Kele language (New Guinea)

Kele or Gele’ is a language spoken in the easterly section of inland Manus Island, New Guinea.[1] Its name comes from the Kele word for "there".[2]

For other uses, see Kele language (disambiguation).
Kele
Native toPapua New Guinea
RegionManus Island
Native speakers
1,500 (2020)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3sbc
Glottologkele1258

Phonology

The syllable structure of Kele is (C)V(C).

Consonants
Labial Alveolar Velar Glottal
plain labialized plain labialized
Nasal m mʷ n ŋ ŋʷ
Stop voiceless p pʷ t k kʷ ʔ
voiced b d
Fricative s h
Approximant j w
Rhotic r
Lateral l

/b d/ are often trilled [bʙ dr]. Additionally, /b d/ are prenasalized when not occurring before another consonant.

Kele has five vowels: a, e, i, o and u. Vowels can also be elongated. Ross (2002) describes this vowel length as non-phonemic, and instead as part of one of four different disyllabic patterns in words.[2] He also notes that no word contains more than one long vowel.[2]

Grammar

Kele has eleven pronouns, distinguishing first person inclusive and exclusive pronouns as well as dual and plural number. Different versions of each pronoun can be prefixed to show the subject and suffixed to show possession. Nearly all verbs require a preceding subject prefix; however, a few verbs instead require a possessor suffix to indicate the subject.

Sample vocabulary

Nouns
Sample Nouns in Kele
WordGloss
petlébed
salroad
umhouse
patstone

Verbs
Sample Verbs in Kele
WordGloss
penowlearn
te-penowteach
matdie
te-mete-ikill

References
  1. Kele at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) closed access
  2. Crowley, Terry; Lynch, John; Ross, Malcolm (2002). The Oceanic Languages. London and New York: Routledge. pp. 123-25


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