Nukeria New Testament — Te Rono Taurekareka i naa Hua Nukeria

Overview

Te Rono Taurekareka i naa Hua Nukeria ("The Good News of the Servant [of God] in the Nukeria Language") is the complete New Testament in Nukuria, published by Wycliffe Bible Translators — the first written publication of any kind in the Nukeria language. The Four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) were published in May 2018, followed by the complete NT on YouVersion/Bible.com (ID 4655).

The translation was the work of Gideon Wamba and David Paukie, a village chief who was the driving force behind the project before his death at Buka Hospital in September 2012 — before the Gospels were published. Translation work began in August 2010 under the mentorship of Nico Daams of Isles of the Sea Bible Translation (the same translator-coordinator who initiated the Niuafoʻou NT project in Tonga). The translation benefited from Tom Puaria, the Takuu New Testament translator, who served as translation advisor — the close linguistic relationship between Takuu and Nukuria making his expertise directly applicable. By December 2011, five community translators had completed a translation training course in Buka. The project had ecumenical community backing from the outset, with translators from the island's United, Seventh-day Adventist, and Assemblies of God congregations.

A dedication ceremony for the Gospels was held in June 2020 across two villages, with the island's youth playing a prominent role — appropriate, given that Christianity reached Nukumanu primarily through youth movements in the 1980s.

Language and People

Nukuria (ISO 639-3: nur; also Nukeria, Nugeria, Fead) is an Austronesian language classified within the Ellicean sub-branch of Polynesian — the same sub-branch as Tokelauan and Tuvaluan — making it a Polynesian outlier: a Polynesian language spoken within the otherwise Melanesian cultural and linguistic sphere of Papua New Guinea. Nukuria is most closely related to Nukumanu (38 km south), Takuu, and, further afield, Nukuoro (Federated States of Micronesia) and Luangiua/Ontong Java (Solomon Islands). Approximately 550–1,100 speakers (declining sharply, with recent assessments raising concerns about the language's transmission to children).

The speakers inhabit the Nukumanu Islands (historically the Fead or Tasman Islands), a low coral atoll of just 4.6 km² in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, PNG, located at approximately 4°31'S, 159°24'E. The atoll rises only 1–2 metres above sea level. Despite being administered by PNG, it is geographically almost in the Solomon Islands: the nearest PNG territory (New Ireland) is 682 km away, while the Solomon Islands atoll of Ontong Java lies only 38 km to the south. The economy is based on subsistence horticulture (taro, bananas, coconuts) and the export of bêche-de-mer and trochus shell.

The atoll's modern history bears the marks of German colonial copra operations. German trading firm E.E. Forsayth & Co. (associated with "Queen Emma" Johanna Forster) established copra production there in the 1880s; the island was incorporated into German New Guinea in 1884–85. The effects were catastrophic: the population collapsed from approximately 300 in 1900 to only 94 by 1909, almost certainly from introduced diseases. It passed to Australian administration after World War I.

The island carries an unexpected connection to one of aviation's greatest mysteries: on 2 July 1937, Nukumanu Atoll was the last confirmed position reported by Amelia Earhart for her Lockheed Electra during her attempted round-the-world flight, before she and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared without trace.

Polynesian Outliers of Melanesia

Polynesian outlier communities are the descendants of eastward-returning Polynesian voyagers who settled in the Melanesian and Micronesian worlds, likely using Tuvalu as a staging point. PNG has three: Nukuria (Fead Islands), Nukumanu (Tasman Atoll, 38 km south), and Takuu (Mortlock Atoll, further west in Bougainville). All three are mutually closely related; the Solomon Islands has seven more (including Ontong Java, Sikaiana, Tikopia, Anuta, and Rennell). The PNG cluster's linguistic closeness made cross-project expertise — as demonstrated by Puaria's Takuu-to-Nukuria advisory role — practically invaluable.

Publishing and Organizations

Published by Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc. through Isles of the Sea Bible Translation (operational entity). The project was coordinated by Nico and Pam Daams, who also initiated the Niuafoʻou NT project in Tonga. The Nukuria NT is available on YouVersion/Bible.com (ID 4655).

References