Halia language

For the characters named Halia in Greek mythology, see Halie. For Thucydides' ancient Greek town of Halia, see Halieis.

Halia is an Austronesian language of Buka Island and the Selau Peninsula of Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea.

Halia
Selau
Native to	Papua New Guinea
Region	Buka Island, Selau Peninsula
Native speakers	25,000 (2005)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Western Meso-Melanesian Northwest Solomonic Nehan–Bougainville Buka Halia–Hakö Halia
Language codes
ISO 639-3	hla
Glottolog	hali1244

Phonology

The phonology of the Halia language:^[2]

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n		ŋ
Plosive	voiceless	p	t		k
	voiced	b			g
Affricate			ts ~ tʃ
Fricative			s			h
Lateral			l
Rhotic			r
Semivowel		w		j

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
	ɪ		ʊ
Mid	(e)		o
	ɛ		ɔ
Low		a

Diphthong vowel sounds include /ei, au, ou/.

[e] exists, but not as a monophthong.

Allophones

Phoneme	Allophones
/b/	[β]
/ɡ/	[ɣ], [χ]
/ts/	[tʃ]
/r/	[ɾ]
/a/	[æ], [ɐ], [ʌ]
/ʊ/	[ɨ]
/ei/	[e], [ɛi], [ɛ]

Grammar

Pronouns

There are four sets of pronouns. The first set functions as the subject when preceding the verb. Set 2 functions as a subject or object when following the verb. Set 3 is used for inalienable possession. Set 4 is used for alienable possession. There is an inclusive/exclusive first person distinction.

Pronoun	1	2	3	4
1SG	alia	lia	-r	i tar
2SG	alö	lö	-mulö	i tamulö
3SG	nonei	-en	-nen	i tanen
1PL (incl.)	ara	ra	-rara	i tarara
1PL (excl.)	alam	lam	-mulam	i tamulam
2PL	alimiu	limiu	-milimiu	i tamilimiu
3PL	nori	-en	-ren	i taren

The suffix -e signifies a transitive verb.^[3]

Literature

In the 1960s Francis Hagai produced a series of liturgies in Halia as part of his work with the Hahalis Welfare Society.^[4]