ꞋAreꞌare language

'Are'are
'Are'are
Areare
Native to	Solomon Islands
Region	southern Malaita, Solomon Islands
Native speakers	(18,000 cited 1999)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Southeast Solomonic Malaita – San Cristobal Malaita Southern Malaita 'Are'are; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Dialects	'Are'are; Marau Sound;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	alu
Glottolog	area1240

The 'Are'are language is spoken by the 'Are'are people of the Solomon Islands. It is spoken by about 18,000 people, making it the second-largest Oceanic language in the Solomons after the Kwara'ae (also from Malaita). The literacy rate for 'Are'are is somewhere between 30% and 60%^[1] for first language speakers, and 25%–50% for second language learners. There are also translated Bible portions into the language from 1957–2008.^[1]

Geographic Distribution

The language is spoken mainly by the 'Are'are people, on the southern part of Malaita island, as well as nearby South Malaita Island and the eastern shore of Guadalcanal (the Marau Sound, 60 km away), in the Solomon Islands archipelago. The speakers live as hunters and agriculturalists.^[1]

Dialects

The language is divided into two dialects, 'Are'are proper and Marau, spoken at Marau Sound in eastern Guadalcanal. Marau is sometimes counted as a separate language.

Grammar

The language uses a subject–verb–object word order.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d 'Are'are at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

External links

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[e18-1] 'Are'are at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

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