The

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

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 South East

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 ...

, from the tip of Santa Isabel to

Makira The island of Makira (also known as San Cristobal and San Cristóbal) is the largest island of Makira-Ulawa Province in the Solomon Islands. It is third most populous island after Malaita and Guadalcanal, with a population of 55,126 as of 202 ...

. 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 Indonesia's New Guinea in the west to Fiji in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, ...

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

Gela Gela (Sicilian and ; grc, Γέλα) is a city and (municipality) in the 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 of C ...

are two of the most conservative languages.

Languages

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

Lengo The ancient rock art site of Lengo is located in the Bakouma region of the Central African Republic. Site Description The village of Lengo is on the road of Yalinga 3 km from Bakouma. The site of engravings is located on the right of this ro ...

***Guadalcanal:

Birao Birao is the capital of Vakaga, one of the 14 prefectures of the Central African Republic and was an administrative post in the colony of Ubangui-Shari. In March 2007, the town was almost completely burnt down in the fighting between rebels ...

, Ghari, Malango, Talise *Longgu–Malaita–Makira family **

Longgu Longgu (Logu) is a 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 other. In Longgu, there are both ...

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

Kwara'ae The Kwara'ae language (previously called Fiu after the location of many of its speakers) is spoken in the north of Malaita Island in the Solomon Islands. In 1999, there were 32,400 people known to speak the language. It is the largest indigenous ...

, Wala, 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 the ...

, Dori'o ****Southern Malaita: 'Are'are, Marau, Oroha

Basic vocabulary

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

Proto-Oceanic Proto-Oceanic (abbr. ''POc'') is a proto-language that historical linguists since Otto Dempwolff have reconstructed as the hypothetical common ancestor of the Oceanic subgroup of the Austronesian language family. Proto-Oceanic is a descendant ...

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,

and Arosi are compared with three Northwest Solomonic languages. Aberrant forms are in ''italics''. :

Languages

Basic vocabulary

References

Further reading