Kwaio, also referred to as Koio, is an Austronesian language spoken in the Solomon Islands. It is found in central Malaita. It is spoken by about 13,000 people. ^[1]

The Kwaio language uses 5 vowels and 16 consonants which are shown below.

Kwaio Vowels

i		u
e	a	o

Kwaio Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Velar	Labialised Velar	Glottal
Stops	b	d	g	gw
Stops		t	k	kw	'
Nasals	m	n	ŋ	ŋw
Fricatives	f	s
Liquid		l (r)
Semivowel	w

The labialised velars (gw, kw, and ŋw) only occur when preceding vowels a, e, and i. When using 'l' it is pronounced [l] when preceding low vowels (a, o, and e), but pronounced [r] when preceding high vowels (i, and u). For example "lu'u" is pronounced "ru'u." ^[2]

In the Kwaio language the bases are usually formed using stings of CVCV, but CVV, VCV, and VV show up because the consonants are sometimes dropped. There are not consonant pairs (CC) and all syllables are open, so they end in a vowel. ^[3]

When in the form CVV or VV and the same vowel is used, the vowels act as separate syllables and are not stressed. Within morphemes, the stress is typically places on the second to last vowel. One exception happens when a verb is in the form CVV and a monosyllabic pronoun is attached to it as a suffix, the stress does not move. For example the verb "fai" (scratch) is stresses on the a, but when in the form "fai-a" (scratch it) the stress remains with the first a and does not move to the i. When other suffixes are attached to bases, the stress shifts using the rule to the second to last vowel. ^[3]

In Kwaio, full and partial reduplication commonly occurs. It happens when showing the passage of time; to emphasize the meaning of an adjective (siisika "very small"); to show continuous, prolonged, or repeated action in verbs (bonobono "completely closed"); or to show a noun is in multiple (rua niinimana "two arms"). ^[4]

The glottal stop is often omitted in the Kwaio language when there are successive syllables that use the glottal stop. The patten is when one word ends in ..V'V and the next starts 'V.., it would transform into ..VV'V.. instead of ..V'V'V.. (te'e + 'ola → tee'ola). ^[3]

Similar to other Melanesian languages, Kwaio uses two morphological classes, bases and particles.^[2] More complex forms can be made by modifying bases by adding affixes (prefixes, suffixes, or infixes) or by conjoining bases. Particles attach to bases and show the relationship between phrases and clauses. The bases are in the sequence CVCV, and have CVV and VCV as alternatives.

Similar to other languages on Malaita, the Kwaio language does not show possession of food and drinks, but it follows the pattern of adding "a-" where "a-" is the possessive particle ('ifi a-gu "my house"). To show alienable possession, Kwaio uses "fue nua" which translates to "my namesake." Nouns are not strictly alienable or inalienable, instead the possession forms a semantic relationship between nouns. Possession must be looked at with a wider scope to establish where the possession belongs as nouns may be possessed differently using markers. ^[3]

If an inanimate noun is countable, it can be quantified by either a number or by "ni" which is a plural article. For example, ni 'ai translates to trees where 'ai is "tree" and ni is the plural article. Ni or other numerals cannot be used when a noun is uncountable or a mass object. For example, one translates to "sand" which is a mass substance so someone could not say "ni one." The Kwaio language does have a way to quantify certain mass nouns, so "oru foo'i one" translates to "three grains of sand" since the individual grains can be quantified. ^[3]

There are 15 personal pronouns in Kwaio, where there are four variations of number (singular, dual, trial, and plural) and four variations of person/view (first inclusive, first exclusive, second and third). The language also distinguishes between the focal and referencing pronoun. ^[3] The pronouns are shown in the table below, and the vowels that are in parentheses are optional vowel lengthening.

Kwaio Pronouns

Number	Person	Focal Pronoun	Referencing Pronoun	Gloss
Signular	first	(i)nau	ku	"I"
	second	(i)'oo	[ko] ['oi]	"you"
	third	ngai(a)	[ka] [e]	"he, she, it"
Dual	first incl.	('i)da'a	golo (guru)	"you two"
	first excl.	('e)me'e	mele (miru)	"we two (excl.)"
	second	('o)mo'o	molo	"you two"
	third	('i)ga'a	gala	"they two"
Trial	first incl.	('i)dauru	goru	"we three (incl.)"
	first excl.	('e)meeru	meru	"we three (excl.)"
	second	('o)mooru	moru	"you three"
	third	('i)gauru	garu	"they three"
Plural	first incl.	gia	ki	"we (incl.)"
	first excl.	('i)mani	mi	"we (excl.)"
	second	('a)miu	mu	"you"
	third	gila	(gi)la	"they"

Verbs in Kwaio fall into two categories, active verbs which describe actions and stative verbs which describe states. Then, active verbs can be broken up into two more categories, transitive and intransitive verbs. The verbs can generally be distinguished by the relationship with other noun phrases that are in the sentence or clause. ^[3]

SVO word order

English	Kwaio
to blow	fulu
to burn	gofu-a
to buy	foli-a
to climb	fane
to come	leka mai
to cook	nulafi-a
to hunt	fana
to say	ili-a
to stand	ula
to walk	leeleka