Asumbuo (''Asubuo'' in local orthography; ''Asumboa'' or ''Asuboa'' in some sources) is a nearly extinct language spoken on the island of

Utupua Utupua is an island in the Santa Cruz Islands, located 66 km to the Southeast of the main Santa Cruz group, between Vanikoro and Santa Cruz proper (Nendo Island). This island belongs administratively to the Temotu Province of the Solomon Is ...

, in the easternmost province of the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capit ...

. Tryon (1994).

Affiliation

Like the two other languages of Utupua ( Tanimbili and

Amba Amba or AMBA may refer to: Title * Amba Hor, alternative name for Abhor and Mehraela, Christian martyrs * Amba Sada, also known as Psote, Christian bishop and martyr in Upper Egypt Given name * Amba, the traditional first name given to the first ...

), Asumbuo belongs to the Temotu subgroup of the Oceanic family, itself part of the Austronesian phylum.

Language vitality

With only about 10 speakers, Asumbuo is a highly

endangered language An endangered language or moribund language is a language that is at risk of disappearing as its speakers die out or shift to speaking other languages. Language loss occurs when the language has no more native speakers and becomes a "dead langu ...

. Together with its neighbour Tanimbili, it is currently being replaced by

(or ''Nebao''), the main language of

References

Bibliography

*. Languages of the Solomon Islands Temotu languages Endangered Austronesian languages Severely endangered languages {{oceanic-lang-stub