The family of Southeast Solomonic languages forms a branch of the Oceanic languages. It consists of some 26 languages covering the Eastern Solomon Islands, from the tip of Santa Isabel to Makira. It is defined by the merger of Proto-Oceanic*l and *R. The fact that there is little diversity amongst these languages, compared to groups of similar size in Melanesia, suggests that they dispersed in the relatively recent past.[1]Bugotu, Gela and Lengo are three of the most conservative languages out of all of them.
Languages
According to Lynch, Ross, & Crowley (2002), the structure of the family is as follows:[2]
^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.
Further reading
Tryon, Darrell T. and B. D. Hackman. 1983. Solomon Islands Languages: An Internal Classification. (Pacific Linguistics: Series C, 72.) Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University
