Kele language (New Guinea)
| Kele | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Papua New Guinea |
| Region | Manus Island |
Native speakers | (600 cited 1982)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | sbc |
| Glottolog | kele1258 |
Kele or Gele’ is a language spoken in the easterly section of inland Manus Island, New Guinea.[1] Its name comes from the Kele word for "there".[2]
Phonology
The syllable structure of Kele is (C)V(C).
| Labial | Alveolar | Velar | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | labialized | plain | labialized | ||||
| Nasal | m | mʷ | n | ŋ | ŋʷ | ||
| Stop | voiceless | p | pʷ | t | k | kʷ | ʔ |
| voiced | b | d | |||||
| Fricative | s | h | |||||
| Approximant | j | w | |||||
| Rhotic | r | ||||||
| Lateral | l | ||||||
/b d/ are often trilled [bʙ dr]. Additionally, /b d/ are prenasalized when not occurring before another consonant.
Kele has five vowels: a, e, i, o and u. Vowels can also be elongated. Ross (2002) describes this vowel length as non-phonemic, and instead as part of one of four different disyllabic patterns in words.[2] He also notes that no word contains more than one long vowel.[2]
Grammar
Kele has eleven pronouns, distinguishing first person inclusive and exclusive pronouns as well as dual and plural number. Different versions of each pronoun can be prefixed to show the subject and suffixed to show possession. Nearly all verbs require a preceding subject prefix; however, a few verbs instead require a possessor suffix to indicate the subject.
Sample vocabulary
Nouns
Bed: Petlé
Road: Sal
House: Um
Stone: Pat
Verbs
Learn: Penow
Teach: Te-penow
Die: Mat
Kill: Te-mete-i
References
External links
- Kaipuleohone's Robert Blust collection includes notes on Kele
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