Rennellese language
| Rennellese | |
|---|---|
| Rennell-Bellona | |
| Native to | Solomon Islands |
|
Native speakers
|
4,400 (1999) |
|
Austronesian
|
|
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | renn1242 |
Rennell-Bellona, or Rennellese, is a Polynesian language spoken in the Rennell and Bellona Province of the Solomon Islands. A dictionary of the language has been published.
Rennellese, also known as Rennell or Bellonese is only one of the many languages in the Pacific, that is spoken in the Central Solomon Islands; mainly the Rennell and Bellona Islands (Jonsson, 1999). For a great deal of time the Solomon Islands were occupied by the British, and pidgin English had become the main language spoken in the Rennell and Bellona Islands, until World War II. At that time the Rennell and Bellona Islands were a battlefield during the Battle of Midway, between the Japanese and Americans; just like Hawaii. During the battle the Japanese occupied most of the area using it as a base. After World War II had, both Rennell and Bellona were still being held by allied forces, until finally gaining independence in 1978 (Levinson, 279-280). Both islands have been working to develop their own government, and Rennellese has been recognized as the official language (Monberg, 2012).
The Solomon Islands have a population of around 550,000 and only a little over 4000 of these people speak Rennellese. Natives who currently live there refer to themselves as Mungiki for the Bellona Islands and Mugaba for the Rennell Islands, and among the younger generation Avaiki is used to reference both. Ethnic groups in these islands are very widespread and distinct (Ember, 2002). The people of the Rennell and Bellona Islands live in small village communities, with each group having its own culture, and religious practices (Levinson, 284-285). As for government issues, the Solomon Islands as a whole is split up, some islands belonging to Papua New Guinea, while other parts of the Solomons are their own independent government. Even the Rennell and Bellona Islands alone have their own government known as REN-BEL, the recognizes Rennellese/Bellonese as its own language.
The consonants of Rennellese consist of /H, K, L, M, N, P, S, T, V, NG, GH, NNG/. The letters /P, T, K/ are regular stops, /B, GH, H, S/ are the fricatives, /M, N, NG/ are the nasals, /L/ is the only lateral, and finally /G/ as a pre-nasal (Elbert, 1988).
The 6 vowels in the alphabet system are /A, E, I, O, U, ’/. Rennellese possess /‘/ which is a glottal stop used to lengthen vowel sounds. The /‘/ can be written before or after the vowel it is lengthening, similar to an English apostrophe (Elbert 1988).
The typical syllable structure in Rennellese is (C)V. Rennellese favors vowels when making syllables, and not many consonant clusters (Elbert 1988).
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