Kwaraqae language

The Kwaraʼae or Kwaraqae language is spoken in the West, Central & Eastern regions of Malaita Island in the Solomon Islands. In 1999, there were 32,400 people known to speak the language. It is the largest indigenous vernacular of the Solomon Islands.

Kwaraʼae
Kwaraqae
Fiu
Native to	Solomon Islands
Region	Malaita Island
Native speakers	(32,000 cited 1999)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Southeast Solomonic Malaita – San Cristobal Malaita Northern Malaita Kwaraʼae
Language codes
ISO 639-3	kwf
Glottolog	kwar1239

Phonology

Consonants in Kwaraʼae

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar		Glottal
					nor.	lab.
Stop	voiceless		t		k	kʷ	ʔ
	voiced	b	d		ɡ	ɡʷ
Fricative		(f)	s		x ~ h
Nasal		m	n		ŋ	ŋʷ
Rhotic			ɾ
Lateral			l
Approximant		w		j

The /f/ sound is merged with /h/. Most speakers of Kwaraʼae choose to pronounce /h/ as an /f/ sound in some vocabulary.

Vowels in Kwaraʼae

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid	ɛ		ɔ
Low		a

The sound [ə] is recognized as an allophone of /a/.^[2] There is vowel reduction, so final /i/ and /u/ are often deleted. Before /i/, the vowel /a/ may become [e], forming the diphthong [ei].

References

1. Kwaraʼae at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Macdonald, Daryl Eveline (2010). A Grammar Sketch of Kwaraqae (Master of Arts thesis). University of Waikato. hdl:10289/5755.

External links

• Anglican liturgical publications in Kwaraʼae from Project Canterbury