Duke language

Nduke
Duke
Native toSolomon Islands
RegionKolombangara island
Native speakers
(2,300 cited 1999)
Language codes
ISO 639-3nke
Glottologduke1237

Duke (Nduke, pronounced N-doo-kay) is an Oceanic language now spoken by about 3,000 people on Kolombangara island, Solomon Islands. Duke is an exonymic name (not used by speakers themselves). Endonymic names (used by the speakers themselves) are Dughore (Ndughore) and Kolei. Dughore is also a name for an area in southwest Kolombangara, Kolei is the general bilateral address term specific to Nduke. A more recent alternative name is 'Kolombangara' (after the name of the island).