  mbula (also known as mangap-mbula, mangaaba, mangaawa, mangaava, kaimanga) is an austronesian language spoken by around 2,500 people on umboi island and sakar island in the morobe province of papua new guinea. its basic word order is subjectâverbâobject; it has a nominativeâaccusative case-marking strategy. ==name== mbula speakers generally display difficulty expressing a name for their language. historically it has been referenced as mangap or kaimanga but kaimanga is considered an offensive term along the lines of "unsophisticated bush person". mangap is not in known use however mangaaba is the name given to mbula speakers by siassi islanders. mbula is the only name known to have been used by mbula speakers themselves, though many of them are unfamiliar with this. ==language family and origin== mbula is a member of the oceanic group of austronesian languages. it was originally proposed as a member of the siassi family language group which is a set of languages extending from karkar island in the madang province of papua new guinea, along the coast of finschafen and across new britain. however more recent evidence suggests that it is a descendant of the vitiaz dialect linkage. its nearest genetic relations are the kilenge and maleu languages, its nearest geographic neighbour is the papuan kovai language. ==location== mbula speakers are generally located in seven villages: gaura, yangla, birik, marile, kampalap, kabi and sakar. these villages are located on sakar island and the eastern half of umboi island. both islands are inactive volcanos and both are rich in game, timber and fish. location has influenced the language in that there are many specific vocabular items for species of fish, shells, canoes, nets, spears and a pair of motion verbs '-pet - to go out, appear, happen' and '-le - to enter' which specifically describe paths of motion which are radially outward toward the sea or radially inward from the sea. ==people and culture== colonialism has had a fair impact on the culture of mbula speakers. missionization began in 1884 and the vast majority of mbula speakers now identify themselves as christian. some traditions are retained from tribal religions, foremost among them are those concerning sorcery, white magic and divination. two general types of magic ar
Languages_of_Papua_New_Guinea Western_Oceanic_languages