The South Halmahera languages are the branch of
Austronesian languages found along the southeast coast of the island of
Halmahera
Halmahera, formerly known as Jilolo, Gilolo, or Jailolo, is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku province of Indonesia, and Sofifi, the capital of the province, is located on the west coast of the island.
Hal ...
in the
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
n province of
North Maluku
North Maluku ( id, Maluku Utara) is a province of Indonesia. It covers the northern part of the Maluku Islands, bordering the Pacific Ocean to the north, the Halmahera Sea to the east, the Molucca Sea to the west, and the Seram Sea to the south. ...
.
Irarutu is spoken in the east of the
Bomberai Peninsula
Bomberai Peninsula ( id, Semenanjung Bomberai), otherwise known as the Bird's Beak Peninsula ( id, Semenanjung Paruh Burung), is located in the Western New Guinea region, opposite to and to the south of the Bird's Head Peninsula. To the west lies ...
in
West Papua province.
Most of the languages are only known from short word lists, but
Taba and
Buli are fairly well attested.
They are not related to the
North Halmahera languages
The North Halmahera languages are a family of languages spoken in the northern and eastern parts of the island of Halmahera and some neighboring islands in Indonesia. The southwestern part of the island is occupied by the unrelated South Halmaher ...
, which are notable for being non-Austronesian. However,
Ternatan influence is considerable, a legacy of the historical dominance of the
Ternate Sultanate
The Sultanate of Ternate (Jawi alphabet: كسلطانن ترنتاي), previously also known as the Kingdom of Gapi is one of the oldest Muslim kingdoms in Indonesia besides Tidore, Jailolo, and Bacan. The Ternate kingdom was established by M ...
.
Classification
The South Halmahera languages are listed below according to ''
Glottolog
''Glottolog'' is a bibliographic database of the world's lesser-known languages, developed and maintained first at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany (between 2015 and 2020 at the Max Planck Institute for ...
'' 4.0's classification, with alternate names and dialects listed from Kamholz (2014: 17):
[Kamholz, David (2014). ]
Austronesians in Papua: Diversification and change in South Halmahera–West New Guinea
'. Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Berkeley. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8zg8b1vd
*East Makian – Gane
**
Gane
Gane is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include:
Surname:
*Alan Gane (born 1950), English former amateur footballer and manager
*Chris Gane (born 1974), English professional golfer
*Chris Gane (computer scientist), Ch ...
(Gimán; dialect: Saketa)
**
Taba (East Makian, Makian Dalam; dialects: Kayoa, Southeast Makian)
*Buli languages
**
Buli (dialect: Wayamli)
**
Maba (Bicoli)
**
Patani
Patani Darussalam ( Bahasa Malayu Arabic : , also sometimes Patani Raya or Patani Besar, "Greater Patani"; th, ปาตานี) is a historical region in the Malay peninsula. It includes the southern Thai provinces of Pattani, Yala (Ja ...
**
Sawai (Weda)
*
Gebe
Gebe is an island in Maluku Islands, Indonesia. Administratively it is part of Central Halmahera, North Maluku.
The island is part of a small island group which also include Fau island, Yoi, Uta, and Sain.
Gebe is part of the Halmahera rain f ...
(dialect: Minyaifuin)
References
{{Languages of Indonesia
South Halmahera–West New Guinea languages
Languages of the Maluku Islands
Languages of western New Guinea
Halmahera