(liquid) thick orstrong61

koibito

恋人×sweetheart

not known at all

kokubang

黒板△blackboard

komakai細かい 〇detailed

komatter

困ってる 〇

be in trouble

komeng御免〇

I'm sorry

komi

ごみ

〇

trash

known but they use blackboard
now
used for person; not for stingy
person as in dictionary
be in trouble including financial
troublemostly used term, common forapologies
most common term

komibako

ごみ箱△

trash can

komu

ゴム

〇

rubberkomunoki

ゴムの
木
ゴムテ
ープ
粉

〇

Indian rubber tree〇〇elastic in pantwaistsdetergent〇

detergent

kongro

粉ソー
プ
コンロ

〇

kerosene stove

kori

氷

shaved ice

korira

ゴリラ

〇
＞
〇

kosi

腰

〇

kosio

故障

〇

waist, hips,
buttocks
broken

kosui

香水

〇

perfumekomuteibkona

konasob62

used, but younger people use
trash can or Palauan word blil akomirubber for sling shots, not for
tires, not for rubber for preventing
pregnancies

used for elastic in pant waists
used only for detergent, not forcooking flour, but also finely
ground substancesused also for small portableelectric stove. Not generally used
for large gas cook top
more than ice cubes, ice is used
for blocks of ice

gorillacommonly used; SMT’s
pronunciation is “koshi”
used as in sense of ‘my boat isbroken down’
perfume is also used, but kosui ismore common

kotai答え〇

kotouar断る〇

answer (to mathproblem)refuseanswer is more common, but bothare usedcommonly usedkotsiosensei 校長先 △principal

kozukai生
小遣い 〇allowance

ksai

臭い

×

bad smellused only among older people,
principal is much more common
allowance is more common but
they are interchangeable, theysometimes use (when asked)
o-kozukai (the prefix o- is used tomake some nouns polite inJapanese)
not heard often anymore

ksari

鎖

○

neck chain

kse

癖

〇

habit

meringel a 癖〇

to be strict〇＞

passion flower

kukobokang 空港母 ×

aircraft carrier

kuma

艦（＞航
空母艦）
熊
〇

bear

interchangeable with bear

kumade

熊手

〇

rake

small gardening hand rake

kumi

ゴム

〇

rubber

kumi

組

〇

group

now team is also usedkungreng

訓練

×

military training

now exercise is usedkse
kudamono果物

for animals; not for ‘chains to pulla car or ship’, the Palauan word
bonbatel is used for that
commonly used for good habits(as well as bad) like getting
children to brush their teeth
everydaymeringel is something that hurts
youused not for ‘fruit’ as it does inJapanese, only the name ofpassion flower plant which bears
an edible fruit, English word
fruits or Palauan rodech are used
for general fruit term

63kurangd
kureiong
kurismaskurob
kutsibeni

グラウン 〇ドクレヨン 〇

playground

クリスマ 〇
ス
グロー 〇
ブ
口紅
○

Christmas

crayonbaseball glove
lipstick

鯨

〇

whale

mado

窓

○

windowmahobing

魔法瓶 ○thermos

kuziramahonganimahuramaikakeマホガ ○ニー
マフラー △
前掛け ×
前髪

make
mame
manaitamang
mangngamasku

64

muffler, scarf
apron
bangs

負け

○

豆

○

まな板 ○
万

△

マンガ ○

＜
マグロ ○

manguromannengmahogany tree×

maingami

万年
△
(筆)
マスク ×

also for baseball grounds like
Asahi kurandloser; losebean
cutting board;
chopping block
ten thousandpronunciation sounds like
Japanese
gloves for gardening or work we
use glove
used even by younger people but
they use lipstick as wellused also among young; there isan indigenous word medob, whichyounger Palauans do not know
used even among young people;
demado is not usedcommon, imported species
rarely used, but neither is scarf,
because of climate
apron is used
not used by younger people;
shaved heads are popular withboys
used among young people, notnoun, only verb

used by old people, not younger

cartoonYellow fin tuna(Thunnus
albacores)
fountain pen
mask

used by elderly only, younger
people say only pen
not used, only mask

町

△

mauar

回る

○

mauas

回す

○

maze

混ぜご ○
飯

matsi

kohang

不味い ×

mazui
醪

meromimihong

○
＞

見本

○

港橋

○

港藩

△
＞

みよし

×

minatobasi

minatohang
mios

三つ又 ○

mitsumata
mokar

儲かる ○

moktek

目的

○

問題

○

文句

○

盲腸

○

虫歯

○

mondaimongk
motsiomusibaused by elderly, not by younger,
capital; main town the pronunciation is /mats/, not/matsi/turn
turn
rice mixed withvegetables, meat,etc
bad-tasting;(person) unskilled
or unsuccessful(in persuasion)liquormade from tapioca; fromJapanese word moromi ‘unrefinedsake’sample; example
bridge connecting proper noun, used just for
Koror withbridge, not for surrounding area
Ngemelachel
section of Koror people only say hang, as in either
between Neco
Medilai-hang or Hang-medelai;
store and T-dock see hangprow
three-pronged
farming
implement
gain profit from even used by young
purpose; function even used by young
problem;
even used by young
difficulty; disputecomplaint;even used by young
criticism
both for appendix and disease
appendicitis
cavity; rotted
tooth

65

無尽

△

musingむすび ○musubinakas/

流し×namari

なめる △

namer

＞

nangio南洋桜 ○sakura
菜っ葉 ○
茄子

○

nengi

ネギ

○

nenneng

ねんね ○

nezi

ねじ

nezimauas
nikibi

○

ねじ回 ○
し
ニキビ ○
肉

×

nimots荷物

×ningio人形○

ninzin

ニンジ ○
＜
ン

niku

66

taking turns to collect money toloan to each other, used to buy
television or pay child’s tuition
not used often, not used ingeneral, just for spam rice ball,aloha musubi. bowl is donburi
even used by young

sink
鉛

nas

rice ball, aloha
musubi○nangasnappa

cooperative
enterpriselead or similar
only tama is used
metal used asweight (e.g. on
fishnet) or melted
into various
shapes fordifferent purposes
to challenge; hold only used by elderly
in contempt; makea fool ofalso use just sakura
flame tree
long cabbage
eggplant

nasubi (used as in some Japanesedialects) is not usedgreen onion
sleep (baby talk)used only in joking, child’s word

screw

interchangeable with screw

screwdriver
pimple; acnemeat (especially,
beef)baggage; luggage

interchangeable with screw driverused even by young
not common, meat is morecommonrarely used

oningio, also use doll
doll
potato with orange red sweet potato, pronounced
colored inside/ninsin/煮付け ○

nitske
二十

△

糊

○

海苔

○

応援

○

niziu

nori
nori
o(i)eng
応援団 ○o(i)engdang
okane
okasi
okiak(sang)omiangeoni
osime
osimekaba
oto

お金

×

お菓子 △
お客さ ○
ん
おみや ○
げ
鬼
△
おしめ

○

おしめ
カバー
音

△
○

落ちる ○

otsir

fish cooked withsugar, vegetables,and small amountof liquid
twenty(often used only used when talking to elderly
in countingchange)glue; paste; starch used for ‘paste’, but young use(e.g., for clothes, glue
preparing dessert,
etc)
seaweedpraise; honor;
oeng, young use this word; usedacclaim; support as verb as in te mle oeng ‘they(players in awere cheering’
game, etc)
oeng dang; (without the /i/ listed
cheering section as optional in dictionary: not usedmuch by young people;
money(often used now Palauan word udoud is usedin joking context) for all kinds of money
young people use snack, elderly
candy; sweets
use this word
used for ‘audience’, shortened
guest
form is more common
used along with present
gift; souvenir
demon
diaperdiaper covernoise; soundused when playing tag, but young
people may not play this, kau oni
commonly used
now disposable diapers are used,
so no covers anymore
general term, good or bad sounds

used for object falling; also ochir
fail (on a test, in a er a test ‘to fail a test’, ochir er arace, etc)
senkyo ‘to loose an election’, also
in sense of ‘to loose a foot race’

67

おつり

○
＜

おつり
がない

○
＜

otsuriotsuriganai

ouasi
oubakutsi
ouchosarai○＞
ou 博打 ○ou 足

ou おさ ○
らい
ou 電話 ○

oudenguaou 独立 ○＞
oudokurits
ouhanahuda ou 花札 ○ou 部屋 ○
ouheiaouiakiuou 野球 ○
ou 硬い ○＞
oukataioukatsudo

