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Bilua language

Coordinates: 7°55′S 156°40′E / 7.92°S 156.66°E / -7.92; 156.66
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Bilua
Native toSolomon Islands
RegionVella Lavella Island, Western Province
Native speakers
(8,700 cited 1999)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3blb
Glottologbilu1245
ELPBilua
Bilua is not endangered according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

7°55′S 156°40′E / 7.92°S 156.66°E / -7.92; 156.66Bilua (also known as Mbilua or Vella Lavella)[2] is the most populous Papuan language spoken in the Solomon Islands.[3] It is a Central Solomon language spoken by about 9,000 people on the island of Vella Lavella. It is one of the four Papuan non-Austronesian languages spoken in the Solomon Islands.[4]

Classification

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"Bilua is sometimes grouped with the other Central Solomons languages and beyond (Wurm 1975b) but closer inspection shows that a genealogical relation is not demonstrable (Dunn and Terrill 2012, Terrill 2011)" (Hammarström, forthcoming).

Phonology

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The consonant and vowels sounds of Bilua.[5]

Consonants

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Bilabial Alveolar Post-
alveolar 		Palatal Velar
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Plosive/
Affricate 		voiceless p t (t͡ʃ) k
voiced b (ᵐb) d (ⁿd) d͡ʒ (ⁿd͡ʒ) g (ᵑɡ)
Fricative voiceless s
voiced β z (w)
Lateral l
Rhotic r

The voiced stops and affricate sounds /b d ɡ dʒ/ can occur as prenasalized allophones, when occurring intervocalically [ᵐb ⁿd ᵑɡ ⁿdʒ]. Other consonant allophones include [w tʃ] for /β dʒ/.

Vowels

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

Four vowel sounds /i u e o/ have allophones but only in diphthongs as [ɪ ɛ ɔ ʊ].

Verb construction

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Sample Verbs

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English Bilua
to bite nanae, nanaelɔu
to blow pueka, puzeka, puzeko
to breathe kozato
to burn siŋgae, siŋgato
to come kua
to count ataito, atiato
to cry ziaʔo, zialo
to cut, hack kombue, kombuto, paŋgoe,

paŋgoilo, rupe

to die, be dead vou
to dig telite, telito
to drink nozutɔ, nĵuvuatɔ, sapɔ
to eat ɔkua, vuato
to fall pialo
to fear ŋalo
to flow rundundu
to fly akazo, salosalo, sindiki
to hear viŋgo
to hit pazɔvɔ, pazoto, pazovo
to hold kamaka, kamako
to hunt zaulao, zaulau
to kill vouvaiva, vouvato
to know, be knowledgeable ñaño
to laugh kisiko, nureo
to lie down teku
to live, be alive saevo, saivo
to say kaseka, kiŋɔla, pesio
to scratch kirikirito, pirakasa
to see alea, kea, kelo
to sew turue, turuto
to sit papi, papu
to sleep maroŋa, maroŋo
to sniff, smell tuiño, tuimikɔ, tuimiko
to spit supato
to split reseilo, seseto
to squeeze zuzuto, žužue
to stab, pierce nĵokuto, zatae
to stand lonĵo
to steal kuilɔ, kuilo
to suck kuzukuzuto, kuzutɔ
to swell tumbu
to swim lilitɔ, ruazo, siusiutɔ, siusiuto
to think kɛrukɛruto, kerukeruto
to tie up lupika
to turn lilite, vipulɔ
to walk ɔla, ola, saŋgɔre, tali, talio, zakei
to vomit sakoezo
to work irurupoto, iruruputo

Noun classification

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Bilua has a masculine-feminine gender system with no neuter nouns. Truly males are always male and truly female are always female.[3]

Numerals

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English Bilua
1 ɔmaⁿdeu
2 ɔmuᵑɡa
3 zouke
4 ariku
5 sike
6 varimuⁿɟa
7 sikeura (5 + 2 ?)
8 siotolu (5 + 3 ?)
9 siakava (5 + 4 ?)
10 toni
11 toni ɔmaⁿdeu
12 toni ɔmuᵑɡa
13 toni zouke
14 toni ariku
15 toni sike
16 toni varimuⁿɟa
17 toni sikeura
18 toni siotolu
19 toni siakava
20 karabete (borrow from Choiseul)
21 karabete ɔmaⁿdeu
30 zouke toni
40 ariku toni
50 sike toni
60 varimuⁿɟa toni
70 sikeura toni
80 siotolu toni
90 siakava toni
100 ɔmaⁿdeu paizana
200 ɔmuᵑɡa paizana
1000 ɔmaⁿdeu vurɔ
2000 ɔmuᵑɡa vurɔ

References

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ Bilua at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ "OLAC resources in and about the Bilua language". www.language-archives.org. Retrieved 2017-05-01.
  3. ^ a b Woodley (2002)
  4. ^ Obata (2003), p. 1
  5. ^ Obata (2003), pp. 8–11

Sources

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Further reading

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