Kwaraqae language
| Kwaraʼae | |
|---|---|
| Kwaraqae | |
| Fiu | |
| Native to | Solomon Islands |
| Region | Malaita Island |
Native speakers | (32,000 cited 1999)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | kwf |
| Glottolog | kwar1239 |
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.
Phonology
[edit]| 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.
| 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
[edit]- ^ Kwaraʼae at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Macdonald, Daryl Eveline (2010). A Grammar Sketch of Kwaraqae (Master of Arts thesis). University of Waikato. hdl:10289/5755.
External links
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