Nalögo () is an Oceanic language spoken on the island of Nendö in the Solomon Islands. It used to be lumped together with Natügu under a single language called the "Santa Cruz language", but the two varieties were recognized to be two distinct languages in 2012.
Together, Nalögo, Natügu and Nanggu are the three indigenous languages of Nendö island.
Nalögo has been described by linguist Valentina Alfarano..
The language Name The name Nalögo (new orth. Nalrgo) comes from nalö-go , literally "our language" – from nalö "language, word" + -go "1st + 2nd person augmented enclitic").
Genetic affiliation Like its neighbours Natügu and Nanggu, Nalögo was once thought to be dialects of a language labelled “Santa Cruz”; and the latter was long thought to be a Papuan language. In the 2000s however, it became clear that was shown to be a member of the Austronesian language family, like the rest of the Reefs – Santa Cruz languages.
Dialects Nalögo and Natügu are recognised as opposite ends of a dialect continuum. The Nalögo section of the dialect chain includes two named dialects, Nea and Nooli.
Phonology
Consonants Alfarano's analysis counts 15 consonant phonemes. They are indicated here, with the orthography in : LabialAlveolarPalatalVelarLabial-velarStopvoiceless prenaszd Affric.prenaszdⁿd͡ʒ Nasal Fricative Approximant
Nalögo has the same consonants as those of neighbouring Natügu – with the addition of .
Prenasalized stops can optionally be realized as plain voiced consonants.
Vowels Nalögo has ten vowel phonemes: +Oral vowelsFrontCentralBackClose Close-mid Near-open Open
These vowels can be nasalized; but Alfarano does not consider nasalization to be phonemic in the language.
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links Paradisec has a number of collections with Nalögo materials