Sonsorol

Sonsorol is one of the sixteen states of Palau. The administrative center, and only village, is Dongosaru on Sonsorol island. The inhabitants speak Sonsorolese, a local Trukic language, and Palauan.

The islands of the state of Sonsorol, together with the islands of Hatohobei, form the Southwest Islands of Palau.

The state is subdivided into four municipalities, which correspond to the four individual islands, that were previously inhabited. The islands are, from north to south (Fanna Island and Sonsorol Island are together called Sonsorol Islands):

Islands

Fanna

Fanna, also called Fana, is encircled by a coral reef extending 160 to 480 m offshore, and nearly circular in shape, with a diameter of 350 m. The island is thickly wooded with coconut palms and other trees. The island is referenced as a municipality. Mariano Carlos was serving as chief from 2000 until the Typhoon Bopha evacuation. Fanna Island and nearby Sonsorol Island 1.6 km further south together form the Sonsorol Islands.

Sonsorolese language

The Sonsorolese language is a Micronesian language spoken in Palau, originally on the islands composing the state of Sonsorol, and spreading through migration elsewhere in the country. It is very close to Tobian.

Introduction

History

Sonsorolese is mostly spoken in a small area called Palau, which is located in the Pacific Ocean near Micronesia. Sonsorolese is also spoken in Sonsorol, Pulo Anna, and the Merir Islands (ethnologue.com). The language is one of the two indigenous languages spoken in the area and is actually the most spoken in the area, especially in Palau (sonsorol.com). As the language being established in Palau, Palau has a little history of how it became what it is today. The country was settled in the early BC era from the Philippines and Indonesia (Wikipedia). The area became part of the Spanish–American War and in the end the Spanish gave up their territory of Palau and some of the other islands to the Germans. Later down the road the Japanese took the land and then gave up to the United States during World War 2.