68

ou 活動 ○

originally in Japanese, otsuri was‘change, received after paying forsomething’. Palauan meaning
benefit;has changed and is used forrecompense;‘benefit’; for example ‘what
advantagewould be the benefit of building
something in that spot?’ i.e.
because it is close or convenient.
otsuri ga nai in Japanese is asentence meaning ‘I (We) don’t
having no benefit
have change’, but it has morphed
into single expression in Palauan‘on foot’, as opposed to by car,walk or go on footetc.
play twenty-one not general term, for general(card game)
gambling card is usedplay chosarai(girl's game)have a telephone; not for receiving a call, but for
make a telephone making a call or talking on the
call
phone
not used for politicalindependence of a nation as it
act independently does in Japanese, although
dokuritsu as just noun is used forpolitics
play hanahuda
used in sense of ‘you use room
use as one's room number 3’, or ‘H K Motel has six
rooms’
play baseballpresent (oneself) in sense of ‘just being stubborn’
as inflexible; takeinflexible
position; stick topositionown or run atheater

oukauaou 皮○

ou 漫画 ○＜

oumangnga

ou 問題 ○

oumondai
○

ouoni

ou 鬼

ousasimiou 刺身 ○
ou 試験 ○

ouskeng

wear leather shoes
used as verb forsomeone joking
aroundargue; express
opposition; makedifficulties
play game of tag
have sashimi
to give test;
examineou 下着 △

wear petticoat or
slip

oustangiou 図画 ○

ousungaoutabi＞ou 足袋 △

ou テー ○＞プouou ジャ ○
ziangkempo ンケンポ
ou 草履 ○

outeibouzoriライス ○カレーランニン ○
ranningngu
グラジエ ○razietaーター
ラジオ ○raiskarerazio

make picture or
drawing; paint(face) withcosmetics

in the sense of a teacher giving
students an academic test; but test
is used more common
rarely used, and when used for
women only; stangi is used only
for women’s slips and those arerarely worn
commonly used, not just pictures,
but architectural diagrams

used only for that particular typeof shoesmake or have tape not to make a tape, but to own arecording oftapeplay ziangkempo(child's game)wear rubber
thongscurry rice, used in Japanese, isrice curry
not used
sleeveless T-shirt;tank-topradiator (ofautomobile)
young people also use English
radio
radio, /j/ sound often becomes/zh/ soundwear canvas shoes

69rekodo

レコー △
ド

reksi

歴史

rengnga/

レンガ ○

○

renga
連絡

○

淋病

○

renrakrimbioリンゴ ○ringngo

Rosia

ロシア ○
サービ ○
ス

sabis

sabisisaidang
saingosairengsak/ siak

70

さびし ○
い
サイダ ×
ー
最後
○
サイレ ○
ン
尺
△

＞

history

word not known by younger
people because there is not any of
those in Palau
used interchangeably with history

brick

red ones are renga, white ones areblocksphonographrecordarea of Koror
place name for the area near thewhere (formerly) bridge (on the Koror side); also
ferry crossed toused for ‘make preparations
Babeldaob; also between two people’‘organize, to set inmotion’venereal disease
interchangeable with apple;‘phoshpate’ is ringko; this [k]may change to [g] but the [g]applesound is phonemicallydistinguished from nasal [ng], so
the words are not homonyms
Russiabonus; special
used only for free extras received
service; tip; givesomething special
to; do something
special for; give
bonus or tip tolonelycider; soft-drink

soft drink is used

last time; end (ofrelationship)
siren
used by technicians; originallyunit of measure;was ‘0.3 meters’, but now usedfoot small housefor ‘1 meter’桜○cherry tree

sakura‘flaming tree’, there is also asmaller tree (there is no English
or Palauan name) brought byJapanesesambas

サラダオ ○
イル
桟橋
○

samui

寒い

△

cold

young people use English cold

sandits

算術

×arithmetic

now use math or Palauan ochur

sangkak三角△

use triangle竿○triangle
pole used forfishing, support,etc.(usuallybamboo)liquid medicine;liniment
panties;
underpantssashimi; raw fish
speed (up)as in mle sbiido ‘was speeding’saladaoil

saosarmetsir
sarumata

サルメチ ○ール
猿股△○

sasimi

刺身

sbiidoスピード ○

sbots
sbringngu
seikats

スポー ×
ツスプリン ○
グ
生活
△
成功

○

seiko
青年団 ○

seinendang

seitak/zeitakぜいた ○＞くsalad oildock with piers

sportsnot used for laundry polesarumata is for men; now use
matang, for men and women;

use English sports

t-shirt; jersey
life

only used by elderly

used interchangeably withsucceed (insuccess, usually for business, butbusiness) prosper
also for other successes as wellyoung people's
women can join now as wellclub or society;youth group(sexually
segregated)
luxurious;
used mostly for a person who is
high-class;very clean, seitak a rengul ‘aselected; having person who is very choosy’
luxurious tastes.

71

政治

×

seizi

sekkakせっか ○くsembuki

扇風機 ○semmong

線

△
＞
○

選挙

○

専門

seng
sengkio,expert; specialist
insulated wire;
electric wire;
cable

線香

○

先生

○

commonsyn. katorisengko

teachersensei○siasing

写真siasingki

写真機 △camera

siats

シャツ △

shirt

sibai

芝居

○

sidosia

自動車 ○sikang/時間

simbai72

kl sensei ’being a teacher’
now kocho sensei is English
principal; the word order Sensei
Masaharu is more common; used
only for educators, not forpoliticians, physicians, etc.

photographplay; skitcar; automobile

now camera
ousibai ‘to be in a play’, chad er
a sibai ‘actor’ousidosia ‘to own a car’

○
hour

sikan
simangolder people still use, ‘an expert
in ---’; younger people use expert
general term for any wire

election; votesengkyosenko

use politics; political words camefrom Japanese language evenduring the American time,politics
because the generation who werein power could speak Japanese;class elections already existed
go to special effort sekkak el mei ‘you went to all theor trouble for;trouble to come here’
make a point ofinterchangeable with fanelectric fan

自慢

○

心配

○

vain; boastfulworry

ousimang ‘to show off’; SMT
thought this was a Palauan word

新聞

○

Sina

シナ

○

newspaper
strangle; choke;
close; turn off(water etc.)
Chinasingio信用○

trust; reputation

sintsiu/

真鋳○

simbung

閉める △

simer

rare; use English close

very common
there is not much copper

brass; copper

sintsu
sinzo

心臓

×

heart

siobai

商売○

businesssiobang/

食パン ○now use heartloaf of bread

siopangsiokumins

interchangeable with newspaper

植民地 ○farm colony

now mostly historical term;
places where the Japanese stayedsionga生姜○

gingersioning証人○witness

interchangeable with witness

witness standinterchangeable with witness
standsioningdaisioraisiotots

証人台 ○
将来

○

衝突

○

調べる ○

sirabersirangkao

知らん ○
顔

sisiu

刺繍

sits

シーツ ○

siuarake

皺だら ○
け

△

futurecrash; collisionused for glasses hitting togetherfor ‘cheers’ (*not in dictionary)

check, investigate
or interrogate(someone)face feigning/k/ is voiced; young adults use
ignorance;
this, but high school students use
innocent facepretendrare
embroidery(linen) sheet
having wrinkles
on the skinsiua is used for skin, face, sheets,
clothes

73

習慣

○
＜

四角

○

siukang
skak

捕まえ ○
＜
る

skamaerskareterskaristerskato
skemono,

疲れて ○
いる
しっか ○
りして
いる

スカー △
ト
漬物
○

tsukemonoskeng
skidasskoki
skongkiskozio/

試験

○

引出

○

飛行機 ○
蓄音機 △

funerals, for example arecustom; habit
conducting in a customary way(especially, bad);can be used for ‘bad habits’ inidiosyncrasy
negative way
squareconfront; face;
not be used in sense of
corner; catch; get ‘confronting problems’hold of; put(person) on the
spot
tired
(person) serious, means ‘diligent’conservative or
self controlled or
straight-laced or
not easily swayed
use Palauan word saeang
skirt
pickles;condiments
test; examination
drawer (of desk,
table, etc)
airplane(manual)rare, used for electric and crankphonographphonographs

