Northwest Solomonic
Santa Isabel
© Bill Palmer 2005
Last modified 17 August 2005
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The languages are listed roughly from west to east.
Santa Isabel general
Amhurst of Hackney, Lord, & B. Thomson (eds) (1901) The discovery of the Solomon Islands. Huklyut Society. [Cited in Ivens 1933 on Bughotu - discusses "The Ysabel words quoted by the Spanish discoverers of the island in 1567". Bughotu?]
Bosma, David (1981) Standardised alphabets for Santa Isabel languages. A recommended spelling for the languages of Santa Isabel Solomon Islands. Honiara: Solomon Islands Translation Advisory Group.
[Discussion of proposed orthography for Isabel languages.]
Gabelentz, H.C. von der (1873) ‘Die melanesischen Sprachen nach ihrem grammatischen Bau und ihrer Verwandtschaft unter sich und mit den malaiisch-polynesischen Sprachen: zweite Abhandlung.’ Abhandlungen der königlich Sächsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften. Abahndlungen der philologisch-historischen Klasse. 7/I:1-186.
[Includes Gao and Bughotu material? White (1995) incorrectly cites this as 1861/1879 (Wissenschaften 3, 7)]
Hackman, Brian D. (n.d.) Extended Swadesh list for Solomon Island vernaculars. Unpublished field notes.
[Unseen. 300 item wordlist in 65 Solomon Islands languages including Isabel languages, collected in the 1960s.]
Ray, Sidney H. (1926) The Melanesian Island Languages, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[‘Ysabel.’ Overview of Isabel languages. pp525-529.]
Ross, Malcolm D. (1988) Proto Oceanic and the Austronesian languages of western Melanesia. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
[Includes an overview of NWS, including a discussion of phonological and lexical innovations (pp224-225) and morphosyntactic innovations (p255) in New Georgia and Isabel.]
Tryon, Darrell T. & Brian D. Hackman (1983) Solomon Islands languages: an internal classification. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
[Major work investigating relationship between Solomon Island communalects, based largely on Hackman’s field wordlists. Includes an overview of language in the Solomon Islands; previous research; a classification based on phonological correspondences; and a lexicostatistical analysis and 324 item comparative wordlist of 111 communalects including those of Santa Isabel.]
Welchman, ?? (n.d.) [Wordlists of various Isabel languages and dialects.] Unpublished.
[Unseen. 108 item wordlist in each of “the ten Bush dialects of Ysabel”. Which languages? Cited by Ray (1926:527) and Capell (1954:85).]
White, Geoffrey M., Francis Kokhonigita & Hugo Pulomana (1988) Cheke Holo (Maringe/Hograno) dictionary. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
[Includes an overview of Santa Isabel languages and previous work on them. ppvii-x]
Whiteman, Darrell, & Gary Simons (1978) The languages of Santa Isabel, Solomon Islands: a sociolinguistic survey. Unpublished typescript.
[19 page overview of Isabel languages and survey of speaker numbers, language use, degree of mutual intelligibility and multilingualism. No language data.]
Zabana
Ama, D., & Matthew Fitzsimons (1985) Zabana. A dictionary of the Zabana language.Santa Isabel, Solomon Islands. Honiara: Solomon Islands Translation Advisory Group.
[Contains 41 pages of Zabana dictionary entries, 2 pages of idiomatic phrases and sentences, and a 2 page grammatical sketch, basically morphology. No English to Zabana finder list, but entries include good informative translations.]
Bosma, David (1981) Standardised alphabets for Santa Isabel languages. A recommended spelling for the languages of Santa Isabel Solomon Islands. Honiara: Solomon Islands Translation Advisory Group.
[Discussion of proposed orthography for Isabel languages. Includes 15 page comparative wordlist of Cheke Holo, Zabana and Bugotu (pp8-22).]
Bourne, Edmund (n.d.) [Field notes on Zabana.] Unpublished.
[Unseen missionary notes. Cited by Fitzsimons (1989).]
Capell, Arthur, (n.d.) [Wordlist.] Unpublished.
[Unseen. Cited by Capell (1954:190).]
Fitzsimons, Matthew (1989) Zabana.A grammar of a Solomon Islands language. MA thesis, University of Auckland.
[170 page reference grammar. Includes 3 page interlinearized text.]
