Lele

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A language of Papua New Guinea

ISO 639-3
lle
Alternate Names
Elu-Kara, Hai, Lele Hai, Manus, Moanus, Nongena kor, Usiai
User Population

4,500 (Boettger 2015).

Location

Manus province: Lele-Bupi LLG.

Language Maps
Language Status

6b (Threatened).

Classification
Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Oceanic, Admiralty Islands, Eastern, Manus, East
Dialects

Tingou (Tungou). Roughly 4 dialects, including Tingou. Intelligibility between dialects ranges from 70% to above 90% (2018 SIL).

Typology

SVO; Noun Head: Initial; Noun Classes: 7 (Common, Human, Personal Names, Locational, Relational, Body Parts, Kinship Terms); Consonants: 18, Vowels: 5; Non-tonal; Verbal affixation marks person, number, modality, reality status, and aspect (Boettger 2015).

Language Use

Mixed use: home, community. Some young people, all adults. All also use Tok Pisin [tpi] (Boettger 2015). Some also use Nali [nss]. Also use English [eng] (Boettger 2015). Also use Ere [twp] (Boettger 2015). Also use Kele [sbc] (Boettger 2015). Used as L2 by Leipon [lek], Loniu [los], Nali [nss].

Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Lele
Writing

Latin script [Latn].

Other Comments

Christian.