飛行場 ○airportskojo
sodang相談△

discussion

soko

倉庫

○

損

○

損害

○

草履

△

storage area; shed very common even among youngtake a loss; waste(time)(financial) loss
rubber thongs,
slipperssongsongngaisori/zori

74

used by elderlysorobang

算盤

×abacussotets

ソテツ ×

cycad

sotsungiosei 卒業生 ×sotsungio 卒業式 ×ski△stangi下着

subong/

ズボン ○

suika

簾

○

西瓜

○

炭

○

墨壺

×

寸

○
＞

図画

○

sumitsubo

sung

tabi
tada
taia

graduation
ceremony

now use graduation

petticoat; slip

(see oustangi)
hang subong ‘short pants’rolling bamboo
curtainwatermelon

ずるい ○
足袋

△

タダ

○

タイヤ ○

interchangeable with watermelon
charcoal is used more, but sumi is
now coming back; now used in
kongro for weekend barbequescarpenter's tool for
marking lumber(kitalong)unit of measure(close to inch)originally equivalent to ‘1.19
inches’, but has come to mean
‘one inch’

sly; foxy; sneaky;
shrewdcanvas shoe(for) free; free ofcharge(rubber) tire

太平洋 △Pacific Ocean

Taiheio太鼓

taiko

only for bamboo curtain

picture; drawing

zunga
surui/ zurui

now use graduatecharcoalsumi

sunga/

graduate

trousers; pantszubongsudareonly use calculators now○
drumused in historical sense, used for‘Pacific Islands’ not for ‘Pacific
Ocean’
used not only for Japanese drums
but for rock band drums, etc. as
well

75

高い

○

滝

○

waterfall玉○

not for ball bearings as inmarble; fried flour
dictionary but for (1) light bulbs,
ball(2) food, (3) marbles
onion; (head)completely shaved
use English or Palauan word
egg

takai
taki
tama
tamanengi

玉ねぎ ○tamango卵×tamango

卵丼

○

卵型

△

domburitamango

udong
tana

卵うど ○
ん
棚

○

種

○

tansiobi
taor

誕生日 ○
タオル ○

taorer

バスタ ○
オル
倒れる ○

tarai

たらい ○

bastaortatamitatemaitauas, tauasi

76

畳

○

建前

○

束子

○
＜

only used by elderly, now used
Palauan word terpengais

noodles topped
with egg
shelf; cabinet
seed

tane

used just for prices; but outakai iswhen someone aspires to besomething greater than their true
capabilities

rice topped withegg
egg-shaped

ngata
tamangoexpensive;(person) of highstatuscommonly used as generic term
for any seed; Palauan only has
many specific words for seeds,

birthday; birthday
party
towel
bath towel
faint; collapse

only for person

large basin

wood, metal

floor matonly used for Japanese tatami notfor Palauan matsaction of building
frame of house
scrubbing brush

any brush, both pronunciations;‘paint brush’ is hake

tebukuro

手袋○

glove; mitten

teng

点

○

手紙

△

天気

×

grade; point; score test school, baseball scores
letter;elder speakers
correspondence
use weather
weathercat-gut; plastic
fishing line
tentalso use ceiling
ceilingtengamitengkitengus

天蚕糸 ○

tento

テント ○

tenzio

天井

○

鉄砲

△

灯台

○
＞

teppo
todai
tokas
toker
tokoiatokuni

融かす ○
融ける ○
床屋

△

特に

○

止める ○

tomer
torak
tosengtsios
tsitsibando
tsiub(u)
tsiui

トラッ ○
ク
渡船
×
調子

○

乳バン ○
ド
チュー ○
ブ
注意
△

hand of cards inhanahuda

not used for pistol, only known by
those who play hanahuda
specifically for Ngarelong
lighthouselighthouse, because there are noothersmake (something) to melt something using fire suchmelt
as sugarmelt; die offor ice to melt, also idiom forembarrassment
embarrassment is used
only used by elderly
barberespecially;elders use this very much, not so
particularlymuch among young
stop (blood, car, stop a person from doing
person, etc);
something, stop bleeding, stop a
restraincartruck
ferry-boat
conditionused for person, automobile, etc.
tsios el ‘his, its condition’brassiereinner tube of tire
watch out for(one's behavior);
warn (someone)

younger people use warning77

tsizim

縮む○shrinktsubame燕○barn swallow

tsunami津波○

tidal wave

tsurubasi

鶴橋○pick-axe

just hand tool, not big machines

uata

綿

○

cottonjust cotton balls, not cotton fabricuatasibune 渡し船 ×
うどん ○
udong
内南洋 ×

utsinangio
ziabong

ジャボン ○

ジャッ ○
キ
じゃん ○
ziangkempo けんぽん
字引△zibikiziakkiziteng

辞典

×

銃

×

noodles
territory ofJapanese Pacificmanmadepomelo; shaddock large fruit, like grapefruit(car) jack‘scissors-rocks-pa
per’
dictionary
dictionary
now the Palauan word boes
(which originally meant ‘blowgun’) is used
freedom (to do as young use freedom
one wishes)gun; rifle

ziu
ziu

ferry-boat

自由△Many of the semantic changes are noteworthy.

Traditional measurement

words like sung and sak have been retained but they now are merely synonyms
for ‘inch’ and ‘meter’ rather.
There are some interesting cases of the Palauan language itself being
updated with the introduction of modern concepts.

Technically speaking, thisis a topic of Palau language studies and not Japanese but a couple of examples
should prove interesting anyway.

The Japanese word ziu was introduced for‘gun’, because the Palauan language had no such term. As time passed,78

however, Palauans rejected this Japanese loanword, choosing to recycle anindigenous Palauan word (boes, originally meaning ‘blow gun to shoot darts’)for this new concept. Similarly the Palauans borrowed the Japanese word
bakudang ‘bomb’.

One of the uses of this new technology has been to pitch

small bombs into coral reefs, the shock waves stun the fish making easier toharvest.

In traditional Palauan fishing techniques, the roots of the tree known

as dub were pitched into shallow waters to stun fish for the same purpose. As
a result, Palauans have rejected the Japanese loanword and recycled theirindigenous word dub to mean ‘bomb’.
It is also noteworthy what a large number of abstract concepts have beenborrowed from Japanese into Palauan. Here we have based our judgment ofwhat is abstract and what is concrete, not on some theoretical criteria, butrather on our whether it is possible to convey the meaning of a word bypointing to something.

For example, even though both chainoko ‘mixed race’and daikusang ‘carpenter’ both describe kinds of people, we determined that it
would be easier to demonstrate that a person was a daikusang (pantomiming
hammering a nail) than to somehow pantomime that a person was of mixed
race.

79

6.

The Usage of Japanese Writing in Palau
As we have seen the Japanese language (i.e. the spoken language)

established in Japan before the war and remained long after the Japaneseadministration was over.

Not only did Japanese as a complete language

system remain, but individual words from the language entered the Palauan
language as loanwords. In the sense that these individual words could be
used by speakers who did not speak carry on a conversation in Japanese, we
can think of the words of becoming independent from the Japanese language.
We review these facts here because we find something of a parallel in theJapanese writing system. Let us explain.
Before the war, although Western missionaries had developed Roman
alphabet spelling systems for Palauan, it remained largely a written language.
When the Japanese began public education in the mid 1910’s, they used
Palauan only a bridge language in early elementary school, requiring students
to learn spoken Japanese quickly and shifting to all Japanese instruction by thesecond year of school.

The Japanese writing system was taught as well, atleast the basics of it.

Children were taught to read and write the katakana

syllabary, the hiragana syllabary and some basic kanji. In this sense Palauan
was used at schools but not taught. Palauan children were taught to read andwrite neither Palauan nor English.
As a result most of the people educated during the Japanese period are notused to reading the Roman alphabet (romaji).

(There are exceptions to this.

One notable exception is Humiko Kingzio, who has collaborated with us formany years.

But she learned the alphabet spelling system for Palauan andalso to speak, read and write English because she attended business college
after the war and taught public school for several years.) In modern day
Palau, one may see Palauan words of Japanese origin (such as tane, komi, tama,etc.) and these are of course written in the alphabet because the Palauan
language is. But when Japanese is written as a language it is in the Japanesewriting system; one does not see Japanese phrases written in romaji. The

80

authors have made multiple research trips to Palau over the past few years,
carefully photographing and cataloging related signage, as well as talking toelderly Palauans about their writing habits, but we can not recall ever seeing asingle example of Japanese sentences written in romaji.
We have however many examples of the opposite, that is, of the Japanesewriting system being used not to write the Japanese language but to write
Palauan.
First, Japanese katakana is used in printing the names of Palauan.
Examples of this usage are found on ballots for various elections (Figure 42).
To clarify, it is not only names of Japanese origin which are represented inJapanese writing (katakana) but ethnic Palauan names as well.

