Babatana language
language
Babatana, also spelled Mbambatana, is the principal indigenous language of Choiseul Province, Solomon Islands. Although native to the South Choiseul coastline area between Sepa and the Manggo Bay area, the use of this language has spread across much of Choiseul Island and it is generally understood, much like Solomon Islands Pijin, across the province as a second or third language.
Phonology
The following represents the Sisiqa dialect:
Consonants
Voiced stops are typically plainly released word-initially, but prenasalized [ᵐb ⁿd ᵑɡ] when intervocalically.
The fricative /z/ can be heard as an affricate [dz] in free variation within word-initial position.
Vowels
The central vowel /ə/ can vary between three sounds [ə], [ɨ] and [ø].
Simple expressions
'Good morning': Marisasa nöe
'Good afternoon': Kinaka nöe
'Good evening': Vilu nöe
'Good night': Kuse nöe
'Let's go fishing': Me mata la pepeko
'How much': Ava via
'Many': Taba
'No worries': Manöe zirapeta
'I'm hungry': Ra ko saqo
'I'm full': Ra ko kuma
'Don't eat it': Kasi göki tini
'I'd like to swim': Ra ko sökö ma senge
'I'd like to dive': Ra ko sökö ma kujulu
'I'm going to sleep': Ra ma la pamu
'Come here': Zo me gati
'Go away': Zo
'Bring ... here': vame gati...
'Take ... away': Qisu la ...
'Leave it': Törö
'I like ...': Ra ko sökö ...
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This entry incorporates text from “Babatana language” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.