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Halia
Halia
Selau
Native to	Papua New Guinea
Region	Buka Island, Selau Peninsula
Native speakers	25,000 (2005)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Western Meso-Melanesian Northwest Solomonic Nehan–Bougainville Buka Halia–Hakö Halia; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	hla
Glottolog	hali1244

Halia is an Austronesian language of Buka Island and the Selau Peninsula of Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea.

Phonology

The phonology of the Halia language:^[2]

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n		ŋ
Plosive	voiceless	p	t		k
Plosive	voiced	b			g
Affricate			ts ~ tʃ
Fricative			s			h
Lateral			l
Rhotic			r
Semivowel		w		j

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
High	ɪ		ʊ
Mid	(e)		o
Mid	ɛ		ɔ
Low		a

Diphthong vowel sounds include /ei, au, ou/.

[e] exists, but not as a monophthong.

Allophones

Phoneme	Allophones
/b/	[β]
/ɡ/	[ɣ], [χ]
/ts/	[tʃ]
/r/	[ɾ]
/a/	[æ], [ɐ], [ʌ]
/ʊ/	[ɨ]
/ei/	[e], [ɛi], [ɛ]

Grammar

Pronouns

There are four sets of pronouns. The first set functions as the subject when preceding the verb. Set 2 functions as a subject or object when following the verb. Set 3 is used for inalienable possession. Set 4 is used for alienable possession. There is an inclusive/exclusive first person distinction.


Pronoun	1	2	3	4
1SG	alia	lia	-r	i tar
2SG	alö	lö	-mulö	i tamulö
3SG	nonei	-en	-nen	i tanen
1PL (incl.)	ara	ra	-rara	i tarara
1PL (excl.)	alam	lam	-mulam	i tamulam
2PL	alimiu	limiu	-milimiu	i tamilimiu
3PL	nori	-en	-ren	i taren

The suffix -e signifies a transitive verb.^[3]

Literature

In the 1960s Francis Hagai produced a series of liturgies in Halia as part of his work with the Hahalis Welfare Society.^[4]

References

^ Halia at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
^ Allen, Jerry (1987). Halia grammar. Data Papers on Papua New Guinea Languages, 32: Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics. pp. 4–10, 215–219.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
^ Allen, Jerry; Latu, Marcello; Koesana, Maurice; Tsirumits, Maurice (1982). Dictionaries of Papua New Guinea, Volume 6: Halia Language. The Long Now Foundation. Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
^ Trompf, G. W. (1994). Payback: The Logic of Retribution in Melanesian Religions. Cambridge University Press. p. 224. ISBN 9780521416917.