Roviana

Roviana is an Oceanic language spoken in the Solomon Islands. It is the native language of the people of Roviana Lagoon, on the island of New Georgia. Roviana is a member of the Austronesian family of languages, which includes languages spoken throughout the Pacific and Southeast Asia. The Austronesian family is thought to be the world's second-largest language family, after the Indo-European family. Roviana is written using a version of the Latin alphabet. There are approximately 20,000 speakers of Roviana, which is also spoken by a significant number of people in the diaspora. The Roviana language has a rich oral tradition, and many of its stories and songs have been passed down through the generations. Roviana is also the language of choice for many traditional ceremonies and rituals. Roviana has a number of dialects, but the two most commonly spoken are Roviana proper and Roviana Kula. Roviana Kula is spoken in the northern part of Roviana Lagoon, while Roviana proper is spoken in the southern part. The Roviana language is under threat from the use of English, which is the language of education and commerce in the Solomon Islands. However, there are efforts underway to revive and promote the use of Roviana, in order to keep the language alive for future generations.