| Southeast Solomonic | |
| Region: | Eastern Solomon Islands |
| Familycolor: | Austronesian |
| Fam3: | Oceanic |
| Fam4: | Central–Eastern Oceanic |
| Protoname: | Proto-Southeast Solomonic |
| Child1: | Gela–Guadalcanal |
| Child2: | Malaita – San Cristobal |
| Map: | Oceanic languages.svg |
| Glotto: | sout2853 |
| Glottorefname: | Southeast Solomonic |
The family of Southeast Solomonic languages forms a branch of the Oceanic languages. It consists of some 26 languages covering the Eastern Solomon Islands, from the tip of Santa Isabel to Makira. The fact that there is little diversity amongst these languages, compared to groups of similar size in Melanesia, suggests that they dispersed in the relatively recent past.[1] Bugotu, Gela and "supposedly" Lengo are three of the most conservative languages.
According to Lynch, Ross, & Crowley (2002), the structure of the family is as follows:[2]
Basic vocabulary in many Southeast Solomonic languages is somewhat conservative, unlike Northwest Solomonic forms, many of which have no Proto-Oceanic cognates.[3] Below, Gela and Arosi are compared with three Northwest Solomonic languages. Aberrant forms are in bold.
| English | arm | ear | liver | bone | skin | louse | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uncoded languages: *lima | Uncoded languages: *taliŋa | Uncoded languages: *qate | Uncoded languages: *suRi | Uncoded languages: *kulit | Uncoded languages: *kutu | ||
| '''karisi''' | '''ŋgel''' | '''tutuen''' | '''punda''' | '''kapat''' | utu | ||
| '''kame''' | taliŋa | '''kola''' | '''huma''' | '''kafu''' | gutu | ||
| lima | '''khuli''' | '''khebu''' | '''knubra''' | guli | '''theli''' | ||
| lima | '''kuli''' | ate | huli | gui-guli | gutu | ||
| rima | kariŋa | '''rogo''' | su-suri | ʔuri-ʔuri | kote |