The 'Are'are language is a language that is spoken by the 'Are'are people, who live mainly on the Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...

. It is spoken by 17,800, which makes them the second largest language in the Solomons after the Kwara'ae

Kwara'ae language

The Kwara'ae language is spoken in the north of Malaita Island in the Solomon Islands. In 1999 there were 32,400 people known to speak the language. It is the largest indigenous vernacular of the Solomon Islands.-External links:**...

 (also from Malaita). According to Ethnologue

Ethnologue

Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International , a Christian linguistic service organization, which studies lesser-known languages, to provide the speakers with Bibles in their native language and support their efforts in language development.The Ethnologue...

, the literacy rate is somewhere between 30-60%.

Classification

The language belongs to the larger Austronesian family of languages as do all other ten dialects on of Malaita.

Geographic Distribution

The language is spoken mainly by the 'Are'are people, on the southern part of Malaita

Malaita

Malaita is the largest island of the Malaita Province in the Solomon Islands. A tropical and mountainous island, Malaita's pristine river systems and tropical forests have not been exploited. Malaita is the most populous island of the Solomon Islands, with 140,000 people or more than a third of the...

 island, as well as nearby South Malaita Island

South Malaita Island

South Malaita Island, also known as Small Malaita and Maramasike, is a large island at the southern tip of the larger island of Malaita in the eastern part of the Solomon Islands. It is called "small" to distinguish it from the much larger mainland. It is now part of Malaita Province...

 and the eastern shore of Guadalcanal

Guadalcanal

Guadalcanal is a tropical island in the South-Western Pacific. The largest island in the Solomons, it was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568...

 (the Marau Sound

Marau Sound

Marau Sound is a location in the Solomon Islands; it is located at the eastern end of Guadalcanal Island, in Guadalcanal Province.Current governor of the Central Bank of Solomon Islands , Denton Hehenoro Rarawa, is from the village Poposa in Marau Sound....

, 60 km away), in the Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...

archipelago.

Dialects

The language is divided into two dialects, 'Are'are proper and Marau (spoken in eastern part of Guadalcanal, Marau Sound). The language also spoken in the northern part of the Makira Island known as Arosi.