In otherwords, katakana is used not because the names are of Japanese origin, but
because there are Palauan citizens for whom the only intelligible form of
writing is Japanese writing.

They are more accustomed to and more

comfortable with Japanese writing than with the Roman alphabet.
Second, the Japanese writing is the one chosen by the pre-war generation
when they hand-write their own names.

This usage is found in the signaturesof the signers of the constitutions of the various states of Palau (Figure 43).
Since this usage is in the public realm and it used to write people’s names, on
the surface it may seem similar to the ballot usage discussed above, but onfurther consideration there are fundamental differences between the two usages.
Central among these is the fact that this is a choice on the part of the writers
themselves, whereas the ballot example was a choice made by others for the
benefit of readers.
Third, in Palau there are numerous groups of elders who get together
regularly to sing old songs (Friday Night Club, Ngaraklim; Figure 86). These
people hand-write the lyrics to the songs and assemble home-made uta-hon‘song books’ (Figure 44). Many of the songs are in Japanese which would
explain the transcriber’s use of Japanese katakana; the significant point here isthat katakana is used even to transcribe the Palauan portions of the songs.

81

Figure 42. Use of Katakana to write names on election ballot (Davis 2002: 127)82

Figure 43. Katakana signatures on state constitution

Figure 44. Katakana used to write song lyric

83

Fourth, and most surprising, is the use of Japanese katakana to write
Palauan correspondence and diaries.

Several Palauans of the post-war

generation have told us that their parents or grandparents regularly kept diaries
written in katakana.

In some cases the people who related this information to

us could not read the Japanese syllabary and thus could not tell if the syllabarywere being used to record the Japanese language or Palauan. But in othercases people have specifically reported that such diaries used Japanese writing
to record the Palauan language.

Our most cherished linguistic informant

Humiko Kingzio has told us that she used (and to an extent still uses) theJapanese script to write things like Palauan postal correspondence. Rather
than provide an actual example of such a letter, we asked her to compose asample with a parallel Japanese translation (Figure 45).

Figure 45. Usage of Japanese Characters to Write Palauan

84

7.

Japanese as a Constitutionally Recognized Official
Language in Palau
In the entire world there is only one constitution which specificallymentions Japanese as an official language.
constitution of Japan.

Surprisingly this is not the

Nowhere in the Japanese constitution does it

specifically mention an official language. The only constitution in the world
which specifies the official status of Japanese is the State Constitution of theAngaur in the Republic of Palau (Figure 46).

To be clear, Article XII begins

its General Provisions with a declaration of the Official Languages of the state.
Section 1 here reads, “The traditional Palauan language, particularly the dialect
spoken by the people of Angaur State, shall be the language of the State ofAngaur.

Palauan, English and Japanese shall be the official languages.”

We can think of the local dialect as the “State Language” and Japanese,
English and Palauan as the “Official Languages”, though the wording does notmake it clear whether the writers of this constitution had a clear and concreteof what this difference (if any) this semantic distinction is meant to entail in
actual language usage. Section 2 states, “The Palauan and English versionsof this Constitution shall be equally authoritative; but in the case of conflict ininterpretation or meaning of certain of its provisions, the English version shallprevail”.
The authors, along with many other scholars in Japan, have been interested
in the question of how this special designation of Japanese found its way into
the Angaur state constitution.

We have put this question to many

knowledgeable people, including Toshiwo Akitaya, Victorio Uherbelau, Sabeth
Vereen, Horace Rafael and Maria Gates-Meltel but it difficult to obtaindefinitive answers to such to such a complex question. The answers we havereceived can be paraphrased as follows:1.

Almost all of the elders at the time of the writing of the constitution
could speak Japanese.

2.

Many important political, economic, administrational terms in the85Palauan language itself are loanwords from the Japanese language, afact which points to not only its importance in general, but its
indispensability in these fields in specific.
3.

Angaur continued to maintain a strong link with Japan even after thewar. The primary aspect of this relationship was the maintenance ofthe phosphate mining operation on Angaur from the mid 1940’s to themid 1950’s.

A secondary aspect was the steady number of Japanesevisitors who came to the islands in the 1960’s and 1970’s. All ofthese were periods in which few Japanese lived in or visited the mainislands of Palau.

Figure 46. Text of Angaur State Constitution
Each of Palau’s 16 states has its own constitution and there is a constitution
for the Republic of Palau as well, but none of these except Angaur State
specify an official role for Japanese (Table 4).

86

Table 4. Language Designation in Palauan Constitutions
State
1.
2.
3.

Aimeliik
Airai
Angaur

Article Constitution(section) Languages
11(1)Palauan, English
12(3)Palauan, English
12(1)Palauan, English

4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Hatohobei
Kayangel
Koror
Melekeok
Ngaraard

12(1,2)
15(2)
10(1)
12(1)
／

9. Ngarchelong 14(1)10. Ngardmau／
11. Ngatpang
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.

／

Ngchesar2(2)Ngeremlengui 12(1)Ngiwal11(1,2)Pelilieu
11(9)Sonsorol
13(1)
Palau
13(1,2)

Hatohobei, English
English, Palauan
Palauan, English
Palauan, English
No mention, but it is
written in English
English, Palauan
No mention, but it is
written in Palauan &EnglishNo mention, but it is
written in English
Palauan, English
Palauan, English
Palauan, English
Palauan, English
English, Sonsorolese
Palauan, English

Prevailing Official Language(s)Language
Palauan No mention
EnglishNo mention
EnglishState language= Angaur
dialect of Palauan
Official languages=
Palauan, English andJapanese
EnglishHatohobei
EnglishNo mention
Palauan No mention
Palauan No mention／
No mention
English／No mention
No mention／

No mention

PalauanPalauanEnglishEnglishEnglishEnglishNo mention
No mention
Palauan, English
No mention
English, Sonsorolese
National Language=“Palauan Traditional
languages”
Official Languages=
Palauan, English

87

8.

Japanese Language in the Linguascape of Palau
The Japanese language is found a great deal in the linguascape of Palau.

Linguascape (or “linguistic landscape”) is signage, and can be more accurately
defined as having the following four qualities. Linguascape is:(1) written (as opposed to spoken) language,(2) used in public places (as opposed to, for example, a sign inside ahousehold that says “God bless this home”),(3) aimed at unspecified readers (as opposed to, for example, a handwritten
note on a shop door that says “Delivery boy, please come to backentrance”),(4) viewed without conscious effort on the part of the reader (so that thenames on products on a store’s shelf, or the titles of magazines on a
newsstand are part of the linguascape, but the small print listing a
product’s ingredients or the articles inside a magazine are not part of thelinguascape).
The Japanese linguascape in Palau indicates several interesting facts about
Palauan society related to Japanese language and people. In this chapter wewill examine the following points concerning the linguascape in Palau
1. The significant role which Japanese loanwords play in Palauan (examplesof this type of signage were seen in chapter 4).
2. The large linguistic market for the Japanese tourists (seen in the number ofJapanese signs and Japanese’s order in multilingual signs)
3. The prestige of the Japanese language in Palau.

8.1. Signage for Japanese tourists
In section 4, we saw usages of Japanese words (like katsu ‘pork cutlet’),but we draw a distinction between the signs we examined there and the ones
we deal with in this section.

That is, we have reserved this section for

signage that can be judged as exclusively aimed at Japanese.

The poster for

the Belau National Museum (Figure 47) is trilingual (Japanese, English,

88Palauan) but the Japanese element in it can be seen as aimed exclusively at
Japanese tourists.

Similarly, the Japanese element in the itabori ‘wood

carving’ gift shop (Figure 48) is also written in the Japanese script as opposedto the Roman alphabet, and can thus be seen as being aim strictly at Japanesecustomers.

Palau’s jail prisoners practice wood carving to learn a skill andearn money, and this sign guides tourists toward the shop. In English it reads“prisoner’s gift shop” but it in Japanese the characters read いたぼりギフト
ショップ (‘wood carving gift shop’) in Japanese hiragana and katakana.
However, just as non-native speakers’ pronunciation can be difficult tocomprehend, so too this writing is quite difficult to for Japanese to read.

