Gela language

Gela
Nggela
Native to	Central Solomon Islands
Region	Big Nggela, Small Nggela, Sandfly and Buenavista Islands
Native speakers	12,000 (1999)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Southeast Solomonic Gela–Guadalcanal Gelic Gela
Language codes
ISO 639-3	nlg
Glottolog	gela1263[2]

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

1. keha (keha or sakai, not keza)
2. rua
3. tolu
4. vati
5. lima
6. ono
7. vitu
8. alu
9. hiua (not hiwa)
10. hangavulu
11. hangavulu sakai
12. hangavulu rua
13. hangavulu tolu
14. hangavulu vati
15. hangavulu lima
16. hangavulu ono
17. hangavulu vitu
18. hangavulu alu
19. hangavulu hiua
20. rua hangavulu
21. rua hangavulu sakai
22. rua hangavulu rua
23. rua hangavulu tolu
24. rua hangavulu vati
25. rua hangavulu lima
26. rua hangavulu ono
27. rua hangavulu vitu
28. rua hangavulu alu
29. rua hangavulu hiua
30. tolu hangavulu
31. tolu hangavulu sakai
32. tolu hangavulu rua
33. tolu hangavulu tolu
34. tolu hangavulu vati
35. tolu hangavulu lima
36. tolu hangavulu ono
37. tolu hangavulu vitu
38. tolu hangavulu alu
39. tolu hangavulu hiua
40. vati hangavulu
41. vati hangavulu sakai
42. vati hangavulu rua
43. vati hangavulu tolu
44. vati hangavulu vati

You may now recognized the pattern of number counting above.

References

1. Gela at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Gela". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

External links

• Na Lei Kokoeliulivuti Portions of the Anglican Prayer Book in Gela
• Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles in Gela
• Paradisec open access collection of texts in Gela
• Paradisec open access collection of recordings in Gela