Bilua | |
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Native to | Solomon Islands |
Region | Vella Lavella Island, Western Province. |
Native speakers
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8,700 (1999) |
Central Solomons
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Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 |
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Glottolog | bilu1245 |
Coordinates: 7°55′S 156°40′E / 7.92°S 156.66°EBilua (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 non-Austronesian languages spoken in the Solomon Islands. The amount of different languages spoken in the Solomon Islands is attributed to the dynamic geographic features of the island and the isolation of its different populations.
"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).
paŋgoilo, rupe
Bilua has a masculine-feminine gender system with no neuter nouns. Truly males are always male and truly female are always female.
1. ɔmaⁿdeu
21. karabete ɔmaⁿdeu
2. ɔmuᵑɡa
22. karabete ɔmuᵑɡa
3. zouke
23. karabete zouke