Over 70 languages are spoken in the Solomon Islands archipelagoTryon & Hackman (1983). which covers a broader area than the nation state of Solomon Islands,Ples Blong Iumi: Solomon Islands the Past Four Thousand Years, Hugh Laracy (ed.), University of the South Pacific, 1989, and includes the island of Bougainville, which is an autonomous province of Papua New Guinea (PNG). The lingua franca of the nation state of Solomon Islands is Pijin (whereas the lingua franca of Bougainville is Tok Pisin) and the official language in both countries is English.
Language families Austronesian languages Most of the languages in the Solomon Islands archipelago are Austronesian languages, more precisely Oceanic. They belong to different language subgroups within the Oceanic family:
Northwest Solomonic languages Southeast Solomonic languages Temotu languages Polynesian outliers (all of which belong to the Nuclear Polynesian group)
The Reefs – Santa Cruz languages were once thought to be non-Austronesian, but further research found them to be divergent Austronesian languages.Ross & Næss (2007). The neighbouring languages of Vanikoro are also heavily relexified Austronesian languages. Both RSC and Vanikoro-Utupua languages are now subsumed under the Temotu subgroup of Oceanic.
An indigenous sign language, Rennellese Sign Language, has gone extinct.
Non-Austronesian languages Besides Austronesian languages, the Central Solomon languages such as Bilua, Lavukaleve (further information in the Lavukaleve Spanish article), Savosavo and Touo constitute an independent family within the Papuan languages.
Two other language families are represented on Bougainville, which forms part of the nation of Papua New Guinea but is geographically part of the archipelago.
Languages of the Solomon Islands archipelago The following table lists 72 indigenous languages, including 66 from the Oceanic family, 4 from a “Papuan” family (Central Solomonic), as well as one Creole and one sign language.
Language ISO 639-3 code Speakers % of total popⁿ Area Branch Family Pijin pis (lg 1) (lg 2) 4.0689 (lg 1)51.2162 (lg 2) Creole Lungga lga 0.4616 Ranongga NorthwestSolomonicOceanic Marovo mvo 1.3503New Georgia Mono mte 0.5567 Shortland Is, Treasury Is Ririo rri 0.0132Choiseul Province Roviana rug 1.6468New Georgia Babatana baa 0.9342Choiseul Province Blablanga blp 0.2956Santa Isabel Cheke Holo mrn 1.8084Santa Isabel Duke nke 0.3857Kolombangara Ghanongga ghn 0.4184Ranongga Hoava hoa 0.0766New Georgia Kazukuru kzk 0.0000New Georgia Kokota kkk 0.0884Santa Isabel Kusaghe ksg 0.3996New Georgia Simbo sbb 0.4506 Simbo Ughele uge 0.2005Rendova Island Vaghua tva 0.3270Choiseul Province Vangunu mpr 0.1513Vangunu Varisi vrs 0.8610Choiseul Province Gao gga 0.2027Santa Isabel Laghu lgb 0.0025Santa Isabel Zabana kji 0.5597Santa Isabel Zazao jaj 0.0017Santa Isabel ꞋAreꞌare alu 2.9695Malaita SoutheastSolomonic Arosi aia 1.1261Makira Baeggu bvd 0.9843Malaita Baelelea bvc 1.4681Malaita Bauro bxa 0.5706Makira Birao brr 0.9843Guadalcanal Bughotu bgt 0.6753Santa Isabel Dori'o dor 0.4014Malaita Fagani faf 0.1505Makira Fataleka far 1.1182Malaita Gela nlg 1.9813 Nggela Islands Ghari gri 2.0218Guadalcanal Gula'alaa gmb 0.2616Malaita Kahua agw 0.8625Makira Kwaio kwd 2.2103Malaita Kwara'ae kwf 5.4107Malaita Lau llu 2.8256Malaita Lengo lgr 2.2942Guadalcanal Longgu lgu 0.3160Guadalcanal Oroha ora 0.0063Malaita Owa stn 0.5120Makira Sa'a apb 1.9217Malaita Talise tlr 2.0895Guadalcanal Toqabaqita mlu 2.0974Malaita Wala lgl 1.1641Malaita Malango mln 0.6898Guadalcanal Tanema tnx 0.0002Vanikoro Temotu Asubuo aua 0.0017Utupua Amba utp 0.0989Utupua Äiwoo nfl 1.4014Reef Islands Lovono vnk 0.0007Vanikoro Nanggu ngr 0.0350Nendö Natügu ntu 0.7140Nendö Nalögo nlz 0.2703Nendö Tanibili tbe 0.0025Utupua Teanu tkw 0.1335Vanikoro Gilbertese gil 0.2052Gizo, Choiseul Micronesian Rennellese mnv 0.5323 Rennell & Bellona Polynesian Luangiua ojv 0.3949Ontong Java Sikaiana sky 0.1220Sikaiana Tikopia tkp 0.5545Tikopia, Vanikoro Vaeakau-Taumako piv 0.1905 Duff Is, Reef Is Anuta aud 0.0445Anuta Island Lavukaleve lvk 0.2975Russell Islands CentralSolomonic “Papuan” Savosavo svs 0.4029Savo Touo tqu 0.3126Rendova Island Bilua blb 1.4581Vella Lavella Rennellese Sign Language 0.0000 Rennell & Bellona Home sign
Italics indicate that a language is extinct.
Footnotes
Sources
Data set derived from Tryon & Hackman (1983): Greenhill, Simon, & Robert Forkel. (2019). lexibank/tryonsolomon: Solomon Islands Languages (Version v3.0). Zenodo.