Region Santa Isabel Island Official language in Solomon Islands | Native speakers 3,400 (2003) ISO 639-3 kji | |
Native to Central Solomon Islands Language family Austronesian
Malayo-Polynesian
Oceanic
Northwest Solomonic
New Georgia – Ysabel
Ysabel
West Isabel
Zabana | ||
Zabana is an Oceanic language spoken almost exclusively in the Kia district on the northern part of Santa Isabel Island in the Solomon Islands. Zabana is considered a developing language (EGIDS 5) which means that the language is in vigorous use, with literature in a standardized form being used by some though this is not yet widespread or sustainable. It is one of the most spoken languages on Santa Isabel Island, competing with Cheke Holo. There is a 30% to 60% literacy rate in Zabana as a first language and a 25% to 50% literacy rate in Zabana as a second language.
Contents
Location
Zabana is almost exclusively spoken on Santa Isabel Island which is the largest island in the Isabel provenience and the third largest island in the Solomon Island chain. Zabana is one of the eight different languages spoken on Santa Isabel island. Out of the other seven different languages spoken on the island, Zabana shares major similarities with Kokota and Cheke Holo (also known as Maringe.) A combination dialect of Zabana and Cheke Holo is also developed and widely spoken within the area.
Phonology
Zabana only contains open syllables, since there are no consonant clusters and geminate vowels in the language. It is important to note that vocal stress on a single phoneme does not exist in Zabana, instead certain syllables called penultimate syllables (the final syllable of a word that ends in a vowel) are stressed. When compared to the neighboring languages, it is also important to note that Zabana has fewer phonemes than its neighbors, in particular Kokota.
Morphology
There are two types of verbs in Zabana, transitive and intransitive verbs.
In Zabana, possession is denoted syntactically by a possessive suffix attached to the noun such as "no" or "ka". It is important to note that words such as "father", "mother", and "uncle" can never take on a possessive suffix.
Larger numbers are made by compounding "Cardinal Numbers" such as one through ten and the exponential factors of ten such as one hundred and one thousand.
Reduplication is used in Zabana to derive intransitive verbs from transitive terms and to derive nouns from verbs.
Sentence Structure
Zabana is a mainly a VSO (Verb, Subject, Object) language.
Declarative
Declarative sentences are denoted by a drop in intonation at the end of the sentence and the basic sentence structure or word ordering of a declarative sentence is shown below.
Example:Ghe manevaka ianimu neke "but whiteman there stay"
Interrogative
There are four basic types of question sentences in Zabana: polar questions (yes/no), content questions, alternative questions, dubitative questions (rhetorical).
Honorific Language
There is a chiefly language form of Zabana which is used when addressing clan chiefs.
Complex Sentences
Complex sentences in Zabana are formed when a conjoined clause is used in a sentence, by using one of the three different connectors: "nia", "ga", and "ba" which are "and", "or", and "but" respectively. The exception of this rule is the connecting particle "ghe" which is used to denote a conditional sentence or question and "nia" must be used to connect the pronoun and the proper noun together. "Ghe" can also be used in a complex sentence to link together two different proper nouns.
Conditional Sentence
In Zabana there are two different types of conditional sentences: simple and counterfactual sentences. Both sentences use the particle "la" to denote that they are conditional sentences.
Example: To nanarela ghatu e kotoro hofi ini "If it rains today, the roof will leak."
Example: Geke meha la ia vaka norao gela to lao ara kia "If the boat had come yesterday, I would have gone to Kia."