Kala language

Not to be confused with Kela language (Bantu).
Kela
Kala
Native to Papua New Guinea
Region Huon Gulf, Morobe Province
Native speakers
 2,200 (2011)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 kcl
Glottolog kela1255[2]

Kela, or Kala, is an Austronesian language spoken by about 2500 people (in 1997) in several villages along the south coast of the Huon Gulf between Salamaua Peninsula and the Paiawa River, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. The principal villages are Keila/Kêla, Logui/Laugwêc, Laukanu, Lababia, Buso, and Kui. Linguistically, Kela belongs to the North Huon Gulf languages and Kela-speakers appear to have arrived on the southern coast of the Gulf relatively recently, beginning perhaps as late as the 17th century (Bradshaw 1997).

Morphology

Names

Like most of the languages around the Huon Gulf, Kela has a system of birth-order names (Holzknecht 1989: 43-45). The seventh son is called "No Name": se-mba 'name-none'. Compare Numbami.

Birth order Sons Daughters
1 Alisa' Kali'
2 Aliŋa' Aiga
3 Aŋgua' Aya
4 Aluŋ Dam
5 Dei Hop
6 Selep Dei
7 Semba

References

  1. ↑ Kela at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Kela (Papua New Guinea)". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.


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