Figure 47. Tourist posters written in English and Japanese89Figure 48. Prisoner’s Gift Shop
These two signs stand in contrast to those seen in section 4 whose Japaneseelements were written in the Roman alphabet and thus were interpreted as
being aimed at the local population.

This is not to rule out the possibility

altogether that Romanization may be aimed at Japanese tourists.

The

minshuku sign in Figure 49, for example is in romaji, but it seems to aimed at
Japanese tourists rather than locals.

Locals do not ordinarily shop around formotels to stay in, and even if they did, they could understand the part of thesign that reads motel.

Figure 49. H. K. Motel also includes the Japanese word minshuku
The restaurant signs below are multilingual.

Figure 50 is an Indian

Restaurant in Koror with a trilingual sign in English, Japanese and Chinese.
Figure 51 advertises hangover soup in English, Chinese, Korean, Thai andJapanese.

90

Figure 50. Indian Restaurant Sign in English, Japanese and Chinese

Figure 51. Tourist signs in English, Chinese, Korean, Thai and Japanese

8.2. Non-native errors in Japanese Signage
Some of the Japanese signage found in Palau shows the peculiarities or91

errors of a non-native writer.

The sign in Figure 52 is for a dive shop in Palau.

It reads, “Nous parlons français, Hablamos español,” etc. in seven different
languages. The original Japanese printing on the sign has been covered overwith a labels which reads,
3. Nihongo de douzo
Japanese in please
This is grammatically correct and a natural choice of expression in
Japanese. The original printing, visible beneath, reads
4.

Watashi-tachi wa nihongowohanasu1 pronoun pl sub. Japanese obj.

speak

st

This expression is a direct translation of the European languages
expressions, i.e. “We speak Japanese”, and is an unacceptable Japanese phrase
in this context. A sign like this does not inspire confidence in the linguistic
skills of its writer.

Figure 52. Japanese sign “We speak Japanese”
Figure 53 shows multilingual signs which betray the fact that their makers
did not understand Japanese due to errors in the writing or malformation of theletters themselves.

The signs on the left and right read massaaji ‘massage’

but the kana letters are malformed.

The sign in the middle reads だいへ気

daiheki, but it seems what the writer intended was だい人気 daininki ‘greatly
popular’.

Even this would be an unusual way to write what is normally

written as 大人気.

92

Figure 53. Japanese Characters seemingly written by non-natives
Figure 54 is a sign at the lavatory in a hotel guest room.

The sign is not

something temporarily handwritten on paper, but something the management
has gone to great trouble to have professionally made in metal for each of thenumerous guest rooms.

It reads 生 水 の で 飲 む こ と は で き ま せ ん‘untreated water, can not drink’.

The problem is the maker of the sign has

made an error in the conjunction ‘because’.

It should be nanode, but it readnode.

Figure 54. sign in hotel

93

In Figure 55, we see the sign for the Cocoro ‘heart’ Restaurant.
The sign contains many Japanese elements, but there are glaring
errors in the last line. These are errors due to the shape of thecharacters, rather than a linguistic error per se, i.e. one resulting froma misunderstanding of the phonological, lexical, morphological orsyntactic structure of the language. Correct Japanese would be ご
予約お待ちしております go yōyaku o-machi shite orimasu ‘weawait your reservations’, but the maker of the sign has written ご予
約あ待ちしてあります, with あ “a” erroneously substituted for
お “o”. The name of the shop Cocoro is given in Japanese, as are
the words for ‘hotel’, ‘restaurant’ and the words ‘Tuesday – Sunday’.
The Japanese for ‘check-in times’ appears but with times not given,so the reader must look at the English side where ‘6am-midnight’ iswritten. The Japanese includes the words meaning ‘open every dayof the year’, something which is not written on the English side.

Figure 55. Cocoro Restaurant, A-machi shite arimasu
The sign in Figure 56 is from a Palauan gas station (petrol stand). The
Japanese reads diezeru nenryō no, literally ‘diesel fuel’s’. The の at the end isa connector word for joining possessives or attributives to a noun, as in ‘diesel
fuel’s price’ or ‘diesel fuel dealers’.

94

A noun must follow the の and since nonoun is present, the phrase is ungrammatical.

Moreover, unlike many errors,

the cause of this one is difficult to imagine.

Figure 56. Grammatical mistakes in a multilingual sign
The sign in Figure 57 reads “Att Karaoke & Disco Bar”.

In Japanese it

reads エイテイテイ カテオケ, showing not one, but numerous errors in theJapanese writing system.

Although the English usage of lower case lettersmakes the name appear to be “Att”, the Japanese makes it clear the sign makerintended this to be read “A-T-T”.

While “ATT” might not sound like an

appealing name for a night club in the world of native English speakers or inJapanese, initials are a common way of naming businesses in Palau as we
mentioned with Figure 7.

The errors in the Japanese script are rather

technical but we will attempt to explain.

In Japanese, with initials T would

be written not as テイ but as ティ with the second character smaller. As it is
written here, in Japanese it would be read as [tei]. The other error is also
purely due to the script itself as has nothing to do with pronunciation orgrammatical problems.

In the word karaoke カラオケ, the character for “te”

テ has been erroneously substituted for “ra”ラ. The end result is that thisestablishment appeals to its Japanese clientele as “Ei Tei Tei Kateoke Baa”.

95

Figure 57. Mistakes in Japanese Characters

8.3. Prestigious use of Japanese in everyday products
In Palau, as in many parts of Asia or the Pacific, the Japanese language isused gratuitously, in the signs for shops and the labels for many everyday
products. This means is there simply as a decoration.

Normally language(in its spoken or its written form) conveys a message, but in the case of the
products and signs we examine here, the message seems to be only “thisproduct contains Japanese writing and Japan is associated with fashionable anddesirable things, thus this product can be associated with fashionableness anddesirability”.
Figure 58 shows bottles of mogu-mogu brand juice.

In Japanesemogu-mogu means ‘to chomp on something with one’s mouth closed’ or ‘tomumble to oneself’ (i.e. to speak without opening one’s mouth enough). It isdifficult to see any reason this name was chosen for a drink. The fact that the
product is made in Thailand only makes one more aware on the decorative andsuperfluous use of Japanese writing and language throughout Asia and thePacific.

Figure 58. Mogu mogu brand fruit drinks
The word tamako is printed on the package in Figure 59 in the Japanesekana syllabic script, as たまこ. The word tamako does not exist in Japanese,
indicating that this is typographical error, an attempt to write tamago (たまご)‘egg’, but with the diacritical marks indicating voicing of the /k/ into a /g/96having been omitted in error.

Oddly the Chinese character 酥 appears

beside this, but it would indicate a type of butter, not ‘eggs’, in Japanese. In
Chinese it indicates ‘crispy’. The English on the package indeed contains
crispy.

Although eggs may be indicated in the small-print ingredients, theword does not appear in English in the large decorative printing on the package.
All the other Asian writing on the package is Chinese characters and the way
they are used indicates they represent the Chinese (not the Japanese) language.
All of this suggests that the tamako syllabic characters are on the package
more as decoration than to convey linguistic information. On the one hand,such quasi-Japanese labels like this often originate outside of Palau, but on theother hand, they do nonetheless make up part of the overall linguascape one
encounters in Palau.

Figure 59. Tamako cookies (a typographical error for tamago ‘egg’)
The items in the photographs below all sport Japanese writing or
Romanized words. Oishi is the brand new of a line of chip-type snacks madein China (Figure 60).

In Japanese oishii (with a long /i/) means ‘delicious’.

The plates in Figure 61 read ichiban ‘number one’ and were in use at a Filipino
restaurant in Koror.

The haiku antiperspirant product in Figure 62 is made by

the famous American manufacturer Avon. Along with the previous items
they drive home the attraction of the Japanese script (particularly kana which,unlike kanji, are not shared with China, Taiwan and Korea) and Japanesewords (even in Romanization).

97

Figure 60. Oishi brand chips (from Japanese oishii ‘delicious’)

Figure 61. Ichiban on plates at a Filipino restaurant in Koror

Figure 62. Avon Haiku antiperspirant

98

The final photo in this section has taken the attraction with Japanesewriting to the extreme and it has now become nothing more than a backgrounddesign for the sign outside this internet café (Figure 63).

