The

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

of Southeast Solomonic languages forms a branch of the

Oceanic languages The approximately 450 Oceanic languages are a branch of the Austronesian languages. The area occupied by speakers of these languages includes Polynesia, as well as much of Melanesia and Micronesia. Though covering a vast area, Oceanic languages ...

. It consists of some 26 languages covering the Eastern

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...

, from the tip of Santa Isabel to

Makira The island of Makira (previously known as San Cristóbal) is the largest island of Makira-Ulawa Province in Solomon Islands. It is third most populous of the Solomon Islands after Malaita and Guadalcanal, with a population of 55,126 as of 2020 ...

. It is defined by the merger of

Proto-Oceanic Proto-Oceanic (abbreviated as POc) is a proto-language that comparative linguistics, historical linguists since Otto Dempwolff have reconstructed as the hypothetical common ancestor of the Oceanic languages, Oceanic subgroup of the Austronesian ...

''*l'' and ''*R''. The fact that there is little diversity amongst these languages, compared to groups of similar size in

Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from New Guinea in the west to the Fiji Islands in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Vanu ...

, suggests that they dispersed in the relatively recent past. Bugotu,

Gela Gela (Sicilian and ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the regional autonomy, Autonomous Region of Sicily, Italy; in terms of area and population, it is the largest municipality on the southern coast of Sicily. Gela is part of the Province o ...

and Lengo are three of the most conservative languages out of all of them.

Languages

According to Lynch, Ross, & Crowley (2002), the structure of the family is as follows: *Southeast Solomonic family **Bugotu–Gela–Guadalcanal family *** Bughotu (Bugotu) ***Gela–Guadalcanal family ****Gelic: Lengo,

****Guadalcanalese: Birao, Ghari, Malango, Talise **Longgu–Malaita–Makira family ***

Longgu Longgu (Logu) is a Southeast Solomonic languages, Southeast Solomonic language of Guadalcanal, but originally from Malaita. Phonology Phonology is concerned with the ways in which languages make use of sounds to distinguish words from each oth ...

***Malaita–Makira family **** Sa'a ****Makiran (San Cristobal): Arosi, Fagani, Bauro, Kahua– Owa, ? Marau Wawa ****Malaitan *****Central–North Malaitan: North ( To'abaita, Baelelea, Baeggu, Fataleka), Lau, Kwara'ae,

Wala __NOTOC__ Wala may refer to: Places * Wala (island), a small island in Vanuatu, and a popular destination for cruise ships * Wala, Panama, a community in Kuna de Wargandí, Panama *Kingdom of Wala, a pre-colonial polity in the north of modern Gha ...

, Gula'alaa,

Kwaio Kwaio is an ethnic group found in central Malaita, in the Solomon Islands. According to Ethnologue, they numbered 13,249 in 1999. Much of what is known about the Kwaio is due to the work of the anthropologist Roger M. Keesing, who lived among them ...

, Dori'o *****Southern Malaitan: ꞋAreꞌare,

Marau Marau is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the Federative units of Brazil, state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. It was initially populated by Italian immigrants that were escaping from the war. The city name is based on the brave native ...

, Oroha

Basic vocabulary

Basic vocabulary in many Southeast Solomonic languages is somewhat conservative, unlike Northwest Solomonic forms, many of which have no

cognates.Pawley, Andrew. Explaining the Aberrant Austronesian Languages of Southeast Melanesia: 150 Years of Debate. ''Journal of the Polynesian Society'', The, Vol. 115, No. 3, Sept 2006: 215–258. Below, Lengo and Arosi are compared with three Northwest Solomonic languages. Aberrant forms are in bold. :

Languages

Basic vocabulary

References

Further reading