The family of Micronesian languages is a branch of the Oceanic languages. It consists of twenty language

Language

Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...

s, the nineteen Micronesian Proper languages and Nauruan

Nauruan language

The Nauruan language is an Austronesian language spoken in Nauru. It is estimated that it has 7,000 speakers. Almost all speakers are bilingual in English....

. Micronesian languages are known for their lack of plain labial consonant

Labial consonant

Labial consonants are consonants in which one or both lips are the active articulator. This precludes linguolabials, in which the tip of the tongue reaches for the posterior side of the upper lip and which are considered coronals...

s; they have instead two series, palatalized and labio-velarized labials.

Components

According to a 2008 analysis of the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database, the Micronesian languages group as follows:

• Nauruan
  Nauruan language
  The Nauruan language is an Austronesian language spoken in Nauru. It is estimated that it has 7,000 speakers. Almost all speakers are bilingual in English....
  
  
• Micronesian Proper
  • Gilbertese
    Gilbertese language
    -External links:**** with Gilbertese – English Translations from – The Rosetta Edition**...
    
     (i-Kiribati)
  • Nuclear Micronesian
    • Kosraean
      Kosraean language
      Kosraean, also sometimes called Kusaiean, is the language spoken on the islands of Kosrae , Caroline Islands, and Nauru. In 2001 there were approximately 8,000 speakers....
      
      
    • Ponapeic languages
      Ponapeic languages
      The Ponapeic languages are a dialect continuum of Micronesian languages, conventionally divided into three languages: Mokilese, Pingelapese and Pohnpeian....
      
      
    • Marshallese
      Marshallese language
      The Marshallese language is a Malayo-Polynesian language of the Marshall Islands, and the principal language of the country...
      
      
    • Trukic languages
      Trukic languages
      The Trukic languages are a dialect continuum of Micronesian languages, conventionally divided into a dozen languages.-Components:The database seems to say that Sonsorol is the most divergent of the Trukese languages. However, the results are defective and it is not clear that they support a Trukese...
      
      

The analysis gives a 75% probability that Kosraean is a primary branch of Nuclear Micronesian. Nauruan was not included in the database, but is widely considered the most divergent of the Micronesian languages.

It also showed that the Micronesian languages form a unit with the Fijian–Polynesian languages at a 70% confidence level.