The Touo language, also known as Baniata (Mbaniata) or Lokuru, is spoken over the southern part of Rendova Island, located in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands.

Classification

Touo is generally seen to be a member of the tentative Central Solomons family, although Glottolog considers it an isolate. Pedrós (2015) cautiously suggests Lavukaleve as the closest relative to Touo. Most of the surrounding languages to Touo belong to the Oceanic subgroup of the Austronesian language family.

Names

The Touo language is sometimes called the Baniata (Mbaniata) or Lokuru language, after the largest two villages where the language is spoken. The word Touo comes from the ethnonym that Touo speakers use to refer to themselves.

Phonology

Consonants

Touo consonants are: ! colspan="2" | ! labial ! alveolar ! velar ! glottal ! colspan="2" | nasal ! rowspan="2" | stop ! voiceless ! voiced ! rowspan="2" | fricative ! voiceless ! voiced ! colspan="2" | approximant ! colspan="2" | liquid

Vowels

Touo has six lax and five tense vowels. Some minimal pairs showing the tense/lax vowel phonemic distinction in Touo:

Grammar

Word order in Touo is SOV. Touo has four genders. Only in certain paradigms of the singular number can neuter I and II be distinguished. Touo distinguishes four numbers.