Natügu language
Oceanic language spoken in Solomon Islands
title: "Natügu language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["languages-of-the-solomon-islands", "temotu-languages"] description: "Oceanic language spoken in Solomon Islands" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natügu_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Oceanic language spoken in Solomon Islands ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Santa Cruz |
| nativename | |
| states | Solomon Islands |
| region | Santa Cruz Islands, Eastern Solomons. |
| coordinates | |
| speakers | 5,000 |
| date | 2012 |
| ref | |
| familycolor | Austronesian |
| fam2 | Malayo-Polynesian |
| fam3 | Oceanic |
| fam4 | Temotu ? |
| fam5 | Reefs – Santa Cruz |
| iso3 | |
| lc1 | ntu |
| lc2 | npx |
| glotto | natu1246 |
| glottorefname | Natugu |
| :: |
|name=Santa Cruz |nativename= |pronunciation= |states=Solomon Islands |region=Santa Cruz Islands, Eastern Solomons. |coordinates = |speakers=5,000 |date=2012 |ref= |familycolor=Austronesian |fam2=Malayo-Polynesian |fam3=Oceanic |fam4=Temotu ? |fam5=Reefs – Santa Cruz |iso3= |lc1=ntu|ld1=Natügu |lc2=npx|ld2=Noipx (Noipä) |glotto=natu1246 |glottorefname=Natugu
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/WIKITONGUES-_Patricia_speaking_Natqnnga.webm" caption="A Natügu speaker, recorded in the [[Solomon Islands]]."] ::
Natügu (locally spelled Natqgu), formerly known as Santa Cruz, is the main language spoken on the island of Nendö or 'Santa Cruz', in the Solomon Islands. It is one of the three languages of that island, together with Nalögo and Nanggu.
The language
Name
The name Natügu (new orth. Natqgu) comes from natq-gu , literally "our language" – from natq "language, word" + -gu "1st + 2nd person augmented enclitic").
Genetic affiliation
Until the beginning of the 21st century, it was widely believed that Natügu was a Papuan language. In the 2000s however, it was shown to be a member of the Austronesian language family, like the rest of the Reefs – Santa Cruz languages.{{cite journal | author= Næss, Åshild and Brenda H. Boerger | title= Reefs – Santa Cruz as Oceanic: Evidence from the Verb Complex | journal= Oceanic Linguistics | year= 2008 | volume= 47 | pages= 185–212 | doi= 10.1353/ol.0.0000 | hdl= 1959.13/1052427 | hdl-access= free
Dialects
Dialects of Natügu are Bënwë (Banua), Londai, Malo. Speakers of most dialects understand Lwowa and Mbanua well.
Nalögo, once considered a dialect of Natügu, is now recognised as a separate language.
Phonology
Consonants
Natügu has 14 consonant phonemes. They are indicated here, with the orthography in : ::data[format=table]
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labial-velar | Stop | voiceless | prenasalised | Nasal | Fricative | Approximant |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| :: |
Prenasalized stops can optionally be realized as plain voiced consonants.
Vowels
::data[format=table title="Oral vowels"]
| Front | Central | Back | Close | Close-mid | Near-open | Open |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| :: |
::data[format=table title="Nasal vowels"]
| Front | Central | Back | Close | Close-mid | Near-open | Open |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| :: |
Orthography
The Natügu language has two orthographies. The old orthography uses diacritics to mark vowel quality and nasalization while the new orthography uses no diacritics. The new orthography was developed in 1994, motivated by concerns about the difficulty of reading and typesetting the old orthography.
::data[format=table title="Consonants"]
| Grapheme | Phoneme |
|---|---|
| b | |
| d | |
| g | |
| h | — |
| j | |
| k | |
| l | |
| m | |
| n | |
| p | |
| s | |
| t | |
| v | |
| w | |
| y | |
| :: |
::data[format=table title="Vowels"]
| Grapheme (old) | Grapheme (new) | Phoneme |
|---|---|---|
| a | a | |
| e | e | |
| i | i | |
| o | o | |
| u | u | |
| â | c | |
| ü | q | |
| ö | r | |
| ä | x | |
| ë | z | |
| ◌̃ | '''◌'''' | |
| :: |
In the old orthography, nasal vowels are represented with a tilde over the vowel letter. In the new orthography, nasal vowels are represented with a straight apostrophe after the vowel letter.
Grammar
Pronouns
Natügu has two sets of person and number enclitics: Set I is used to indicate subjects and third-person objects; Set II replaces Set I when marking subjects following peripheral applicatives and in passive clauses. Set II is also used for possessive constructions and free pronouns. Natügu pronouns have a minimal/augmented number system and four grammatical persons: first person, first and second person ("you and I"), second person, and third person.
::data[format=table title="Natügu enclitic pronouns"]
| Person | Set I | Set II |
|---|---|---|
| 1st minimal | =x | =nge |
| 1st+2nd minimal | =ki | =gi |
| 2nd minimal | =u | =m(q) |
| 3rd minimal | =le | =de |
| 1st augmented | =kr | =gr |
| 1st+2nd augmented | =ku | =gu |
| 2nd augmented | =amu | =mu |
| 3rd augmented | =lr, =ng(q) | =dr, =ng(q) |
| :: |
Nouns
Natügu categorises nouns in four ways:
- Count nouns vs mass nouns
- Common nouns vs proper nouns
- Animate vs inanimate nouns
- Direct possession vs indirect possession
Notes
References
References
- (January 2012). "Recognizing Nalögo and Natügu as separate languages: Code-splitting in ISO 639-3". Journal of the Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea.
- Boerger, B. H.. (2012). "Sociological factors in Reefs-Santa Cruz language vitality: a 40 year retrospective". Walter de Gruyter.
- Boerger, Brenda H.. "A Grammar Sketch of Natqgu [ntu]: An Oceanic language of Santa Cruz, Solomon Islands".
- Boerger, Brenda H.. (1996). "When c, q, r, x, and z are vowels: An informal report on Natqgu orthography". SIL.
- Boerger, Brenda H.. (January 2015). "Bible translation as Natqgu language and culture advocacy".
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