| Central Solomons | |
|---|---|
| (tentative) | |
| Geographic distribution | Solomon Islands |
| Linguistic classification | One of the world's primarylanguage families |
| Proto-language | Proto-Central Solomons |
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | None |
 Language families of the Solomon Islands. Central Solomons | |
TheCentral Solomon languages are the fourPapuan languages spoken in the state ofSolomon Islands.
The four languages are, listed from northwest to southeast,
The four Central Solomon languages were identified as afamily byWilhelm Schmidt in 1908. The languages are at best distantly related, and evidence for their relationship is meager. Dunn and Terrill (2012) argue that the lexical evidence vanishes when Oceanic loanwords are excluded.[1] Ross (2005) and Pedrós (2015), however, accept a connection, based on similarities among pronouns and other grammatical forms.
Pedrós (2015) suggests, tentatively, that the branching of the family is as follows.
Savosavo andBilua, despite being the most distant languages geographically, both split more recently than Lavukaleve and Touo according to Pedrós.
Palmer (2018) regards the evidence for Central Solomons as tentative but promising.[2]
An automated computational analysis (ASJP 4) by Müller et al. (2013)[3] groupedTouo,Savosavo, andBilua together.Lavukaleve was not included.[4] However, since the analysis was automatically generated, the grouping could be either due to mutual lexical borrowing or genetic inheritance.
Pedrós (2015) argues for the existence of the family through comparison of pronouns and other gender, person and numbermorphemes and based on the existence of a commonsyncretism between 2nd person nonsingular andinclusive. He performs aninternal reconstruction for the pronominal morphemes of each language and then proposes areconstruction of some of the pronouns of the claimed family. The reconstructions are the following:
| 1 singular | 2 singular | inclusive/ 2 non-singular | 1 exclusive | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-Savosavo | *a-ɲi | *no | *me | a- |
| Pre-Touo | e̤ | noe | *me | e̤- |
| Pre-Lavukaleve | *ŋai | *ŋo | *me | e |
| Pre-Bilua | *ani/*aŋai | *ŋo | me | e- |
| Proto-Central Solomons | *ani/*aŋai | *ŋo | *me | *e |
Central Solomon numerals from Pedrós (2015):
| numeral | Savosavo | Touo | Lavukaleve | Bilua |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ˈela, ˈpade / pa | aɺo / azo | ˈtelakom, ˈtelako | ˈomadeu, ˈmadeu |
| 2 | ˈedo | e̤ɺi | ˈlelemal, ˈlelaol, ˈlelaɰel, ˈlemal | ˈomuga, ˈmuga |
| 3 | iˈɰiβa / iˈɰia | hie | ˈeŋa | ˈzouke, ke |
| 4 | ˈaɰaβa | a̤vo | nun | ˈariku |
| 5 | ˈara | sodu | ˈsie | ˈsike, ke |
As the comparisons indicate, lexical evidence for the relatedness of the four languages is limited.
The following basic vocabulary words are from Tryon & Hackman (1982),[5] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database.[6] The Savosavo data is from Claudia Wegener's field notes.[7]
The words cited constitute translation equivalents, with no claim as to whether they are cognate or not. If one sets apart the obvious loanwords fromOceanic languages (e.g.batu,vatu for “head”,susu for “breast”), the number of potential cognates across these four varieties is evidently very low.
| gloss | Lavukaleve | Mbaniata (Lokuru dial.) | Mbilua (Ndovele dial.) | Savosavo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| head | vatu | uɔ | lezu | batu |
| hair | memea | zufu | tou | luta; sivuɰa |
| ear | hovul | ōŋgoto | taliŋa | tagalu |
| eye | lemi | mberɔ | vilu | nito |
| nose | sisi | emɔ | ŋgame | ɲoko |
| tooth | neo | nāne | taka | nale |
| tongue | let | ānl | leño | lapi |
| leg | tau furime | ɔe | kiti | |
| louse | kea; lai | lisa; vutu | sipi; tiŋgau | dole |
| dog | mitakeu | sie | siele | misu |
| bird | malaɣul | mānozo | mbiaŋambiaŋa | kosu |
| egg | keruv | āndena | tɔruru | kolei; si |
| blood | ravu | vo | ndara | ɰabu |
| bone | sosokio | minu | piza | tovolo |
| skin | keut | zuɔna | tupu | korakora |
| breast | ɔfu | susu | susu | susu |
| man | ali | finɔzɔ | mamba | tada |
| woman | aira | ŋgohe | reko | adaki |
| sky | totoās | uzia | au | oka |
| moon | kua | īndi | kamboso | kuɰe |
| water | lafi | fiɔ | nĵu | piva |
| fire | lake | hirɔ | uza | keda |
| stone | mbeko; veko | hɛŋga | lando | kato |
| road, path | lake | e | keve | keva |
| name | laŋi | nini | ŋi | nini |
| eat | eu; eui; oune | azafe | vuato | l-ou; samu |
| one | dom; tetelom | āroŋo; thufi | mandeu | ela; pade |
| two | lelal; lemal | ēri | omuŋga | edo |
All Central Solomon languages haveSOV word order except forBilua, which hasSVO word order due toOceanic influence.[8]