| Bilua | |
| States: | Solomon Islands |
| Region: | Vella Lavella Island, Western Province |
| Date: | 1999 |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | Papuan |
| Fam1: | Central Solomon |
| Iso3: | blb |
| Glotto: | bilu1245 |
| Glottorefname: | Bilua |
| Map: | Lang Status 99-NE.svg |
Bilua (also known as Mbilua or Vella Lavella)[1] 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.
"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).
The consonant and vowels sounds of Bilua.
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Post- alveolar | Palatal | Velar | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Plosive/ Affricate | voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| voiced | pronounced as /link/ (pronounced as /link/) | pronounced as /link/ (pronounced as /link/) | pronounced as /link/ (pronounced as /link/) | pronounced as /link/ (pronounced as /link/) | |||
| Fricative | voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| voiced | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | ||||
| Lateral | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| Rhotic | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
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/.
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High | pronounced as /link/ (pronounced as /link/) | pronounced as /link/ (pronounced as /link/) | ||
| Mid | pronounced as /link/ (pronounced as /link/) | pronounced as /link/ (pronounced as /link/) | ||
| Low | pronounced as /link/ |
| 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 |
Bilua has a masculine-feminine gender system with no neuter nouns. Truly males are always male and truly female are always female.
| 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 |