Roviana

Roviana is an Oceanic language of the Northwest Solomonic branch, spoken around the Roviana and Vonavona lagoons on the north-central coast of New Georgia in the Solomon Islands. Its grammar is marked by syntactic ergativity, and its yes-no questions differ from statements only by a rising intonation.

During the 1800s it was carried along the inter-island trade and raiding routes of the New Georgia group and became a trade language and a regional lingua franca, used in particular for Christian teaching among the neighbouring island communities.