Figure 63. Japanese writing used randomly on an internet cafe sign99

Japanese Language Retention in pre-war speakers

9.

Almostwithout

exception,

Palau

educated

duringthe Japaneseadministration (1914-1945) can speak Japanese. Due their age, fewer andfewer such speakers can be found, but those who are alive and healthy are
generally extremely eager to speak Japanese. Up to the present, the authors(first Long and later Imamura) have made several trips conducting
semi-structured linguistic interviews.
valuable as oral-histories.

Content-wise, these interviews are

They give us insight into the sociolinguistic

environment decades ago when these speakers first learned Japanese.
Linguistically, they provide valuable information about how humans’ brainsacquire languages and the errors they make in this effort. The language
system of a non-native learner of a language (called “interlanguage”) may
contain many different types of errors.

Some of these can be explained as theresult of interference (or transference) from the learner’s native language.
Other errors are more intriguing in that they can not be explained as first
language (L1) interference, but neither are these errors random.

It is this typeof “systematic errors” in the interlanguage of second language (L2) learners
which are of the greatest interest to those of us studying natural language
acquisition, as they have the potential to help us more efficiently detect such
mislearned elements in future language learners and thus correct them andteach more effectively.
In order to explain L2 errors, one must first explain the target structures ofJapanese itself.

Because this makes such analysis complex and confusing, we

will introduce only a few of our more intriguing finding here.

Readers

interested in knowing more should consult our papers in Japanese (ロング・今村 2013).

100

Figure 64. The authors listening to Toshio Akitaya

Figure 65. The authors with Tadao and Kiyoko Ngotel
Many Japanese words are used in Palau which are relic forms, that is they
were normal in Japan prior to World War II but in the decades since have fallenout of use there (Table 5). Because Palau and Japan no longer form part ofthe same speech community, however, this falling out of usage has not spreadto Palau. This is the phenomenon of “colonial lag” that Peter Trudgill and101others have pointed to.
Table 5. Relic form in Palauan Japanese
Palau Relic form

Meaning

Contemporary Japanese form

iro megane‘sunglasses’

sangurasu

denki bashira‘electric pole’denchū

kidate (no ie)‘wooden (house)’

mokuzō

tenki ga kudaru‘weather worsens’

kuzureru

buta bako‘jail’

rōya

jūgoya‘full moon night’mangetsu no yoru

abura

‘fuel’

sekiyuThere is a special subgroup of such words which have fallen out of use inJapan because they have become stigmatized there, but this stigmatization has
not reached the former colonies like Palau because of the lack ofcommunication between the two speech areas. The examples below illustrate
this (Table 6). In prewar Japan, buraku meant simply ‘village’, but over timethe expression hisabetsu buraku ‘village where the untouchable underclasslive’, became shortened to simply buraku.

Today, in Japan, one has tosubstitute more innocuous terms like shūraku.

The same is true of the term

kurombo, which simply meant ‘black person’ before the war, but has since
taken on the derogatory nuances that the English ‘nigger’ has. Now in Japan,
one must use less stigmatized terms like kokujin.

One could make anargument about the extent to which kurombo was derogatory even in pre-war
Japan, but regardless of these details, the point still holds that the term is far
more offensive in the Japanese of Japan today than it is in the Japanese of
Palau. The term kichigai ‘insane’ is heard in Palau today as well.

(It hasentered the Palauan language itself as the loanword kitsingai.) Today thisterm has become so stigmatized that is generally deemed unfit for broadcast
media and one must choose more sensitive expressions such as atama no102

okashii hito or seishinbyō kanja.
Table 6. Relic Forms in Palauan Japanese which have Subsequently become
Derogatory in Mainstream JapaneseWord used in Palau Meaning in Palau Contemporarynuance in Japanburaku‘village’‘area where
underclass lives’kurombo‘black person’‘nigger’kichigai, kitsingai‘insane’‘nuts’, ‘a loony’chainoko‘child of mixed race ‘halfbreed’
marriage’Contemporary
Japanese form
shūraku
kokujinatama nookashii hito,
seishinbyō
kanjahaafu, daburu

One of the authors (Long) has enquired similar examples in other places
which were cut off from mainstream Japanese after the War, such as the Bonin(Ogasawara) Islands and Saipan.

There many speakers used words likekanaka ‘South Sea Islander’, chōsenjin ‘Korean person’, shinajin ‘Chinese
person’, kojiki ‘bum’, which, although before the war were simply descriptive
expressions, have become so stigmatized in the decades since that they are
now deemed unacceptable in the classroom and in broadcast media.

The useof these “Rip Van Winkle expressions” can have negative effects if listeners
misinterpret the user as having bad intentions. This type of misunderstanding
occasionally results on Palau when young tourists come and hear these words
from the elderly local Palauan speakers of Japanese.
In addition to these relic features of Palauan Japanese, one feature which
stands out is the use of interlanguage forms.

I will not attempt an explanationof the linguistic term interlanguage here, but suffice it to say these areincorrect features of speech due the language being used by non-natives. One
interlanguage expression found in the Japanese of Palauans who are fluent

103almost to the point of being native, is the equivalent of the English ‘some’ andwill require some explanation.
The example in Table 7 is “A few/ many / some people eat bat.” Thepoint here is that English and Palauan have a paradigm in which modifiers
which mean ‘a small amount’ (examples a and b), ‘a large amount’ (d and e) or‘an unspecified amount’ (g and h) are interchangeable; they are syntactically
identical.

With the Japanese language, the only way to express anunspecified amount (the equivalent of English some or Palauan sesel) is to opt
for an entirely different syntactic framework, one with which puts the elementsof the sentence in almost reverse order. The interlanguage usage has lined up
the three quantity modifiers and made them uniform. This was accomplishedby using an unrelated expression aru and giving it a new function. The
expression aru hito means (in Standard Japanese) ‘a certain person’ or ‘certain
people’.

In other words it serves a function quite different from thequantifying expressions like a few/many/some.
number) indicates specificity.

Rather it (regardless of

It sometimes translates into English as some,as in cases like Ano enkai no toki, aru hito wa koomori wo tabeta ‘the time ofthat party, a certain person ate bat’.

The interlanguage structure (which is ofcourse an error in Japanese) has eliminated the exception from the paradigm
making it more uniform.

104

Table 7. The interlanguage usage of aru in Palauan Japanese, and acomparison with quantity modifiers in Palauan and English
languageamountsentence examples parsed
varietya. Stand. Japa. small
wazuka na hito wa kōmori wo taberu
b. Palauan
small
bebil
el chad menga el olík
c. English
small
a few
peopleeat batd. Stand. Japa. largeōkunohito wa kōmori wo taberu
e. Palauan
large
betok
el chad menga el olík
f. English
large
many
peopleeat batg. Stand. Japa. unspecified kōmori wo hito wa iru
taberuh. Palauan
unspecified séselel chad menga el olík
i. English
unspecified somepeopleeat batj. Palau
unspecified aru
hito wa kōmori wo taberu
speakers’interlanguage

10510. Japanese “pidginoid” of post-war speakers of Angaur
The Palauan island of Angaur has traits which are of great interest to
Japanese linguists.

Firstly, the constitution of the State of Angaur is the only

constitution in the world which officially recognizes the status of the Japanese
language. Even the Constitution of Japan (while no one would deny theJapanese language’s place as the language of Japan) does not officiallyrecognize an official language.
Secondly many Palauans have commented that the people of Angaur raised
after the Japanese administration of Palau can nonetheless speak the Japanese
language to varying extents.

The Japanese language was taught on Angaur

and throughout Palau from the Japanese takeover following World War I until
the Japanese left in defeat after World War II.

Thus people raised before thewar can speak Japanese because they attended Japanese schools and because
they used the language to communicate with both Japanese and non-Japanesecitizens of the Japanese Empire (such as Yapese, Chamorros, Carolinians,
Koreans, etc.). On the other hand younger speakers today are partial or fluent
speakers of Japanese because they studied the language in Palauan schools,
studied abroad in Japan, or have worked in Japanese companies. It is theAngaurans who do not fit into any of these categories (usually in their 40s, 50s
or 60s) but can nevertheless speak Japanese who are interest to linguists.
The authors conducted semi-structured linguistic interviews with one suchspeaker and we will examine what we learned from him below.
The Angauran speaker (Speaker A, a male in his fifties) used sentences inconversation to Japanese native speakers (J) such as the following. (The top
lines are the actual utterances.