Pogolamana, Telena (n.d.) Zabana historical notes and customs. Unpublished typsecript.
[Unseen. Cited by Fitzsimons (1989).]
Ray, Sidney H. (1926) The Melanesian Island Languages, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[5 page grammatical sketch of Zabana (as ‘Kia’), primarily on morphology, based on Bourne’s notes (pp534-538).]
Rivers, W.H.R. (1914) The history of Melanesian society. Vol 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[Includes discussion of Zabana terms relating to clans, fish, bird, animal and plant totems, and social structure, from Welchman’s field notes. (pp245-246)]
Seglem, Glenn (n.d.) [?Field notes.]
[Fieldwork on Zabana cited by Grace (1971:354) presumably resulted in some field notes.]
Simons, G F (1982) Word Taboo and Comparative Austronesian Linguistics. In Amran Halim, Lois Carrington & Stephen A. Wurm Papers from the Third International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics. Vol. 1: Currents in Oceanic. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp??-??.
Tryon, Darrell T. & Brian D. Hackman (1983) Solomon Islands languages: an internal classification. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
[Includes a classification of Solomon Islands communalects based on phonological correspondences; a lexicostatistical analysis of 111 communalects including the Kia communalect of Zabana, based largely on Hackman’s field wordlists; and 324 item comparative wordlist including Zabana.]
Yen, D.E. (1974) The sweet potato and Oceania. An essay in ethnobotany. Honolulu : Bernice P. Bishop Museum .
[Includes 7 root crop terms in Zabana (as ‘Kia’).]
Laghu
Guy, Jacques (1977) [Laghu field notes.] Unpublished.
[Wordlist collected in Samasodu. The language was almost extinct. Informants no longer regularly used the language and some appeared unreliable.]
Tryon, Darrell T. & Brian D. Hackman (1983) Solomon Islands languages: an internal classification. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
[Includes a classification of Solomon Islands communalects based on phonological correspondences; a lexicostatistical analysis of 111 communalects based largely on Hackman’s field wordlists, including Laghu based on data from Guy (1977); and 324 item comparative wordlist including Laghu.]
Kokota
Anon. (n.d.) Buka Nhau Blahi Ka O’oe Kokota. Honiara: Provincial Press.
[Translation of the Holy Communion section of the Church of Melanesia Prayer Book. Translation done by native Zabana speaker - text contains Zabana terms and Kokota misuses and grammatical errors.]
Anon. (1994) Buka Nhau Blahi Ka O’oe Kokota. Sydney: desktop published.
[Facsimile edition of Anon. n.d., produced by Bill Palmer]
Palmer, Bill (1998) Ia tarai ka saigona. Ia nona ooe God ka Ooe Kokota. Port Vila: desktop published. [Translation of the Evening Prayer section of the Church of Melanesia Prayer Book. Translation done B Palmer in conjunction with a committee of native Kokota speakers.]
Palmer, Bill (1999a) A grammar of the Kokota language, Santa Isabel, Solomon Islands. PhD thesis: University of Sydney. www.surrey.ac.uk/lcts/bill.palmer/NWS_site/Kok/gram.htm
[A lengthy discussion of the phonology, morphology and syntax of Kokota. Includes revision of language map of Santa Isabel, some historical asides, and appendix of stress assignment data, a word list of about 350 items, and an appendix of gestures.]
Palmer, Bill (1999b) ‘Voiced sonorants - phonemes or underlying clusters?’ Australian Journal of Linguistics 19/1:77-88.
[A discussion of evidence for the phoneme status of voiceless sonorant phones in Kokota, including discussion of the diachronic development of the phonemes and a comparison with Iaai and Lenakel.]
Palmer, Bill (2002) ‘Kokota.’ In John Lynch, Malcolm D. Ross & Terry Crowley (eds) The Oceanic languages. London: Curzon. pp498-524.
[Excellent 27 page grammatical sketch.]
Palmer, Bill (2004) A dictionary of Kokota. www.surrey.ac.uk/lcts/bill.palmer/NWS_site/Kok/dic.htm
Palmer, Bill (f.c.) Kokota grammar. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.
[A revised version of Palmer (1999a).]
