Languages of the Solomon Islands

Over 70 languages are spoken in the Solomon Islands (archipelago)^[1] which covers a broader area than the nation state of Solomon Islands,^[2] and includes the island of Bougainville, which is an autonomous province of Papua New Guinea (PNG). The lingua franca of the Solomon Islands proper is Pijin (whereas the lingua franca of Bougainville is Tok Pisin) and the official language in both countries is English.

Languages of the Solomon Islands (archipelago)
Language families of the Solomon Islands archipelago Red: North Bougainville Blue: South Bougainville Green: Central Solomons Grey: Austronesian
Official	English
Indigenous	Several languages
Vernacular	Pijin, Solomon Islands English
Keyboard layout	QWERTY, US

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.^[3] The neighbouring languages of Vanikoro are also heavily relexified Austronesian languages.^[4] 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, Savosavo and Touo constitute an independent family within the Papuan languages.^[5]

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	24,390 (lg 1) 307,000 (lg 2)	4.0689 (lg 1) 51.2162 (lg 2)		Creole
Lungga	lga	2,767	0.4616	Ranongga	Northwest Solomonic	Oceanic
Marovo	mvo	8,094	1.3503	New Georgia
Mono	mte	3,337	0.5567	Shortland Is, Treasury Is
Ririo	rri	79	0.0132	Choiseul Province
Roviana	rug	9,871	1.6468	New Georgia
Babatana	baa	5,600	0.9342	Choiseul Province
Blablanga	blp	1,772	0.2956	Santa Isabel
Cheke Holo	mrn	10,840	1.8084	Santa Isabel
Duke	nke	2,312	0.3857	Kolombangara
Ghanongga	ghn	2,508	0.4184	Ranongga
Hoava	hoa	459	0.0766	New Georgia
Kazukuru	kzk	0	0.0000	New Georgia
Kokota	kkk	530	0.0884	Santa Isabel
Kusaghe	ksg	2,395	0.3996	New Georgia
Simbo	sbb	2,701	0.4506	Simbo
Ughele	uge	1,202	0.2005	Rendova Island
Vaghua	tva	1,960	0.3270	Choiseul Province
Vangunu	mpr	907	0.1513	Vangunu
Varisi	vrs	5,161	0.8610	Choiseul Province
Gao	gga	1,215	0.2027	Santa Isabel
Laghu	lgb	15	0.0025	Santa Isabel
Zabana	kji	3,355	0.5597	Santa Isabel
Zazao	jaj	10	0.0017	Santa Isabel
ꞋAreꞌare	alu	17,800	2.9695	Malaita	Southeast Solomonic
Arosi	aia	6,750	1.1261	Makira
Baeggu	bvd	5,900	0.9843	Malaita
Baelelea	bvc	8,800	1.4681	Malaita
Bauro	bxa	3,420	0.5706	Makira
Birao	brr	5,900	0.9843	Guadalcanal
Bughotu	bgt	4,048	0.6753	Santa Isabel
Dori'o	dor	2,406	0.4014	Malaita
Fagani	faf	902	0.1505	Makira
Fataleka	far	6,703	1.1182	Malaita
Gela	nlg	11,876	1.9813	Nggela Islands
Ghari	gri	12,119	2.0218	Guadalcanal
Gula'alaa	gmb	1,568	0.2616	Malaita
Kahua	agw	5,170	0.8625	Makira
Kwaio	kwd	13,249	2.2103	Malaita
Kwara'ae	kwf	32,433	5.4107	Malaita
Lau	llu	16,937	2.8256	Malaita
Lengo	lgr	13,752	2.2942	Guadalcanal
Longgu	lgu	1,894	0.3160	Guadalcanal
Oroha	ora	38	0.0063	Malaita
Owa	stn	3,069	0.5120	Makira
Sa'a	apb	11,519	1.9217	Malaita
Talise	tlr	12,525	2.0895	Guadalcanal
Toqabaqita	mlu	12,572	2.0974	Malaita
Wala	lgl	6,978	1.1641	Malaita
Malango	mln	4,135	0.6898	Guadalcanal
Tanema	tnx	1	0.0002	Vanikoro	Temotu
Asubuo	aua	10	0.0017	Utupua
Amba	utp	593	0.0989	Utupua
Äiwoo	nfl	8,400	1.4014	Reef Islands
Lovono	vnk	4	0.0007	Vanikoro
Nanggu	ngr	210	0.0350	Nendö
Natügu	ntu	4,280	0.7140	Nendö
Nalögo	nlz	1,620	0.2703	Nendö
Tanibili	tbe	15	0.0025	Utupua
Teanu	tkw	800	0.1335	Vanikoro
Gilbertese	gil	1,230	0.2052	Gizo, Choiseul	Micronesian
Rennellese	mnv	3,191	0.5323	Rennell & Bellona	Polynesian
Luangiua	ojv	2,367	0.3949	Ontong Java
Sikaiana	sky	731	0.1220	Sikaiana
Tikopia	tkp	3,324	0.5545	Tikopia, Vanikoro
Vaeakau-Taumako	piv	1,142	0.1905	Duff Is, Reef Is
Anuta	aud	267	0.0445	Anuta Island
Lavukaleve	lvk	1,783	0.2975	Russell Islands	Central Solomonic	“Papuan”
Savosavo	svs	2,415	0.4029	Savo
Touo	tqu	1,874	0.3126	Rendova Island
Bilua	blb	8,740	1.4581	Vella Lavella
Rennellese Sign Language		0	0.0000	Rennell & Bellona	Home sign

Italics indicate that a language is extinct.