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THE large island of Choiseul lies in the western part of the Solomon Archipelago in Melanesia, and was named after Étienne François, Duc de Choiseul (1719-1785). It lies to the south-east of Bougainville, north-west of Ysabel, and north of the New Georgian archipelago; and stretches from N.W. to S.E. from 156° 20′ E, 6° 40′ S, to 157° 50′ E, 7° 30′ S.

Of the languages little is generally known in print, except two grammars given by Ray 1 of Kiposaka and Bambatana. He has also discussed some of the materials and the relationship of the dialects with the Indonesian. Thurnwald's map of 1912 shows the distribution of some of the dialects. 2

In 1914 I printed a short comparative vocabulary of Bambatana, Varese and Kiposaka, 3 and more recently I have shown the connections between these three languages and those of the neighbouring island of Bougainville. 4

But a large amount of very valuable material still remains in manuscript, as may be seen from the following list. Since there is a very great danger of these fragmentary pieces of information on the languages of this little known island being lost I venture to put on permanent record a complete list of Choiseul dialects and a short comparative vocabulary of seven of them, both in order to bring them before English-speaking students and to offer a more complete and correct copy of my earlier versions.

1. Printed.

(a) Ray: A Comparative Study of the Melanesian Island Languages (1926), pp. 567-584.

(b) Johann Kolagbaumen: Grammatik der Uaresi-Sprache, ges-prochen in Insel-Choiseul (Berlin, Ernst Seigfried, Mittler und Sohn, 1913).

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(c) S. H. Ray: “The Polynesian Languages in Melanesia, with notes on the neighbouring Melanesian Languages (Anthropos, 14-15 p. 48).

[Includes the following “Bambatana” words:—

• Viu, pale, bird
• Tama, father
• Karisi, hand
• Kuvuku, smoke
• Ile, die
• Ingana, fish
• Gurugu, leaf
• Katura, stone
• Talinga, ear
• Sire, fly n.
• Ngutu, louse
• Ndai, weep]
• Mata, eye

(d) Lanyon-Orgill: Notes sur les Dialectes de Choiseul, aux Iles Salomons (1941).

(e) Lanyon-Orgill: Étude sur les Langues de Choiseul et de Bougainville, Iles Salomons (1943).

2. Manuscript.

(a) Short notes received from Mr. Gabriel Lessington, including the numerals:—

(b) “Choiseul Vocabularies, supplied by Rev. J. R. Metcalfe”. A 52-page manuscript in the Library of the School of Oriental Studies, London. This is a copy of the original, made by Dr. Capell and lent to S. H. Ray. It is by far the most valuable manuscript, containing a comparative vocabulary of Babatana (i.e. Bambatana), Tabataha (i.e. Tarikukuri), Varese, Ririo, Seqa (i.e. Tambatamba) and Kiruqela.

(c) “Vocabolarium Choiseulium”. An 8-page manuscript in the Library of the University of Vienna, containing the Ririo and “Seqa” of manuscript (b). An identical copy was also in the Library of the Royal Anthropological Society in Naples, but this has probably been destroyed.

(d) “Vocabulary of the Bubutana Language of Choiseul is., with vocabularies of Rubiana and Marovo, New Guinea, by Archdeacon Comins. Received from Dr. Codrington March 3, 1902”. This 8-page manuscript includes seventy words in the Varese dialect. In the Library of the School of Oriental Studies, London.

(e) “Vocabulary of the Bumbatana Dialect, Choiseul island, Solomon is. by E. Bourne”. This manuscript includes two vocabularies, one by Bourne dated June 1900, and the other the same as manuscript (d). At the end are eight words in “Bombatana”, a different dialect. The manuscript was copied by S. H. Ray in June 1909, and this copy is among the Ivens' papers in the Library of the School of Oriental Studies in London.

A. South-West Coast.

• 1. Kiposaka, around Siorana (the mission station in 7° S. lat.), and for a distance of twenty miles to the N.W. including the villages

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• of Sasa, Sasamonga, Vuri, Koloe, Dara, Vanga, and Sardevona. Grammar by Ray (pp. 568-571), and vocabularies by Comins, Bourne, and Lanyon-Orgill.
• 2. Mole, to the N.W. of Kiposaka and interspersed with it.
• 3. Tarikukuri or Tabataba, at the north-western corner of the island, in the valleys of the rivers Warrior and Mulamabuli, and on numerous islands in Choiseul bay, including Redman island. Vocabulary by Metcalfe.
• 4. Bambatana (Metcalfe Babatana, Comins Bubutana, Bourne Bumbatana), to the south of the Kiposaka region, as far east as 157° E. long. The area includes Gongoroi bay and Tasombi point, and the villages of Magarata, Pandi, Boi, Sarora, Uunuma, Salavakana, Siepa (inland), Kiu, Kansana, Tinoi, Nambisassa, Simoto, and Banganoi (moving north to south). Grammar by Ray (pp. 571-584), and vocabularies by Metcalfe, Rooney, Waterhouse, and Lanyon-Orgill.
• 5. Katoratele, east of Bambatana for a distance of ten miles. Notes by Lessington.
• 6. Sumbi, along the south coast.

B. North-East Coast.

• 1. Kunabena or Bota, to the east of the Tarikukuri region, including Tombatomba and Kangopassa islands. Notes by Lessington.
• 2. Liuliu, south of Kunabena. Notes by Lessington.
• 3. Varese or Uaresi, between Liuliu and c. Giraud. Grammar by Kolagbaumen, and vocabularies by Metcalfe, Comins, Bourne, and Lanyon-Orgill.
• 4. Ririo, scattered points in Varese region. Vocabulary by Metcalfe.
• 5. Tambatamba or Sengga, to the south-east of c. Giraud and east of the Sienga mountains and mt. Gourdin. Vocabulary by Metcalfe.
• 6. Kirunggela (First cape; Robroy-Th.), at eastern end. Vocabulary by Metcalfe.
• 7. Vagena (Waginna-Th.), on the island lying off the eastern end of Choiseul.

C. Inland.

• 1. Singasinga, between the Kiposaka and Varese regions.
• 2. Gumbinengo, or Tuga, inland from Bambatana.
• 3. Maran, between the Gumbinengo and Tambatamba regions.

In the following vocabulary Metcalfe's alphabet is used for the most part, although I have substituted ng for his ñ, and ngg for his q (Comins n and g respectively).

B is pronounced as mb, d as nd, j as nj or nz, and g is always hard. K, 1, m, n, h, c, p, r, s, t, v and z (Comins ch) have their usual values.

The Kiposaka words are from Bourne's manuscript and the rest from Metcalfe, unless otherwise indicated. Other sources are shown by the letters in parentheses after the respective words, as follows: (C) Comins; (R) Rooney; and (W) Waterhouse.

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