Roviana is a member of the North West Solomonic branch of Oceanic languages.
It is spoken around Roviana and Vonavona lagoons at the north central New Georgia in the Solomon Islands.
In the past, Roviana was widely used as a trade language and further used as a lingua franca, especially for church purposes in the Western Province, but now it is being replaced by the Solomon Islands Pijin.
Stress is assigned independently to each root in a compound: Roviana word order is verb–subject–object (VSO).
They denote a place where an action is performed: Nouns are formed from verbs & adjectives by the infix ⟨in⟩.
The indefinite article is na: naINDEFnanaPOSS:3SGbukabookna nana bukaINDEF POSS:3SG book'his/her book'na can also be exchanged with sa: sahoresa hore'the canoe'na and sa may also be applied with plural nouns: naINDEFtiepersonhabahualapoor-diPOSS:3PLna tie habahuala -diINDEF person poor POSS:3PL'the poor people'The definite article is sa: saDEFdiaPOSS:3PLvetuhousesa dia vetuDEF POSS:3PL house'their house'The personal articles are the non- absolutive e and absolutive se.
Wh-questions or information questions contain an interrogative phrase in focus position (i.e. clause initial) and optionally is followed by the focal particle si; for example, Eseiwhopoza-muname-2SGsiFOCagoi?2SG:FOCEsei poza-mu si agoi?who name-2SG FOC 2SG:FOC'What is your name?'
They are introduced by a subordinator and followed by the focal particle si, a consequence of being in focus position; Kesobetoaftervagigatherri3PLsarinaDEF:PL⟨in⟩avoso⟨NOM⟩knowsiFOClagobuna-i-abomb-TR-3SGri3PLsaDEFvasinaplaceasa.thatKe beto vagi ri sarina ⟨in⟩avoso si la buna-i-a ri sa vasina asa.so after gather 3PL DEF:PL ⟨NOM⟩know FOC go bomb-TR-3SG 3PL DEF place that'So after they had gathered all the information, they went and bombed that place.
The nominalised verb in a relative clause on A carries a suffix 'NSUF', which is also used to index the possessor in possessives; saDEFhudatreenoma-nabig-3SG.NSUFsa huda noma-naDEF tree big-3SG.NSUF'the big tree'When the O in the relative clause is a proper N, it is marked with the article e; HieranathissaDEFkoreoboysapuRELtupa-napunch-3SG.NSUFeARTZone.JohnHierana sa koreo sapu tupa-na e Zone.this DEF boy REL punch-3SG.NSUF ART John'This is the boy that punched John.
'In the context of a relative clause which is by definition subordinate, e is glossed simply ART, since it is used with proper Ns which are A or O.
''When' clauses are introduced by the subordinator totoso 'time' or the syncopated form totso, but they do not specify the precise nature of the temporal relation involved; Totsotimekoastaygoiyou.SGpaPREPkorapainsidetropictropicsiFOCkaqumustpezakuwash.handslamoalwayssiABSgoi.you.SGTotso koa goi pa korapa tropic si kaqu pezaku lamo si goi.time stay you.SG PREP inside tropic FOC must wash.hands always ABS you.SG'When you stay in the tropics, you must always wash your hands.
'The event of an 'after' clause is introduced by the subordinator beto 'finish' and temporally precedes the event of the matrix clause to which it is syntactically subordinate; Kesobetofinishvag-igather-TRritheysarinaDEF.PL⟨in⟩avoso⟨NOM⟩knowsiFOClagobuna-i-abomb-TR-3SG.DOrithey.ERGsaDEFvasinaplaceasa.thatKe beto vag-i ri sarina ⟨in⟩avoso si la buna-i-a ri sa vasina asa.so finish gather-TR they DEF.PL ⟨NOM⟩know FOC go bomb-TR-3SG.DO they.ERG DEF place that'So after they had gathered all the information, they went and bombed that place.
''Contemporaneous' clauses have imperfective aspect, usually accompanied by reduplication of the verb, with the meaning 'While ...-ing' or 'As ...-ing'; En-eneREDUP-walkritheylagohoiranatheresiFOCtutuvi-ameet-3SG.DOrithey.ERGseABSManue.PossumEn-ene ri la hoirana si tutuvi-a ri se Manue.REDUP-walk they go there FOC meet-3SG.DO they.ERG ABS Possum'As they were walking along, they met Possum.
As with the subordinate clauses, there is a neutral system of case marking; ...babutpudeifgorego.downvuracome.outmaecomesaitsiFOCkoteFUTtaloaleavesiABSrau.I...ba pude gore vura mae sa si kote taloa si rau.but if go.down come.out come it FOC FUT leave ABS I'...but if it works out, I'll leave.