Gela (Eng. pron. /ɡeɪlɑː/ GAY-lah), also known as Nggela [ᵑgela][2] and formerly as Florida,[3] is an Oceanic language spoken in the Nggela Islands, in the middle of the Solomon Islands. It belongs to the Southeast Solomonic group of the Oceanic family.
| Gela | |
|---|---|
| Nggela | |
| Native to | Central Solomon Islands |
| Region | Big Nggela, Small Nggela, Sandfly and Buenavista Islands |
Native speakers | (12,000 cited 1999)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | nlg |
| Glottolog | gela1263 |
Towards the end of the 19th century, Gela was used by the Melanesian Mission of the Anglican Church of Melanesia, as a language of Christianisation[4] ‒ along with Mota, a language of the Banks islands of northern Vanuatu. The first translation of the scriptures in Gela was published in 1882.[3]
Dialects
editThe three dialects of Gela are very similar, differing mainly on a small number of phonological points.
Phonology
editPhonemes
editConsonants
editGela 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 | |||||
The fricative /z/ is realized as [ð] in alternation with a retroflex sibilant [ʐ], initially before /a/.[5]
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 the 1940s).
Vowels
editGela uses /i, e, a, o, u/ with no contrastive vowel length.
Stress
editStress generally occurs on each word's penultimate syllable.
Sample vocabulary
editNumbers
edit- 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
- vati hangavulu lima
- vati hangavulu ono
- vati hangavulu vitu
- vati hangavulu alu
- vati hangavulu hiua
- lima hangavulu
In general, for two-digit numbers, numbers are expressed as a*10+b, where a and b are numbers ranging from 1 to 9.
References
edit- ^ Gela at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Fox, Charles E. (1950). "Some notes on Nggela grammar". Journal of the Polynesian Society. 59 (2): 135–168.
- ^ a b Na Lei Kokoeliulivuti: Prayers in the Florida Language. Anglican Church of Melanesia.
- ^ Tryon, Darrell T. (1996-12-31). "Mission and church languages in Island Melanesia". In Stephen A. Wurm; Peter Mühlhäusler; Darrell T. Tryon (eds.). Atlas of Languages of Intercultural Communication in the Pacific, Asia, and the Americas. De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 619–624. ISBN 978-3-11-013417-9. Retrieved 2023-06-18.
- ^ Crowley, Terry (2002). "Gela". In John Lynch; Malcolm Ross; Terry Crowley (eds.). The Oceanic Languages. Richmond: Curzon. pp. 525–537.
External links
edit- 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
 | This Solomon Islands article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |