The Santa Cruz language (locally known as Natügu) is the main language spoken on the island of Nendö or 'Santa Cruz', in the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its ca ...

Name

The name ''Natügu'' means "our language" (''natü'' "language, word" + ''-gu'' "1st + 2nd person plural suffix").

Genetic affiliation

It was widely believed until recently that Santa Cruz was a

Papuan language The Papuan languages are the non-Austronesian and non- Australian languages spoken on the western Pacific island of New Guinea in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, as well as neighbouring islands, by around 4 million people. It is a strictly geogra ...

. Like the rest of the

Reefs – Santa Cruz languages The Reef Islands – Santa Cruz languages (usually shortened to Reefs – Santa Cruz, abbreviated RSC) are a branch of the Oceanic languages comprising the languages of the Santa Cruz Islands and Reef Islands: * Äiwoo (also known as ''Reefs'' ...

, however, it has been shown to be a member of the

Austronesian Austronesian may refer to: *The Austronesian languages *The historical Austronesian peoples The Austronesian peoples, sometimes referred to as Austronesian-speaking peoples, are a large group of peoples in Taiwan, Maritime Southeast Asia, M ...

language family.

Dialects

Dialects are Bënwë (Banua), Londai, Malo, Nea, Nooli. Speakers of most dialects understand Lwowa and Mbanua well. The Nea and Nooli dialects are the most divergent, actually a separate language (Nalögo).

Phonology

Consonants

Voiced stops can also be heard as prenasalized.

Vowels

References

External links

Buk Ngr Nzangiongr
Anglican Book of Worship in the Natqgu Language *

Paradisec The Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (PARADISEC) is a cross-institutional project that supports work on endangered languages and cultures of the Pacific and the region around Australia. They digitise reel- ...

ha
a number of collections with Natügu materials
{{Authority control Languages of the Solomon Islands Temotu languages