The New Testament in Sulka (SUAWBT)

Overview

The New Testament in Sulka was published in 1997 by Wycliffe Bible Translators as the first Scripture in this language. [1] The translation was produced by SIL linguists Douglas and Carolyn Tharp, who spent 12 years living among the Sulka people on a remote stretch of coast in East New Britain Province, learning their language and culture while translating the New Testament. [2] Sulka is a language isolate -- not known to be related to any other language -- spoken by approximately 6,900 people along the Wide Bay coast in the eastern Pomio district of East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea. [1] [3] Douglas Tharp published a comprehensive study of Sulka grammar essentials in 1996 through SIL International. [4] Linguistically, Sulka is notable for having ancient Papuan (non-Austronesian) roots combined with morphosyntactic constructions and some vocabulary associated with the Oceanic branch of Austronesian languages. [3]

Language and People

Sulka (ISO 639-3: sua) is spoken by approximately 3,500 people in Papua New Guinea, Map 12. [Glottolog: sulk1246]

Publishing and Organizations

Published by Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc. Translation type: First.

References