Lavukaleve

Lavukaleve is a language isolate spoken in Solomon Islands, by about 1,783 people. Glottolog rates it shifting.

Lavukaleve · 9.1°S 159.1°E

An isolate: no relationship to any other known language has been demonstrated.

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.

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.

From Wikipedia · Lavukaleve language · CC BY-SA 4.0

Words in Lavukaleve

Meaning	Word	Romanization
man	ali
woman	aira
person	malav*
name	laNi*
eye	lemi*
ear	hovul*
nose	sisi*
tooth	neo*
tongue	let*
hand	NeNeso*
blood	ravu*
bone	sosokio*
skin	keut*
breast	ofu*
liver	ha*
water	lafi
fire	lake*
star	simu*
stone	veko*
leaf	lexis*
night	hamus*
dog	mitakeu*
fish	fosal*
louse	lai*
one	tetelom*
two	lelal*
I	Nai*
we	me*
see	alea*
hear	vofimEm*