Gela language

Gela ( Eng. pron. ), also known as Nggela  and formerly as Florida, is an Oceanic language spoken in the Nggela Islands, in the middle of the Solomon Islands. It belongs to the Southeast Solomonic group of the Oceanic family.

Towards the end of the 19th century, Gela was used by the Melanesian Mission of the Anglican Church of Melanesia, as a language of Christianisation ‒ along with Mota, a language of the Banks islands of northern Vanuatu. The first translation of the scriptures in Gela was published in 1882.

Dialects
The three dialects of Gela are very similar, differing mainly on a small number of phonological points.

Consonants
Gela has the following consonant phonemes:

The fricative /z/ is realized as [ð] in alternation with a retroflex sibilant [ʐ], initially before /a/.

The Gela dominant voiced is "h" not "z". "Z" is found in Savosavo language speakers (and Bugotu and part of Guadalcanal) who also speak Gela - primarily due to their use of the Church of Melanesia Common Prayer Books and Hymns (written in Gela in the 1940s).

Vowels
Gela uses with no contrastive vowel length.

Stress
Stress generally occurs on each word's penultimate syllable.

Numbers

 * 1) keha (keha or sakai, not keza)
 * 2) rua
 * 3) tolu
 * 4) vati
 * 5) lima
 * 6) ono
 * 7) vitu
 * 8) alu
 * 9) hiua (not hiwa)
 * 10) hangavulu
 * 11) hangavulu sakai
 * 12) hangavulu rua
 * 13) hangavulu tolu
 * 14) hangavulu vati
 * 15) hangavulu lima
 * 16) hangavulu ono
 * 17) hangavulu vitu
 * 18) hangavulu alu
 * 19) hangavulu hiua
 * 20) rua hangavulu
 * 21) rua hangavulu sakai
 * 22) rua hangavulu rua
 * 23) rua hangavulu tolu
 * 24) rua hangavulu vati
 * 25) rua hangavulu lima
 * 26) rua hangavulu ono
 * 27) rua hangavulu vitu
 * 28) rua hangavulu alu
 * 29) rua hangavulu hiua
 * 30) tolu hangavulu
 * 31) tolu hangavulu sakai
 * 32) tolu hangavulu rua
 * 33) tolu hangavulu tolu
 * 34) tolu hangavulu vati
 * 35) tolu hangavulu lima
 * 36) tolu hangavulu ono
 * 37) tolu hangavulu vitu
 * 38) tolu hangavulu alu
 * 39) tolu hangavulu hiua
 * 40) vati hangavulu
 * 41) vati hangavulu sakai
 * 42) vati hangavulu rua
 * 43) vati hangavulu tolu
 * 44) vati hangavulu vati
 * 45) vati hangavulu lima
 * 46) vati hangavulu ono
 * 47) vati hangavulu vitu
 * 48) vati hangavulu alu
 * 49) vati hangavulu hiua
 * 50) lima hangavulu

In general, for two-digit numbers, numbers are expressed as a*10+b, where a and b are numbers ranging from 1 to 9.