Bola

Print

Primary tabs

A language of Papua New Guinea

ISO 639-3
bnp
Alternate Names
Bakovi, Talasea, Valupai
Autonym
Bola-Bakovi
User Population

13,700 (2000 census). 2,250 Harua.

Location

West New Britain province: Willaumez peninsula northeast coast, Harua east of Kimbe.

Language Maps
Language Status

6b (Threatened).

Classification
Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Oceanic, Western Oceanic, Meso Melanesian, Willaumez
Dialects

Harua (Garua, Karua, Mai, Xarua), Bola. Harua developed among people resettled on an oil palm plantation.

Language Use

Some young people, all adults. Most also use Tok Pisin [tpi] (van den Berg and Wiebe 2019). Some also use English [eng] (van den Berg and Wiebe 2019). Used as L2 by Bebeli [bek], Bulu [bjl].

Language Development

Literacy rate in L2: High in Tok Pisin [tpi]. Literature. NT: 2011.

Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Bola
Writing

Latin script [Latn].

Other Comments

Christian, traditional religion.