Galela language

Galela
Native toIndonesia
RegionNorth Halmahera
Native speakers
(79,000 cited 1990)[1]
West Papuan?
Language codes
ISO 639-3gbi
Glottologgale1259

Galela is the second most populous Papuan language spoken west of New Guinea, with some 80,000 speakers. Its dialects are Kadai (41,000), Morotai (24,000), Kadina (10,000), and Sopi (4,000). Its closest relative is the Loloda language.

Galela is spoken on the eastern side of the northern tip of Halmahera island (in Galela district and in neighbouring villages in Tobelo and Loloda districts), on Morotai Island to the north, on the Bacan and Obi islands to the south of Halmahera, and in scattered settlements along the southwest coast. All are in North Maluku province of Indonesia.

Phonology

The following sound inventory is based on Shelden (1998).[2]

Vowels

Galela has a simple five vowel system: /a/, /i/, /u/, /e/, /o/.

Consonants

Galela orthography largely follows Indonesian spelling conventions. If orthography differs from IPA, the orthography is in ⟨brackets⟩.

Labial Alveolar Palato-alveolar/
Palatal 		Velar Glottal
Laminal Apical
Nasal m n ɲ ⟨ny⟩ ŋ ⟨ng⟩
Plosive/
Affricate 		voiceless p t t͡ʃ ⟨c⟩ k
voiced b d̻ ⟨ḋ⟩ d̺ ⟨d⟩ d͡ʒ ⟨j⟩ g
Fricative ɸ ⟨f⟩ s h
Flap ɾ
Lateral l
Semivowel w j ⟨y⟩

Grammar

Pronouns

Galela has two free pronoun sets, and two sets of bound pronominal prefixes.[2][3][4] The use of the pronominal prefixes is governed by semantic alignment: actor prefixes are used to index the S-argument of active intransitive verbs and the A-argument of transitive verbs, while undergoer prefixes index the S-argument of stative intransitive verbs and the P-argument of transitive verbs.

independent possessive actor undergoer
1st
person 		singular ngohi ai to- i-
plural exclusive ngomi mia mi- mi-
inclusive ngone nanga po- na-
2nd
person 		singular ngona ani no- ni-
plural ngini nia ni- ni-
3rd
person 		singular masc una awi wo- wi-
fem muna ami mo- mi-
plural human ona manga yo- ya-
non-human i ma i- ḋa-

References

  1. ^ Galela at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. ^ a b Shelden, Howard (1998). "Transitivity and Galela pronominal reference". SIL Electronic Working Papers. 1998–005.
  3. ^ van Baarda, M. J. (1904). "Het Lòda'sch, in vergelijking met het Galela'sch dialect op Halmaheira" [Lòda'sch, compared to the Galela'sch dialect on Halmaheira]. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië (in Dutch). 56 (3/4): 317–496. doi:10.1163/22134379-90002009.
  4. ^ Holton, Gary (2008). "The rise and fall of semantic alignment in North Halmahera, Indonesia". In Donohue, Mark; Wichmann, Søren (eds.). The Typology of Semantic Alignment. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 252–276.

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