The lower lines are the “glosses”, literaltranslations word for word.)
1. J: Nihongo hanas -e-

masu

ka?

Japanese speak potential polite question marker
A: Watashi hanasu nihongo.
I

106

speak Japanese2. J: Kare atama ii kara. (Because he [listener’s nephew] is smart.)
A: Onaji to watashi.
same as me
The intriguing thing about these utterances for linguists is that they do notadhere to Japanese word order.

They are grammatically incorrect in Japanese,

which would have the word order of sentences 1' and 2'.
1'. Watashi (wa) nihongo ga hanasemasu
Isubject Jap.

subject speak can formal

2'. Watashi to onaji.
meas sameSome people might look at Speaker A negatively saying that he was “using
broken Japanese” or “couldn’t speak Japanese correctly”. Linguists would
see the situation in the exact opposite way.

That is, linguists would

concentrate on the fact that Speaker A had not simply acquired individual
words of Japanese but could arrange them into sentences and conduct aconversation.

Linguists would see this ability as evidence of the amazing

captivity of human beings’ brains to acquire something as complex as
language.
It is clear that Angaur is a variety of Japanese, and it is clear the traits
which make Angaur Japanese unique are the result of language contact
phenomena due to the fact that Japanese has been used in a community where
many (and in some periods of time, “all”) of the speakers were non-native
users of the language. This means Angaur Japanese is a contact variety but thequestion remains what type of contact language it is should be classified as.
Because of the complexity of comparing Angaur Japanese with other types ofcontact languages, we have drawn up Table 8.
Angaur Japanese is acquired and used as a second language in an area withno native speakers (or almost none). These are similarities it shares with the
speech of people studying Japanese in foreign countries like Australia or Korea,

107

but unlike the interlanguage of speakers who have learned Japanese as a
Foreign Language in a classroom situation, many Angauran speakers have notacquired the language through natural language acquisition. Of course there
are many such speakers of Japanese as a Second Language living in Japan(Chinese “farm-brides”, Filipino bar hostesses, Indonesian cannery workers,
Brazilian auto-factory laborers) who speak an interlanguage variety ofJapanese learned through natural language acquisition, but these people differ
those of Angaur in that they have learned and use the language in an area
people by Japanese natives. Japan is full also of speakers who have acquired
Japanese in classroom situations, but their situation obviously differs greatly
from the speakers in Angaur as well. An obvious comparison which comes tomind is with the Japanese-based Creole language of Taiwan, but there are thedifferences here are again significant.

The most important is that thecreolized variety of Taiwan is by definition the first (i.e. native) language (orcertainly one of the native languages) of its users. We have found no one
from Angaur who makes such a claim about their Japanese.

The most salient

difference, however, in terms of the language structure itself is that Taiwan
Creole Japanese has (again, by definition) undergone the “drastic
simplification” associated with pidginization and the subsequent grammatical
restructuring typical of creolized languages.

In other words, Taiwan Creole

has taken grammatical “parts” from Japanese “recycling” and reassemblingthem in ways that have little to do with Japanese grammar.

The result is thatwhen Japanese native speakers hear the Taiwan Creole, it is incomprehensible
to the extent that they have little idea what the conversation is about. Angaur
Japanese is simplified in the sense that it lacks many of native Japanese’s
grammatical structures and rules (and in this sense it sounds like “broken
Japanese”), but it is certainly comprehensible to Japanese speakers hearing it
for the first time.

The 19th century Japanese pidgin used in port cities like

Yokohama (and probably others) is similar to Angaur Japanese in that it was
not the first language of its speakers, but it is more like Taiwan Creole in the108

sense that it incomprehensible to native Japanese speakers not accustomed tohearing or speaking it.

Another significant difference is that the Yokohama

Pidgin was used as a lingua franca between English and Chinese speakers(so-called “tertiary usage”).

On Angaur we know that people from Saipan

and Yap lived on the island in pre-war and post-war period, respectively, butthere is no evidence to suggest that the usage of Japanese between thesegroups and the Angaurans was a factor in the Angaurans born in the decades
after the war being able to speak Japanese. Yokohama Pidgin Japanese did,
however, have native Japanese speakers as one of the points on its triangle ofusers. Other more established types of pidgins, such as the trade pidgins ofMelanesia that developed into Tok Pisin, etc. were, and still are, basically inthe absence of native speakers of English (the superstratum language of thetriangle).
Table 8. Angaur Japanese compared with other contact varieties
Used as asecondlanguage
Angaur Japanesepidginoid○

Used in area Natural
without
Acquisition(no formal
nativespeakers of study)
superstratum○○

Used aslinguafrancaInterlanguage JFL
Natural Acquisition
Interlanguage JSLClassroom Acquired
Interlanguage JSL
Taiwan Creole Japanese
Native Japanese
19th cent. Yokohama
Pidgin Japanese
Afrikaans-type creoloids
Singapore English-type
creoloids
Trade pidgins

○
○

○
×

×
○

×
×

Drastic
simplification(incomprehensible tonatives)× simplified
but not
restructured
×
×

○

×

×

×

×

×
×
○

○
×
×

○
○
○

×
×
○

○
×
○

×
○

○
○

○
○

×
○

×
×

○

○

○

○

○

×

109

We must include creoloids in our comparison as well, but the biggest
problem here is that the term creoloid has come to describe two quite different
types of contact language (with Afrikaans and Singapore English being two
typical examples of the two extremes), which only have in common the factthat they both “show signs of the kind of restructuring found in creoles, but toa much lesser degree”.
To review, Angaur Japanese is similar to pidgins in that it has not been
nativized, in other words, it is acquired as a second language.

Like some (butnot all) pidgins it is acquired in an area basically void of native speakers of thetarget (or superstratum) language. Another feature it has in common withpidgins is that is acquired without formal study and as such in grammaticallysimplified (sounding like “broken Japanese”). We are thus tempted to callAngaur Japanese a pidgin, but as we have said, it lacks the drastic level ofsimplification which is no doubt hastened by tertiary (lingua franca) usage.
In the same way that creoloids resemble creoles but remain closer to theoriginal target (superstratum) varieties, so Angaur Japanese is pidgin-ish
variety not a full-fledged pidgin.
be termed a “pidginoid”.

110

We suggest therefore that Angaur Japanese

11. A Century of Japanese Language and Culture in Palau
In the summer of 2012, Japanese and Palauan scholar collaborated on a
Symposium held in Koror.

The symposium entitled “Back to the Future:

Palau's Japanese Era and its Relevance for the Future” was conceived during
discussions between Faustina K. Rehuher-Marugg, Palauan Minister ofCommunity & Cultural Affairs, Howard Charles, instructor in music at PacificCommunity College, Junko Konishi, professor of music at Shizuoka
University in Japan and Daniel Long, professor of linguistics at Tokyo
Metroplitan University.

The concept was to provide a public forum forpeople from many places including Tokyo, Shizuoka, Kochi, Koror, Babeldaob
and Taipei to come together and discuss the cultural influences upon Palau in
the colonial period, but also to discuss how these cultural influences were
important for the future of Palau and its young people. Three importantcomponents of the symposium were the participation of young people bothPalauan and Japanese, the musical contributions provided by Palauan elders
and the active participation of Palauans and Japanese in positions ofadministration and policy making.

111

Figure 66. Poster for the Symposium112

Figure 67. Welcoming Remarks: Tutii Chilton, Dean of Academic Affairs

Figure 68. Welcoming Remarks: His Excellency Yoshiyuki Sadaoka, Japanese
Ambassador to the Republic of Palau

113

Figure 69. Welcoming Remarks: His Excellency Kerai Mariur, Vice Presidentof the Republic of Palau
One of the present authors, Daniel Long, of Tokyo Metropolitan University,
delivered a paper entitled “Archiving the Japanese Language Oral History of
Palau for Future Generations”. What follows is an abstract. The speakerdiscussed the necessity for archiving oral history materials (tape recorded orvideotaped interviews) in the Japanese language, so that they can be used acultural resource for future generations. Thus far in Palau there have been
many related contributions, namely (1) numerous museum exhibits curated by
the Belau National Museum, (2) many academic papers and books about theJapanese colonial period of Palau written in Japanese, (3) books in printed
form of interviews with Palauan elders, particularly the 2009 publication“Palauan Children under Japanese Rule” produced as a volume 87 of theJapanese National Museum of Ethnology’s ethnological reports. Since 2008,
Daniel Long and his graduate students have been collecting audio recordedinterviews with Palauan elders about their experiences before and during
World War II.

