page_title: Yap
section_title: Language and ethnicity
hierarchical_section_title: Yap / Culture / Language and ethnicity
caption_attribution_description: Native home with Yapese money stones indicating great wealth. Stones were mined on Palau and carried by outrigger canoe 300 miles. Money stones are quarried from Aragonite
context_page_description: Yap or Wa′ab traditionally refers to an island group located in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, a part of Yap State. The name "Yap" in recent years has come to also refer to the state within the Federated States of Micronesia, inclusive of the Yap Main Islands and its various outer islands. For specifying the island group, the name Yap Main Islands is most exact.
  The Yap Main Islands are considered to be made up of four separate islands: Yap Island proper, Gagil-Tamil, Maap, and Rumung. The four islands are separated by relatively narrow water features, and the islands are surrounded by a common coral reef. They are formed from an uplift of the Philippine Sea Plate, and are referred to as "high" islands as opposed to atolls. The land is mostly rolling hills, densely vegetated. Mangrove swamps line much of the shore, although there are beaches on the northern sides of the islands. Excluding the reef area, the Yap Main Islands are approximately 24 km long, 5–10 km wide, and 98 km². The highest elevation is 178 m at Mount Taabiywol in Fanif municipality on Yap island proper.
context_section_description: The Yapese language belongs to the Austronesian languages, more specifically to the Oceanic languages. Yap was initially settled by ancient migrants from the Malay Peninsula, the Indonesian Archipelago, New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands. The people of the Yap State outer islands are descendants of Micronesian settlers, and as such have significant ethnic dissimilarities from the people of the Yap Main Islands. Their culture and languages (Ulithian and Woleaian) are closely related to those of the outer islands of Chuuk. English is used as a common language.
caption: Traditional style structure with stone money indicating great wealth. The first stones were mined on Palau and carried by outrigger canoe some 450 kilometers (280 mi).
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