Gela language

Gela
Gela
Nggela
Native to	Central Solomon Islands
Region	Big Nggela, Small Nggela, Sandfly and Buenavista Islands
Native speakers	(12,000 cited 1999)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Southeast Solomonic Gela–Guadalcanal Gelic Gela; ; ; ; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	nlg
Glottolog	gela1263
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Gela is a Southeast Solomonic language spoken in three dialects on four islands in the central Solomon Islands. Each of the dialects is very similar, differing mainly on a small number of phonological points.

Phonology

Phonemes

Consonants

Gela has the following consonant phonemes:

	Labial		Alveolar		Velar
Nasal		m		n		ŋ
Stop	p	b	t	d	k	g
Fricative		v	s	z		ɣ
Approximant		w		l		j
Trill				r

NOTE: The Gela dominant Voiced is "h" not "z". "Z" is found in Savosavo language speakers (and Bugotu and part of Guadalcanal) who also speak Gela - primarily due to their use of the Church of Melanesia Common Prayer Books and Hymns (written in Gela in 1940's).

Vowels

Gela uses /i, e, a, o, u/ with no contrastive vowel length.

Stress

Stress generally occurs on each word's penultimate syllable.

Sample Vocabulary

Numbers

keha (keha or sakai, not keza)
rua
tolu
vati
lima
ono
vitu
alu
hiua (not hiwa)
hangavulu
hangavulu sakai
hangavulu rua
hangavulu tolu
hangavulu vati
hangavulu lima
hangavulu ono
hangavulu vitu
hangavulu alu
hangavulu hiua
rua hangavulu
rua hangavulu sakai
rua hangavulu rua
rua hangavulu tolu
rua hangavulu vati
rua hangavulu lima
rua hangavulu ono
rua hangavulu vitu
rua hangavulu alu
rua hangavulu hiua
tolu hangavulu
tolu hangavulu sakai
tolu hangavulu rua
tolu hangavulu tolu
tolu hangavulu vati
tolu hangavulu lima
tolu hangavulu ono
tolu hangavulu vitu
tolu hangavulu alu
tolu hangavulu hiua
vati hangavulu
vati hangavulu sakai
vati hangavulu rua
vati hangavulu tolu
vati hangavulu vati

You may now recognized the pattern of number counting above.

References

^ Gela at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

External links

Na Lei Kokoeliulivuti Portions of the Anglican Prayer Book in Gela
Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles in Gela

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[e18-1] Gela at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

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