Some of these interviews can currently be viewed by theJapanese public because they are used in the educational show “Japanese
Language and Culture” which began running on Japanese TV in 2011 and will114

continue until 2015.

The concept for the archives is as follows.

Reminiscences are told in the islanders’ own words (not rewritten), and are (a)in their own voices (sound recordings), (b) told in Japanese, both so thatJapanese people could understand, (c) to emphasize that there was a Japaneseperiod in the islands’ past. These recordings will be made available on theinternet so that people all over the world (Palauans living throughout the world,
Japanese school children, etc.) can listen to them without having to buy discs.
What needs to be done in the near future are the following four things. (1)Editing of the tapes to find sections with some content consistency (“stories”).
Adding subtitles in Japanese. Deciding whether to add English subtitles ornot.

(2) Getting the permissions of the speakers (I got their permission torecord the interviews for my research at the time the recording were made,now I need to make sure they do not mind having the interviews make public).
(3) Technical aspects (how to make the subtitles visible, how large to makethem, what color to use, what format to put the data files in, what server to put
the files on).

(4) Getting the word out. Linking to other resources like thehomepages of Pacific Community College, Belau National Museum, the(Japanese) National Language Research Institute homepage

Figure 70. Daniel Long, Tokyo Metropolitan University
Co-author of the current report, Keisuke Imamura, of Tokyo Metropolitan
University Graduate School, gave a paper entitled “Why is it important for

115

Japanese to know about Palau’s past?” A summary of the points of the paper
follows.

Young Palauans know quite a bit about Japan, but Japanese people

know almost nothing about Palau. Why is it important for Japanese people toknow about Palau’s past? Because Palau is intertwined with Japan’s 20th
century history, so for Japanese, knowing about Palau means knowing about
their own past.

Let us look at some important facts that the Japanese should

know about Palau. The fact that there many fluent speakers of Japanese in
Palau is an important historical fact but it also relates to the present as well.
Many older Palauans know how to write Japanese. Not only this, but forsome Palauan elders, Japanese is the only writing system they know.

One ofthe past Presidents of Palau (Kuniwo Nakamura) is of Japanese descent.
Palauan is one of the few languages that incorporates many Japanese words.
Palauan people old and young know many songs in the Japanese language.
Even among the younger generations of Palauans, many study Japanese inschool.

In conclusion, we can see that Palau’s Japanese era still remains as apart of its culture even today.

Learning about this era helps Japanese to know

more about Japan and thus about themselves.

Figure 71. Keisuke Imamura
Shingo Iitaka, of Kochi Prefectural University, entitled his paper“Reviewing Visual Images of Palau from the Japanese Administration Era”.

116

In this talk Iitaka discussed the photographic images from the Japanese era ofPalau’s past. We have an extensive photographic record of the era, including
images of the landscape and people as well as photos which make acontribution to the ethnographic heritage of Palau. There was a documentary
film called “Lifeline on the Sea: Japan’s South Sea Island” which includes
movie picture footage of Angaur but also several scenes which seems to havebeen filmed in Yap. The Japanese movie “Bouquet in the South Sea” hasmany location shots filmed in Melekeok. These images can be seen as (1)colonial products made by the Japanese, but they are also (2) cultural resources
for the post colonial ere as well.

All of these visual images are valuable

resources for the young people of Palau today and into the future to informthem about the Japanese era.

At present there is a necessity and Japanese

researchers have a responsibility to consider carefully how they can arrange
and catalog these images and then work with Palauan people to return these
historical and cultural resources to the local communities.

Figure 72. Shingo Iitaka
Yoshiyuki Asahi, of the National Institute for Japanese Language andLinguistics, delivered a paper entitled “The Importance of Linguistic Researchon the former Japanese Colonies”.

In the paper, the author discussed the useof the Japanese language in places as disparate as Sakhalin and Hawaii.

Inthe former case the language was learned as a second language by the local
populations during the Japanese colonial administration and in the latter case117the Japanese language was brought to Hawaii by immigrants looking for a newlife who learned English and were bilingual.

Figure 73. Yoshiyuki Asahi
Shinji Sanada, of the National Institute for Japanese Language andLinguistics, Nara University, delivered a paper entitled “A Japanese-lexicon
Creole in Taiwan”. An abstract follows.

Not only in Palau, but in many

parts of Asia and the Pacific live many people who acquired Japanese before
or during World War II and retain competency in the language today.
Particularly in Taiwan and the islands of Micronesia, the Japanese language
continued to be used as a lingua franca among speakers whose native language
differed. Moreover, in parts of the Atayal people of Yilan County in Eastern
Taiwan, a Japanese-based creole language formed. In this paper we firstoutline the sociohistorical background of Yilan Creole to establish that it isindeed a creole. We then attempt to clarify the linguistic nature of Yilan Creole
through an examination of material by field studies.

118

Figure 74. Shinji Sanada
Yoshimichi Mizuno, of Kyoto Institute of Technology, was the designatedrespondent for Sanada’s paper putting in the context of the whole area
formerly covered by the Japanese Empire.

Figure 75. Yoshimichi Mizuno, Kyoto Institute of Technology
Junko Konishi, of Shizuoka University, entitled her paper “The Importanceof archival of Palauan Classic songs, which show Japanese influences”. Her
abstract follows.

A song is thought to be merely “personal fun”, however,people share time with others while listening to and/or singing them. From the119historical point of view, a song often tells much more than the facts: it also
speaks for what people are thinking. In this presentation, Konishi encouraged
Palauan students to notice the importance of archiving Palauan “classical”
music, which was influenced by the Japanese music.

Figure 76. Junko Konishi
Ryota Yoshida, of Shizuoka University Graduate School delivered a paper
entitled “Archival activities and the transcription with Staff notation”.
Yoshida explained his archival activities, based on his interviews with Palauanelders to collect musical materials. Then, he emphasized the convenience ofstaff notation, which integrates musical information onto a piece of sheet.
Producing musical notations makes the songs easier for people to access andperform these songs without the need for electronic equipment.

120

Figure 77. Ryota Yoshida
George Shan-Hua Chien, of National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU)
presented a paper entitled “The Web Museum of Palauan Music”. Chien
introduced the Digital Museum of Austronesian Music at National Taiwan
Normal University, especially the YAMAGUTI Osamu Collection of Palauan
traditional songs from 1965. His research project digitalized the fieldrecordings, notes and photos and combined these in a medium so that they canbe simultaneously accessed through the project website.

Figure 78. George Shan-Hua Chien
Vivian, Chiao-Wen Chiang of National Taiwan Normal University, entitled
her paper “Constructing the Austronesian Music Museum”.

Chiang121

explained the technical procedures of digitizing the YAMAGUTI Collection.
Then, she introduced examples of sound recordings and field data showing thewebsite in detail.

Figure 79. Vivian, Chiao-Wen Chiang
Howard Charles, of Palau Community College, entitled his paper “TheImpact of Music Education and Performance in Palau's 2011-12 School Year”.
Charles introduced the music curriculum at Palau Community College, theprogram for elementary school teachers and the activities of students of the
PCC Music Club. They have released their original CDs for fund raising
purposes in order to conduct sustainable activities. As an instructor, heemphasized how to transmit the esthetics of Palauan songs.

Figure 80. Howard Charles

122

Osamu Yamaguchi, of Nanhua University, Taiwan, delivered the final paper
entitled, “Transgender love songs of Belau and Japan favouritely sung by
Belau people: with emphasis on the 1960s”. He explained traditional Palauan
ideas of gender such as that a female often composed the lyrics of chants. Then,referring to the Japanese song, “Kokoni sachi ari”, he discussed how
female/gender relationships have changed in Palau.

Figure 81. Osamu Yamaguchi

Figure 82. Closing Remarks: Kathy Kesolei, Senate Vice President

123Figure 83. Closing Remarks: Bilung Gloria Salii Queen, Traditional leader

Figure 84. Closing Remarks: The Honorable Faustina K. Rehuher-Marugg,
Minister of Community & Cultural Affairs

124Figure 85. The students of the Palau Community College Music Club

Figure 86. Ngaraklim performing Japanese songs at the symposium

125Figure 87. Kiyoko Ngotel performing her dance of Ganpeki no haha

Figure 88. The conference room at Palau Community College

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