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 (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.

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

The three dialects of Gela are 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

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

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
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

^ 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.