The Meso-Melanesian languages are a linkage of Oceanic languages spoken in the large Melanesian islands of New Ireland and the Solomon Islands east of New Guinea. Bali is one of the most conservative languages.
Composition The languages group as follows: Willaumez linkage: Bola, Bulu, Meramera, Nakanai Bali–Vitu: Bali (Uneapa), Vitu (Muduapa) [may be a single language] New Ireland – Northwest Solomonic linkage
Tungag–Nalik family: Tigak, Tungag, Nalik, Laxudumau, Kara, Tiang Tabar linkage: Madara (Tabar), Lihir, Notsi Madak linkage: Barok, Lavatbura-Lamusong, Madak Tomoip St George linkage Niwer Mil Warwar Feni Fanamaket Sursurunga Konomala Patpatar–Tolai: Patpatar, Lungalunga (Minigir), Tolai (Kuanua) Label–Bilur: Label, Bilur Kandas–Ramoaaina: Kandas, Ramoaaina Siar Northwest Solomonic linkage
Ethnologue adds Guramalum to the St George linkage.
The Willaumez Peninsula on the north coast of New Britain was evidently the center of dispersal.
Johnston (1982) combines the Willaumez and Bali–Vitu branches into a single Kimbe branch, for which he reconstructs Proto-Kimbe.Johnston, R.L. 1982. "Proto-Kimbe and the New Guinea Oceanic hypothesis". In Halim, A., Carrington, L. and Wurm, S.A. editors. Papers from the Third International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics, Vol. 1: Currents in Oceanic, 59–95.
Language contact Lenition in Lamasong, Madak, Barok, Nalik, and Kara may have diffused via influence from Kuot, the only non-Austronesian language spoken on New Ireland (Ross 1994: 566).Ross, Malcolm. 1994. Areal phonological features in north central New Ireland. In: Dutton and Tryon (eds.) Language contact and change in the Austronesian world, 551–572. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
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