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 Titan Lake In-situ Sampling Propelled Explorer (TALISE) is a Spanish space probe proposed in 2012 that would splash-down in Ligeia Mare, the second largest lake on Saturn's moon Titan. TALISE would navigate across the lake for six months to one yea ...

*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 Arosi is a Southeast Solomonic language spoken on the island of Makira. Arosi is primarily spoken by inhabitants who live to the west of the Wango River on Makira (formerly known as San Cristobal Island). Makira is in the easternmost part of the S ...

, Fagani, Bauro, Kahua–

Owa Owa or OWA may refer to: * Owa language, a language of the Solomon Islands * Ōwa, an era in Japanese history * Owa Obokun Adimula, the title of the traditional ruler of the Ijesha people of Nigeria * Owa (dance), a traditional dance of Tripura, I ...

, ? 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 __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 Ghana ...

, 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 Marau is a municipality in the 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 chief "cacique Marau" which fought against the white ...

, 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

are compared with three

Northwest Solomonic languages The family of Northwest Solomonic languages is a branch of the Oceanic languages. It includes the Austronesian languages of Bougainville and Buka in Papua New Guinea, and of Choiseul, New Georgia, and Santa Isabel (excluding Bugotu) in Solo ...

. Aberrant forms are in ''italics''. :

Languages

Basic vocabulary

References

Further reading