The speakers are located in either the island of Tobi or in Echang, a hamlet of Koror, the former capital of Palau.

Shortly before and during the First World War, those numbers dropped severely due to an abundance of disease.

Tobian and the dialects of Sonsorol, Merir, and Pulo Ana, the other inhabited Southwest Islands, are closely related to the languages spoken in the Federated States of Micronesia outer islands of Yap and Chuuk Lagoon.

[3] For example, the difference between voiceless (f) and voiced (v) consonants are important but there are many exceptions where it does not affect the meaning.

Although it is not tonal, the speech has a wide variety of tone variations that appear to be emotional rather than linguistic and either show emphasis or other semantic components.