[5] The closest linguistic relatives of Marshallese are the other Micronesian languages, including Gilbertese, Nauruan, Pohnpeian, Mokilese, Chuukese, Refaluwash, and Kosraean.

[6] The Ratak and Rālik dialects differ phonetically in how they deal with stems that begin with double consonants.

The consonant /tʲ/ may be phonetically realized as [tʲ], [t͡sʲ], [sʲ], [t͡ɕ], [ɕ], [c], or [ç] (or any of their voiced variants [dʲ], [d͡zʲ], [zʲ], [d͡ʑ], [ʑ], [ɟ], or [ʝ]), in free variation.

[10][11][12] Word-internally it usually assumes a voiced fricative articulation as [zʲ] (or [ʑ] or [ʝ]) but not when geminated.

For simplicity, this article uses unmarked [k ɡ ŋ kʷ ɡʷ ŋʷ] in phonetic transcription.

[12] The MED and Willson (2003) describe the rhotic consonants as "retroflex", but are not clear how this relates to their dental or alveolar trill positions.

Superficially, 12 Marshallese vowel allophones appear in minimal pairs, a common test for phonemicity.

[21] For example, [mʲæ] (mā, 'breadfruit'), [mʲɑ] (ma, 'but'), and [mʲɒ] (mọ, 'taboo') are separate Marshallese words.

[24] Because the cumulative visual complexity of notating so many diphthongs in phonetic transcriptions can make them more difficult to read, it is not uncommon to phonetically transcribe Marshallese vowel allophones only as one predominant monophthongal allophone, so that a word like [tʲɛ͡ɔkʷ] can be more simply transcribed as [tʲɔkʷ], in a condensed fashion.

[29] Initial, final, and long vowels may be explained as the results of underlying glides not present on the phonetic level.

[33] Some homorganic clusters are also disallowed:[33] The following assimilations are created, with empty combinations representing epenthesis.

Naan (2014) does not take the heights of epenthetic vowels between non-glides into consideration, phonetically transcribing all of them as a schwa [ə].

[citation needed] Phonetic transcription may indicate epenthetic vowels between two non-glides as non-syllabic,[35] using IPA notation similar to that of semi-vowels.

This article uses non-syllabic notation in phonetic IPA transcription to indicate epenthetic vowels between non-glides.

[37] Though they occupy time, the approximants are generally not articulated as glides, and Choi (1992) does not rule out a deeper level of representation.

All morae are thus measured in /CV/ or shut /C/ sequences:[40] That makes Marshallese a mora-rhythmed language in a fashion similar to Finnish, Gilbertese, Hawaiian, and Japanese.

[42] This system is not highly consistent or faithful in representing the sounds of Marshallese, but until recently, it had no competing orthography.

Therefore, backness is marked in vowels despite being allophonic (it does not change the meaning), and many instances of the glides /j ɰ w/ proposed on the phonemic level are unwritten, because they do not surface as consonants phonetically.

A stronger raised palatal glide [i̯], phonemically analyzed as the exotic un-syllabic consonant-vowel-consonant sequence /ji̯j/ rather than plain /j/, may occur word-initially before any vowel and is written i.

For historical reasons, certain words like iọkwe may be written as yokwe[45] with a y, which does not otherwise exist in the Marshallese alphabet.

Modern orthography has a bias in certain spelling choices in which both possibilities are equally clear between two non-approximant consonants.

[62] In the most polished printed text, the letters L‌̧ l‌̧ M̧ m̧ N‌̧ n‌̧ O̧ o̧ always appear with unaltered cedillas directly beneath, and the letters Ā ā N̄ n̄ Ō ō Ū ū always appear with unaltered macrons directly above.

Regardless, the diacritics are often replaced by ad hoc spellings using more common or more easily displayable characters.

In particular, the Marshallese-English Online Dictionary (but not the print version), or MOD, uses the following characters:[36] As of 2019, there are no dedicated precomposed characters in Unicode for the letters M̧ m̧ N̄ n̄ O̧ o̧; they must be displayed as plain Latin letters with combining diacritics, and even many Unicode fonts will not display the combinations properly and neatly.

Unicode defines the letters as having a cedilla, but fonts usually display them with a comma below because of rendering expectations of the Latvian alphabet.

Here are some differences between the new and old orthographies: In his 1968 publication Marshallese Phonology, linguist Byron W. Bender designed a purely morphophonemic orthography, containing only non-IPA symbols corresponding to consonant phonemes, vowel phonemes and regular reflexes between the dialects, intended for use in dictionaries and language teaching.

[69] It is common in Oceanic languages for a special type of pronoun to be used in equational sentences and for topicalization or focus.

The present tense is formed by attaching the suffix -j to the personal pronoun (-ij for kōm and koṃ).

[71] Predicational sentences have SVO word order and a main verb:[71] E-j3S-PRESkajañjañplaykita.guitar.E-j kajañjañ kita.3S-PRES play guitar.

(Willson 2002)In equational sentences, both the subject and predicate are noun phrases:[71] NuknukdresseoDETe-aibujuij.3S-beautiful.Nuknuk eo e-aibujuij.dress DET 3S-beautiful.