Kwaio language

E179008

The Kwaio language is an Austronesian language spoken by the Kwaio people on Malaita in the Solomon Islands.

All labels observed (3)

Label Occurrences
Kwaio language canonical 7
Kwaira language 1
Owa language 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (47)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Austronesian language
natural language
belongsTo Melanesian linguistic area
closelyRelatedTo Kwaio dialect cluster of Southeast Solomonic
Kwaio’s neighboring Malaitan languages
country Solomon Islands
endangermentStatus vulnerable
geographicDistribution interior and coastal areas of central Malaita
hasAlternativeName Kwaiyo
Kwayo
hasCulturalAssociation Kwaio customary law and social organization
hasDocumentation descriptive grammars and wordlists by field linguists
hasDomain traditional religion and customs of Kwaio people
hasDomainOfUse home
local markets
traditional ceremonies
village
hasEthnologueEntry Kwaio
hasGlottologCode kwai1243
hasGlottologName Kwaio
hasISO639-3Code kwd
hasLexicalInfluenceFrom English
Solomon Islands Pijin
hasLinguisticTypology SVO basic word order
hasMorphologyType predominantly analytic
hasNumberOfSpeakersEstimate several thousand speakers
hasPhonologicalFeature contrastive vowel length
simple consonant inventory typical of Oceanic languages
hasPrimaryUsage daily communication within Kwaio communities
hasSecondaryUsage local education and literacy materials
hasStatus local language without official national status
isMinorityLanguageIn Solomon Islands
isPartOf Southeast Solomonic languages
surface form: Southeast Solomonic branch
isSpokenOn Malaita Island NERFINISHED
isVernacularOf Kwaio people
languageFamily Austronesian languages
region Central Malaita
spokenBy Kwaio people
spokenIn Malaita
Solomon Islands
subfamily Malayo-Polynesian languages
subgroup Oceanic languages
Southeast Solomonic languages
usedIn community communication on Malaita
local church activities
oral tradition
writingSystem Latin alphabet
surface form: Latin script

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (9)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Malaita hasLanguage Kwaio language
Toqabaqita closelyRelatedTo Kwaio language
Arosi language neighboringLanguage Kwaio language
this entity surface form: Owa language
Toʻabaita language isRelatedTo Kwaio language
Longgu language isRelatedTo Kwaio language
Malaita languages hasMember Kwaio language
Malaita languages hasMember Kwaio language
this entity surface form: Kwaira language
Kwaio people language Kwaio language