Duke Full Bible — Dughore Scripture Portions (Solomon Islands)
Overview
The Duke Full Bible is scripture portions — Ruth and Jonah (8 chapters total) — in the Dughore (Nduke) language of Kolombangara Island, Western Province, Solomon Islands, published by The Seed Company in partnership with Islands Bible Ministries (Honiara) and available via YouVersion/Bible.com (ID 3948; abbreviation: NKE; updated 2024). The title "Duke Full Bible" reflects the YouVersion naming convention; only these two Old Testament books are currently available. The language is spoken by the people of Kolombangara — one of the Solomon Islands' volcanic archipelago islands famous in WWII history.
Language and People
Dughore (ISO 639-3: nke; autonym: Nduke, Dughore, or Duke; also called Kolei in a bilateral address register) is an Oceanic Austronesian language: Austronesian → Malayo-Polynesian → Oceanic → Northwest Solomonic → New Georgia languages. It is closely related to Marovo, Roviana, and Vella Lavella — a cluster of interconnected New Georgia Island languages.
Dughore is spoken on Kolombangara Island, Western Province, Solomon Islands — a nearly perfectly circular volcanic island (~30 km across) with a central peak (Mount Veve, 1,770 m). Major settlements are Ringgi and Mongga. The colonial name "Kolombangara" derives from a local phrase meaning "Water Lord."
Oral history records a dramatic population collapse: the northwest, northeast, and southeast dialects of Kolombangara were annihilated in early 19th-century inter-island warfare, leaving the southwest Dughore variety as the sole survivor. Estimated speakers: approximately 3,000 (current; historical low around 1900: ~250 speakers). The language is rated vigorous by Ethnologue but younger speakers show reduced lexical richness due to Solomon Pijin influence.
Historical Context
Kolombangara has notable WWII history: Japanese forces occupied the island, and the surrounding waters were the site of the famous PT-109 incident (August 1943), in which the future U.S. President John F. Kennedy — then a Navy lieutenant — survived the sinking of his torpedo boat and rescued his crew after a Japanese destroyer rammed and sank it. The island was part of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate from 1893. In 2019, Chinese state forestry interests attempted to acquire the island's hardwood plantation, raising significant land sovereignty concerns for the Dughore community.
The first external documentation of the language was by Arthur Maurice Hocart in 1908. Orthography was subsequently developed by competing Methodist (1917) and Seventh-day Adventist (1919) missions, producing divergent spelling conventions that persisted. A Seventh-day Adventist hospital was established at Kukudu, Kolombangara, in 1937.
Publishing and Organizations
Published by The Seed Company in partnership with Islands Bible Ministries (Honiara, Solomon Islands). The Dughore community is predominantly Christian (Methodist/SDA heritage).