Introduction

Buhutu is an inland and more northern dialect of the Suau language cluster, and is spoken by about 1,400 to 1,500 people on the mainland of the Milne Bay Province, PNG. Most of the speakers of this language live in the Sagarai River Valley between Mullins Harbour on the South Coast and the Pima range of mountains north of the Sagarai.

There also a few villages of Buhutu speakers (whom the Suau sometimes call 'Yaleba') in the Suau Sub-District to the south, some of whom are about one day's walk away from the main Buhutu language area. These include Sawaiha (Savaia) and Saga'afo (Saga'aho) villages which are on the coast as well as an inland village, Oyamamaniya, and a few other smaller inland hamlets. Some speakers of Kakabai in the Boilave area, and some speakers of the Haigwai language in the Gumini area also speak some Buhutu. -