The Santo languages are a branch of Oceanic languages spoken on the island of Espiritu Santo

Espiritu Santo

Espiritu Santo is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of . It belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region of Melanesia. It is in the Sanma Province of Vanuatu....

 in Vanuatu

Vanuatu

Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...

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Composition

The Santo languages are not particularly close, and groups of East Santo and West Santo languages have traditionally been placed in different branches of the North Vanuatu languages. However, a 2008 analysis of the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database fully supports the unity of Araki

Araki language

Araki is a nearly extinct language spoken in the small island of Araki , south of Espiritu Santo Island in Vanuatu. Araki is gradually being replaced by Tangoa, a language from a neighbouring island.-The language:...

 and Merei, West Santo languages, with Sakao, an East Santo language. In addition, Sakao appeared to be closer to Merei than Merei was to Araki, at a 60% confidence level. However, Sakao is divergent, and no other East Santo languages were included in the analysis. It is therefore possible that further research will reestablish a division between East and West Santo.

The traditional East Santo languages are Sakao and a core of Butmas-Tur, Lorediakarkar

Lorediakarkar language

Lorediakarkar is a language of the East Santo languages a group of languages in the Austronesian family of Languages. It is spoken by about 340 people out of an ethnic population of 850 on Espiritu Santo Island in Vanuatu. It is close to the Shark Bay language.-References:Moseley, Christopher and...

, Polonombauk, and Shark Bay

Shark Bay language

The Shark Bay language is one of the East Santo languages group of languages. It is spoken on Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu. It has about 450 speakers. It is close to Lorediakarkar.-References:...

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The traditional West Santo languages are Akei, Araki

Araki language

Araki is a nearly extinct language spoken in the small island of Araki , south of Espiritu Santo Island in Vanuatu. Araki is gradually being replaced by Tangoa, a language from a neighbouring island.-The language:...

, Amblong, Aore, Kiai (Fortsenal)

Kiai language

The Kiai language is a vernacular of a native people in the highlands of the central Espiritu Santo Island, Sanma Province, Republic of Vanuatu.- Name variants :Another name is Fortsenal. The speakers call their language na vara kiai...

, Merei, Mafea, Malo, Morouas, Narango, Navut, Nokuku, Piamatsina, Roria, Tambotalo, Tangoa

Tangoa language

Tangoa is an Oceanic language spoken on Tangoa Island, south of Espiritu Santo Island in Vanuatu.-Characteristics:Tangoa is one of the few languages of Vanuatu, and indeed of the world, possessing a set of linguolabial consonants.-External links:*...

, Tiale, Tolomako

Tolomako language

Tolomako is a language of the Oceanic subgroup of Austronesian languages. It is spoken on Santo island in Vanuatu. It distinguishes four numbers for its personal pronouns: singular, dual, trial, plural. Its verbs have no tense or aspect marking, but two moods, realis and irrealis. Substantives and...

, Tutuba, Tasmate, Valpei, Vunapu, Wailapa, and Wusi.