Bilua language

Bilua (also known as Mbilua or Vella Lavella) is the most populous Papuan language spoken in the Solomon Islands. 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.

Classification "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 The consonant and vowels sounds of Bilua.

Consonants BilabialAlveolarPost-alveolarPalatalVelarNasalPlosive/Affricatevoiceless()voiced () () () ()Fricativevoicelessvoiced()LateralRhotic

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

Verb construction

Sample Verbs EnglishBiluato bitenanae, nanaelɔuto blowpueka, puzeka, puzekoto breathekozatoto burnsiŋgae, siŋgatoto comekuato countataito, atiatoto cryziaʔo, zialoto cut, hackkombue, kombuto, paŋgoe, paŋgoilo, rupeto die, be deadvouto digtelite, telitoto drinknozutɔ, nĵuvuatɔ, sapɔto eatɔkua, vuatoto fallpialoto fearŋaloto flowrundunduto flyakazo, salosalo, sindikito hearviŋgoto hitpazɔvɔ, pazoto, pazovoto holdkamaka, kamakoto huntzaulao, zaulauto killvouvaiva, vouvatoto know, be knowledgeableñañoto laughkisiko, nureoto lie downtekuto live, be alivesaevo, saivoto saykaseka, kiŋɔla, pesioto scratchkirikirito, pirakasato seealea, kea, keloto sewturue, turutoto sitpapi, paputo sleepmaroŋa, maroŋoto sniff, smelltuiño, tuimikɔ, tuimikoto spitsupatoto splitreseilo, sesetoto squeezezuzuto, žužueto stab, piercenĵokuto, zataeto standlonĵoto stealkuilɔ, kuiloto suckkuzukuzuto, kuzutɔto swelltumbuto swimlilitɔ, ruazo, siusiutɔ, siusiutoto thinkkɛrukɛruto, kerukerutoto tie uplupikato turnlilite, vipulɔto walkɔla, ola, saŋgɔre, tali, talio, zakeito vomitsakoezoto workirurupoto, iruruputo

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

References Footnotes

Sources

Bilua language

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