Northwest Solomonic

Santa Isabel

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 Unpublished field notes.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 Unpublished.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.]

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.]

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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