Lavukaleve language

Lavukaleve
Native to	Solomon Islands
Region	Russell Islands
Native speakers	(1,800 cited 1999)[1]
Language family	Central Solomons Lavukaleve
Language codes
ISO 639-3	lvk
Glottolog	lavu1241
ELP	Lavukaleve
Lavukaleve is not endangered according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Lavukaleve is one of the four Central Solomons languages of the Solomon Islands. It is thus assumed to be the descendant of the languages spoken in the Solomon Islands before the spread of the much more numerous Austronesian languages. The name Lavukaleve derives from the ethnonym Lavukal. The Lavukals are the indigenous peoples of the Russell Islands, part of the Solomon Islands Central Province. A comprehensive grammatical description of Lavukaleve was published by the linguist Angela Terrill in 2003.^[2]

Lavukaleve is spoken in about eleven main villages. It used to be spoken predominantly on Pavuvu, the largest island, but the speakers were forcefully relocated by the British to the smaller islands in order to make way for plantations.^[2]

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ŋ
Plosive	voiceless	(p)	t	k
	voiced	b ~ ᵐb	d ~ ⁿd
Fricative		f	s		h
Rhotic			r
Lateral			l
Semivowel		β̞		ɰ

• Sounds /b, d/ are prenasalized [ᵐb, ⁿd] in intervocalic positions.
• [p] only occurs in loanwords from Pijin.
• /t, k/ can also be heard as aspirated [tʰ, kʰ] in free variation.
• /r/ can also be heard as a tap [ɾ] or glide [ɹ] in free variation.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e		o
Open		a

• Vowels /i, o/ can be heard as [ɪ, ɔ] when in unstressed syllables.^[2]

See also

• East Papuan languages

References

1. Lavukaleve at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Terrill, Angela (2003). A Grammar of Lavukaleve. Mouton Grammar Library, 30. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

External links

• Anglican Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, Eucharistic prayers and Catechism in Lavukaleve from Project Canterbury, transcribed by Richard Mammana
• Hai-Foiae Sevo Lavu Kaleve Ena: A Liturgy for Melanesia in Lavukaleve (1973)
• Materials on Lavukaleve are included in the open access Arthur Capell collections (AC1 and AC2) held by Paradisec.