A Comparative study of the Melanesian Island languages

n] The Central Solomon Islands 565

GANONGGA

1. The island of Ganongga (Ronongo of the charts, Re-
nonga by Ribbe) is situated west of Kolobangara with the small
island of Gizo between. On the south is Eddy stone Island,
on the north Vella Lavella.

2. A vocabulary of about ninety words by Ribbe was pub-
lished in 1903 1 . A vocabulary of eighty-three words by Mr
Edge-Partington (1907) and another by the Rev. J. F. Goldie
of eighty-four words (1909) in the Woodford mss. show the
language of Lungga in the south of the island.

Ribbe's list has only ten words which differ from his Simbo
(i.e. Eddystone) list. In many cases he has given the Vella
Lavella instead of the Ganongga word 2 .

3. The Ganongga is evidently very near the Eddystone
(Simbo) and Roviana. Of sixty-three words which appear in
both of the lists given by Goldie and Edge-Partington twenty-
nine are both Simbo and Roviana. Twenty-four others are also
Simbo and four Roviana. Of the remainder Goldie has six
Simbo and three Roviana, Edge-Partington six Simbo and six
Roviana. There seems to be very little connection with Vella
Lavella. In Goldie and Edge-Partington I only find the Lungga
talinty ear, kokorako, fowl, ivere, sea, as in Vella Lavella taltna 7
kokorakoy ivere. Hoperi, opere, spear, Vella Lavella sopere, is
the Roviana 3 hopere.

Ganongga and Indonesian

4. The following Lungga words from Goldie and Edge-
Partington may be considered IN. The IN equivalent appears
in the Mandegusu (Eddystone) list 4 .

Ashes, kavu; banana, vudi\ bird, manugo; butterfly, bebe y
pepele; ear, talint; egg, toruru; face, isu-mata (i.e. nose-eye);
father, tama ; five, lima ; fish, igana ; fly , lano, IN lano ; fruit, vuago ;
hair, vuru-gu (my-hair) ; hair (of body), pulupulu ; hair (of face),
gumi; hand, lima; head, batu; house, ruma (Ribbe has paile);
mother, tina; mouth, mana; night, boni\ nine, sia; nose, isu\

1 Ribbe, pp. 187-194.

2 As e.g. hiwere, sea, ore, tree, mangotta, woman, instead of nivere, nggou or
go, niviva.

3 Some apparent likenesses in Ribbe are due to the MN word being given
in Vella Lavella instead of the native term, e.g. mala, livo for eye, tooth, instead
of vilu, taka,

4 G. = Goldie, P. = Partington, R. = Ribbe.

566 The Central Solomon Islands [pt ii

seven, vitu\ six, vonomo, tvonomo; skin, guliti; tongue, tnea;
tooth, livo ; tree, gow, go ; two, karu ; water, pie ( ?).

Grammar Note

5. The article n: igala (P.), nigala (G.), mosquito; hopere
(P.), nopere (G.), spear; o&oro (P.), nokoro (G.), rain.

Genitive : neguru-go, leaf (of) tree, vua-go, fruit (of) tree (R.).

6. Suffixed Pronouns: vuru-gu, (my) hair (P.), tina-na,
(his) mother (P.)>pupu-da 9 (their) bone (P. G.).

7. Pronouns: ara, I; ago> thou; mja, he (R.).

8. Numerals : kami y one ; karu, two ; kue> three ; /wade, four ;
lima, five; vonomo, six; stf/w, seven; w, eight; «a, nine;
manoga, ten.

R. has tnaka, one, which is used by G. and P. in manogatneka y
eleven. Higher numbers are manoga-rua (G.), manogakaru (P.),
twelve, manoga-ue> thirteen, manoga-made, fourteen, etc.,
rabetiy twenty, rabeti-kami y twenty-one, rabeti-rua, twenty-
two, etc.; ue navulu, thirty, made-navulu, forty, etc.; km-
gogota (G.), kai-govoto (P.), one hundred ; kai tina y one thousand.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Ray, Sidney Herbert, 1858-1939.

A comparative study of the Melanesian Island
languages.

Reprint of the 1926 ed. published by the Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, Eng.

Bibliography: p.

1. Melanesian languages. I. Title.
i PL6201.R3 1978 499'.5 75-35151
ISBN 0-404-14166-8