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The Arosi language (aia) is primarily spoken by inhabitants who live to the west of the Wango River on San Cristoval Island (Makira). San Cristoval is in the eastern most part of the Solomon Islands. San Cristoval was discovered and named by Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira in 1588. Upon landing on San Cristoval, the Spanish were the first began to record Arosi, but only six words were initially recorded. Arosi is one of the lesser known languages in Melanesia.

Phonology
In the Arosi alphabet there are 14 consonant and 5 vowels including the uses of "ŋ" and ' or glottal stop. Unlike many other languages in the Oceanic Austronesian area, "b", "d", and "g" are not followed by a nasal. Although there is a "y" sounds in Arosi, "y" is not used in the spelling of any words. The chart below shows the following consonants in Arosi. For the most part, the spelling of words in Arosi is phonemic.

Syllable Structure
In Arosi, syllables never end in a consonant. Every syllable either has a /v/ or /cv/ structure. Below is an example of the Arosi syllable structure:

Word Stress

 * 1) Word Stress
 * 2) Phrase/Sentence Stress

Word Intonation
Unlike English or other Western European languages, Arosi's intonation tends to waver from higher to lower tones more quickly rather than steadily increasing.

Grammar Structure
There are two main types of sentences in Arosi. There are major sentences and minor sentences.

Major Sentences
Major sentences include a predicate, and at least 1 verb form. Major sentences can also be broken down into 3 categories: simple, compound, and complex. A minor sentence does not include a predicate. Major sentences consist of a noun phrase (NP) and verb phrase (VP). The subject of the sentence can often times be broken down into these two types of phrases. When the (NP + VP) structure is linked this creates a compound sentence. Finally, complex sentences are made of compound sentences with subordinate clauses to the main phrase of the sentence.

Minor Sentences
They are Interjections, Yes-no Sentences; and Equational and descriptive sentences.

Interjections
Interjections are most often verbs or nouns. When acting as an appellative, regardless of the addition of "-na" the 2nd person pronoun is used.

Yes-No
The next type of minor sentence is the "Yes-no" sentence. In Arosi "yes" = "io" and "no" = "'ai'a" An example of a Yes-no sentence would be: "'o tauaro? Io!" Translates to "Are you working? Yes!" Other interjections that are commonly used as well are kaia = "I do not know" and bwaia = "I do not understand".

Equational and Descriptive
Finally the third type of minor sentence is the Equational and Descriptive sentence. The third type of minor sentence exists primarily due to the fact that there is no verb "to be" in Arosi. Equational and descriptional sentences are often used to show equality between two different things.

Sentence Types
There are not many types of sentences in Arosi. Most sentences in Arosi contain a noun-phrase (NP) and a verbal phrase (VP) which are the two most common.


 * S --> NP + VP
 * S --> NP₁ + VP + NP₂

There are other elements that can be added to a sentences such as Location: L or Time: T.


 * S --> NP + VP ± L ± T

Additionally, Reason: R can also be added to a sentence. When added to a sentence it would look something like this:


 * +S + V + O ± L ± T ± R



There are three requirements for a verbal phrase in Arosi. There must be a subject marker (sm), the sm be made up of a morpheme, and the verb follows the aspect marker.

In Arosi there are 3 forms of short pronouns. There are singular, dual, and plural

There are also 3 different tense systems in Arosi: Indefinite, past and future.

Tenses
Unlike European languages, Melanesian languages are not precise when referring to the time of an action. In Arosi, it is important to understand the "Time of Action" and the "State of Action". The "+" sign in the chart shows presence while the "-" sign means the "lack of" a given form.

Word Classification
In Arosi there are various types of nouns. The noun can be broken down into a simple noun and a phrasal noun. The majority of words involving the naming of people or objects are simple nouns. Although a lexicon of reference is formed, this does not apply to names of people.

Simple Nouns
Simple nouns are a division of the noun. Unlike European languages, Arosi does not no classify its nouns based on gender. Here are a few examples of simple nouns:

Phrasal Nouns
Unlike simple nouns, phrasal noun have two lexicons of reference. Usually lexical component is held together by the preposition "ni" (of). There are few different sub-groups of phrasal nouns.

Derived Nouns
Compared to Malaita Languages, Arosi has very few derived nouns. The primary prefix used in Arosi is "hai" or "ha' i".

Like prefixes there are few suffixes. The most commonly used suffix is "-ha". This suffix is most commonly used as a noun-forming suffix.

Interrogatives
When asking questions in Arosi, the syntax matters. The context of the question(s) is also very important to understand.