Tryon, Darrell T. & Brian D. Hackman (1983) Solomon Islands languages: an internal classification. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
[Includes a classification of Solomon Islands communalects based on phonological correspondences; a lexicostatistical analysis of 111 communalects including Kokota, based largely on Hackman’s field wordlists; and 324 item comparative wordlist including Kokota.]
Blablanga (including Kilokaka)
Napu, Ben (1953) ‘A vocabulary of the Kilokaka language, Santa Ysabel, Solomon Islands.’ Journal of Austronesian Studies. 1:139-144.
[418 item wordlist and 48 phrases in Kilokaka dialect, presented with translations into Mota but not English. Material collected before 1915.]
Ray, Sidney H. (1926) The Melanesian Island Languages, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[2 page grammatical sketch of Kilokaka dialect, primarily on morphology, based on Napu (1953) (pp532-534).]
Tryon, Darrell T. & Brian D. Hackman (1983) Solomon Islands languages: an internal classification. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
[Includes a classification of Solomon Islands communalects based on phonological correspondences; a lexicostatistical analysis of 111 communalects including the Kilokaka, Blablanga and Ghove communalects of Blablanga (with Kilokaka treated as a separate language ‘Zazao’), based largely on Hackman’s field wordlists; and 324 item comparative wordlist including Kilokaka, Blablanga and Ghove.]
Cheke Holo
Blevins, Juliette (2003) ‘A note on reduplication in Bugotu and Cheke Holo.’ Oceanic Linguistics. 42/2:499-505.
[Discusses implications for phonological theory of syllable structure and reduplication in Bugotu and Cheke Holo.]
Bosma, David (1980) Letasi Cheke Maringe. (An Alphabet for Maringe.) Nareabu: SITAG. (Mimeo)
Bosma, David (ed) (1981a) Life in our village. Short stories from Nareabu Santa Isabel Solomon Islands. Honiara: Translation Committee Solomon Islands Christian Association.
[20 texts from 4 speakers, collected in Nareabu village.]
Bosma, David (1981b) Standardised alphabets for Santa Isabel languages. A recommended spelling for the languages of Santa Isabel Solomon Islands. Honiara: Solomon Islands Translation Advisory Group.
[Discussion of proposed orthography for Isabel languages. Includes 10 Cheke Holo items in 5 minimal pairs (pp4-5); and 15 page comparative wordlist of Cheke Holo, Zabana and Bugotu (pp8-22).]
Bosma, David (1984) Holo (Maringe) dictionary. Unpublished typescript. 45pp.
[Unseen. Cited by White et al. (1988) and White (1995).]
Boswell, Freddy (2001) ‘ Cheke Holo orthography: local tradition clashes with a linguist’s concerns.’ Notes on Literacy. 27/1:3-12
Boswell, Freddy (2002) ‘The genres of ‘shouted speech’ in Cheke Holo.’ Australian Journal of Linguistics 22/1:35-43.
Hackman, Brian D. (1968) A guide to the spelling and pronunciation of place names in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate. Honiara: British Solomon Islands Protectorate Lands and Survey Department.
[Includes a 20 item comparative wordlist of 33 Solomons languages including Cheke Holo (as ‘Maringe’), based on original primary data. (p9)]
Lagusu, Hudson (1986) ‘Smoke and ashes for the Knabu Gods.’ In Bruce Deverell & Gweneth Deverell (eds) Pacific rituals. Living or dying. Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific. pp48-55.
[Contains discussion of traditional culture history including the meanings of several cultural terms and 4 short texts (invocations).]
Naramana, Richard Basil (1987) ‘Elements of culture in Hograno/Maringe, Santa Ysabel.’ ‘O’o. A Journal of Solomon Islands Studies. 3:41-57.
[Contains detailed explanation of meanings of various material, social and religious cultural terms, and the text of several songs, by a native speaker.]
Palmer, Bill (f.c.) ‘Information structure and the pragmatic function of clause order variation in Cheke Holo (Oceanic).’ Studies in Language.
Ray, Sidney H. (1926) The Melanesian Island Languages, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[‘The bush language of Ysabel.’ 4 page grammatical sketch of Cheke Holo, primarily on morphology. pp529-532.]
Ross, Malcolm D. (1988) Proto Oceanic and the Austronesian languages of western Melanesia. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
[Includes a discussion of clause structure in Roviana and Cheke Holo. pp240-247]
Ross, Malcolm D. (n.d.) [Field notes.]
