Saʼa (also known as South Malaita and Apaeʼaa) is an Oceanic language spoken on Small Malaita and Ulawa Island in the Solomon Islands. In 1999, there were around 12,000 speakers of the language.

Saʼa
RegionSouth Malaita, Solomon Islands
Native speakers
(12,000 cited 1999)[1]
Dialects
  • Saʼa
  • Ulawa
  • Uki
Language codes
ISO 639-3apb
Glottologsaaa1240

Phonology

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The phonemes of Saʼa are listed below.[2]

Consonants

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Labial Alveolar Post-
alveolar
Velar Glottal
plain lab.
Plosive p t k ʔ
Fricative s h
Nasal m n ŋ
Lateral l
Tap ɾ
Approximant w

Vowels

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Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid e o
Open a

References

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  1. ^ Saʼa at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Ashley, Karen (2012). Semantics of Saʼa transitive suffixes and thematic consonants (PDF) (MA thesis). Dallas International University. pp. 15–16. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-04-17.
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