Between 60 and 70 languages are spoken in the

Solomon Islands Archipelago The Solomon Islands (archipelago) is an island group in the western South Pacific Ocean, north-east of Australia. The archipelago is in the Melanesian subregion and bioregion of Oceania and forms the eastern boundary of the Solomon Sea. The ...

which covers a broader area than the nation state of

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 capita ...

, and includes the island of Bougainville, which is an

autonomous province Autonomous province is a term for a type of province that has administrative autonomy.Collins Dictionar ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

(PNG). The

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...

of the archipelago is

Pidgin A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn from s ...

, and the official language in both countries is

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Language families

Most of the languages in the Solomon Islands are Austronesian languages. The

Central Solomon languages The Central Solomon languages are the four Papuan languages spoken in the state of the Solomon Islands. The four languages are, listed from northwest to southeast, * Bilua of Vella Lavella and Ghizo islands, * Touo (also known as ''Baniata)'' o ...

such as Lavukaleve constitute an independent family. Two other language families are represented on Bougainville, which is geographically part of the Solomon Islands, if not within the national boundaries. The status of the

Reefs – Santa Cruz languages The Reef Islands – Santa Cruz languages (usually shortened to Reefs – Santa Cruz, abbreviated RSC) are a branch of the Oceanic languages comprising the languages of the Santa Cruz Islands and Reef Islands: * Äiwoo (also known as ''Reefs'') ...

were once thought to be non-Austronesian, but further research found them to be divergent Austronesian languages. The neighbouring languages of

Vanikoro Vanikoro (sometimes wrongly named ''Vanikolo'') is an island in the Santa Cruz group, located to the Southeast of the main Santa Cruz group. It is part of the Temotu Province of the Solomon Islands. The name ''Vanikoro'' is always used as thoug ...

are also heavily relexified Austronesian languages. An indigenous sign language,

Rennellese Sign Language Rennellese Sign Language is an extinct form of home sign documented from Rennell Island in 1974. It was developed about 1915 by a deaf person named Kagobai and used by his hearing family and friends, but apparently died with him; he was the only ...

, has gone extinct.

Languages of the Solomon Islands archipelago

''Italics indicate that a language is extinct.''

Language families

Languages of the Solomon Islands archipelago

Notes

Further reading