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 Solom ...

, 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 ca ...

. Tryon (1994).

Affiliation

Like the two other languages of Utupua (

Tanimbili Tanimbili (''Tanibili''), or Nyisunggu, is a nearly-extinct language spoken on the island of Utupua, in the easternmost province of the Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 sma ...

and Amba), Asumbuo belongs to the Temotu subgroup of the

Oceanic family 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 ...

, 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 lang ...

. Together with its neighbour

, it is currently being replaced by Amba (or ''Nebao''), the main language of

References

Bibliography

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