[Notes on primary research with Cheke Holo (as 'Maringe') informants. Includes elicitations, and grammatical notes based on primary data and White et al.]
Simons, G F (1982) Word Taboo and Comparative Austronesian Linguistics. In Amran Halim, Lois Carrington & Stephen A. Wurm Papers from the Third International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics. Vol. 1: Currents in Oceanic. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp??-??.
Tryon, Darrell T. & Brian D. Hackman (1983) Solomon Islands languages: an internal classification. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
[Includes a classification of Solomon Islands communalects based on phonological correspondences; a lexicostatistical analysis of 111 communalects including the Tataba, Leleghia and Kmagha communalects of Cheke Holo (as ‘Maringe’), based largely on Hackman’s field wordlists; and 324 item comparative wordlist including Tataba, Leleghia and Kmagha.]
Vilasa, Ezekial (1986) ‘The Fafara ritual of Santa Ysabel.’ In Bruce Deverell & Gweneth Deverell (eds) Pacific rituals. Living or dying. Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific. pp56-65.
[Contains discussion of traditional culture history including the meanings of several cultural terms, 1 text (an invocation), and musical notation of a traditional chant.]
White, Geoffrey M. (1978) Big Men and Church Men: social images in Santa Isabel, Solomon Islands. PhD dissertation: University of California, San Diego.
[Unseen.]
White, Geoffrey M. (1995) ‘Maringe (Cheke Holo).’ in Tryon, Darrell T. (ed) Comparative Austronesian dictionary. An introduction to Austronesian studies. Part 1: Fascicle 2. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. pp787-791.
[Contains brief background on the language; phoneme inventory; and very brief note on morphology.]
White, Geoffrey M. (1995) [Maringe wordlist used in Tryon, Darrell T. (ed) Comparative Austronesian dictionary. An introduction to Austronesian studies. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
[Somewhere up to 1100 items of basic vocabulary, scattered throughout Parts 2-4. May be assumed to contain only material previously published in White et al (1988).]
White, Geoffrey M., Francis Kokhonigita & Hugo Pulomana (1988) Cheke Holo (Maringe/Hograno) dictionary. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
[A substantial 300 page dictionary including overview of Santa Isabel languages, a 25 page grammatical sketch, 210 pages of Cheke Holo entries, an English to Cheke Holo finder list, and a 33 page semantic index. Available on line atwww.anthropology.hawaii.edu/faculty/white/Whiteetal1988.pdf]
Gao
Codrington, R.H. (1885) The Melanesian languages. Oxford: Clarendon.
[‘Ysabel, Gao.’ 5 page sketch of Gao. pp555-559.]
Gabelentz, H.C. von der (1873) ‘Die melanesischen Sprachen nach ihrem grammatischen Bau und ihrer Verwandtschaft unter sich und mit den malaiisch-polynesischen Sprachen: zweite Abhandlung.’ Abhandlungen der königlich Sächsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften. Abahndlungen der philologisch-historischen Klasse. 7/I:1-186. [stuff on Bughotu (?) and Gao. cited in White et al. White (1995) cites this as 1861/1879 (Wissenschaften 3, 7)]
Ray , Sidney H. (1897) Review of B.T. Somerville & S.C. Weigall A vocabulary of various dialects used in New Georgia, Solomon Islands. In Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 26:202-203.
[Includes comparative wordlist of numerals an several pronouns in 8 NWS languages including Gao (as ‘Nggao’) (data from Codrington).]
Rivers, W.H.R. (1914) The history of Melanesian society. Vol 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[Includes discussion of 23 Gao kin terms, from Bourne’s field notes (p247), and wordlist of 17 Gao (as ‘Ysabel Nggao’) kin terms covering 27 kin categories collected in 1908 (p395)]
Rivers, W.H.R. (1914) The history of Melanesian society. Vol 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[Includes brief discussion of certain kin terms in Gao (pp174, 183).]
Tryon, Darrell T. & Brian D. Hackman (1983) Solomon Islands languages: an internal classification. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
[Includes a classification of Solomon Islands communalects based on phonological correspondences; a lexicostatistical analysis of 111 communalects including the Poro communalect of Gao, based largely on Hackman’s field wordlists; and 324 item comparative wordlist including Gao.]
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