The Meso-Melanesian languages are a

linkage Linkage may refer to: * ''Linkage'' (album), by J-pop singer Mami Kawada, released in 2010 *Linkage (graph theory), the maximum min-degree of any of its subgraphs *Linkage (horse), an American Thoroughbred racehorse * Linkage (hierarchical cluster ...

Oceanic languages The approximately 450 Oceanic languages are a branch of the Austronesian languages. The area occupied by speakers of these languages includes Polynesia, as well as much of Melanesia and Micronesia. Though covering a vast area, Oceanic languages ...

spoken in the large Melanesian islands of New Ireland and 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 capita ...

east of New Guinea.

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...

is one of the most conservative languages.

Composition

The languages group as follows: * Willaumez linkage:

Bola Bola may refer to: People * Bola (name), a surname and given name * Darrell Fitton, electronic musician from Manchester, England, AKA "Bola" and "Jello" Geography * Bola (volcano), a volcano on the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea * Bo ...

, Bulu, Meramera, Nakanai *Bali–Vitu:

(Uneapa), Vitu (Muduapa) ay be a single language*New Ireland – Northwest Solomonic linkage New Ireland Languages

**Tungag–Nalik family: Tigak, Tungag, Nalik, Laxudumau,

Kara Kara or KARA may refer to: Geography Localities * Kara, Chad, a sub-prefecture * Kára, Hungary, a village * Kara, Uttar Pradesh, India, a township * Kara, Iran, a village in Lorestan Province * Kara, Republic of Dagestan, a rural locality in Da ...

, Tiang **Tabar linkage: Madara (Tabar), Lihir, Notsi **Madak linkage:

Barok Barok is considered one of the most popular komiks characters in the Philippines created by Filipino cartoonist Bert Sarile in 1973. It also means Sillano. A stone-age Philippine comic book character, Barok was described by Sarile as a lead chara ...

, Lavatbura-Lamusong,

Madak Madak was a blend of opium and tobacco used as a recreational drug in 16th- and 17th-century China. It emerged in southern coastal areas in the first half of the 17th century. In the last quarter of the 18th century madak was phased out by raw opi ...

** Tomoip **

St George linkage The St. George linkage links the North-West Solomonic and New Ireland languages under the Meso-Melanesian languages. Members of the St George linkage are Niwer Mil language, Warwar Feni, Fanamaket, Sursurunga, Konomala, Patpatar, Tolai, Ka ...

*** Niwer Mil *** Warwar Feni *** Fanamaket *** Sursurunga *** Konomala ***Patpatar–Tolai:

Patpatar Patpatar, or Gelik, is an Austronesian language spoken in New Ireland Province in Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( ...

, Lungalunga (Minigir), Tolai (Kuanua) ***Label–Bilur:

Label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed dir ...

, Bilur ***Kandas–Ramoaaina: Kandas, Ramoaaina *** Siar *** Northwest Solomonic linkage ''Ethnologue'' adds Guramalum to the St George linkage. The

Willaumez Peninsula The Willaumez Peninsula is located on the north coast of New Britain in the West New Britain Province. It was named after Jean-Baptiste Philibert Willaumez Jean-Baptiste Philibert Willaumez (7 August 1763 – 17 May 1845) was a French sailor, ...

on the north coast of

New Britain New Britain ( tpi, Niu Briten) is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi the Dam ...

was evidently the center of dispersal. Johnston (1982) combines the Willaumez and Bali–Vitu branches into a single

Kimbe Kimbe is the capital of the province of West New Britain in Papua New Guinea, and the largest settlement on the island. The bustling town of Kimbe is the third largest port in Papua New Guinea and is the fastest growing city in the South Pacific. T ...

branch, for which he reconstructs Proto-Kimbe.

Language contact

Lenition In linguistics, lenition is a sound change that alters consonants, making them more sonority hierarchy, sonorous. The word ''lenition'' itself means "softening" or "weakening" (from Latin 'weak'). Lenition can happen both synchronic analysis, s ...

in Lamasong,

, Nalik, and

may have diffused via influence from Kuot, the only non-Austronesian language spoken on New Ireland (Ross 1994: 566).Ross, Malcolm. 1994. Areal phonological features in north central New Ireland. In: Dutton and Tryon (eds.) Language contact and change in the Austronesian world, 551–572. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

References

{{Austronesian languages Western Oceanic languages