Äiwoo language

Äiwoo
Spoken in	Solomon Islands
Region	Santa Cruz Islands, eastern Solomons, Temotu Province.
Coordinates	10°13′S 166°12′E
Native speakers	8,400  (1999) Population includes 4,500 on Reef Islands, others on Santa Cruz, and 1,000 in Honiara (2000 SIL).
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Temotu ? Reefs – Santa Cruz Äiwoo
Language codes
ISO 639-3	nfl

Äiwoo is a language spoken in the Reef Islands and Nendö (Santa Cruz Islands), both part of the Temotu Province in the Eastern Solomon Islands.

The language

Äiwoo belongs to the Reef Islands – Santa Cruz languages, a member of the Oceanic subgroup of the Austronesian language family. It is the largest of the Reef Islands – Santa Cruz languages with approximately 8000 native speakers, mainly in the Ngawa district and the island Ngäsinue in the Reef Islands, but also in some villages of Nendö, like Kala Bay, recently established communities in the capital, Honiara, like White River, and some speakers in Vanikoro.

External links

• The Ethnologue page for Äiwoo

References

• Næss, Åshild (2006). "Bound Nominal Elements in Äiwoo (Reefs): A Reappraisal of the 'Multiple Noun Class Systems'". Oceanic Linguistics 45 (2): 269–296. DOI:10.1353/ol.2007.0006. 
• Ross, Malcolm and Åshild Næss (2007). "An Oceanic Origin for Aiwoo, the Language of the Reef Islands?". Oceanic Linguistics 46: 456–498. 
• Næss, Åshild and Brenda H. Boerger (2008). "Reefs – Santa Cruz as Oceanic: Evidence from the Verb Complex". Oceanic Linguistics 47: 185–212. DOI:10.1353/ol.0.0000.