Ternate is a language of northern Maluku, eastern Indonesia. It is spoken by the , who inhabit the island of Ternate and some other areas of the archipelago, including the western coast of Halmahera, Hiri, Obi, Kayoa, and the Bacan Islands. Historically, it served as the primary language of the

Sultanate of Ternate 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 ...

, famous for its role in the spice trade. It has established itself as a

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...

of the North Maluku province. A North Halmahera language, it is unlike most languages of Indonesia which belong to the Austronesian language family. This language should be distinguished from

Ternate Malay North Moluccan Malay (also known as Ternate Malay) is a Malay-based creole language spoken on Ternate, Tidore, Halmahera, and Sula Islands, North Maluku for intergroup communications. The local name of the language is ''Bahasa Pasar'', and the na ...

(North Moluccan Malay), a local

Malay-based creole In addition to its classical and literary form, Malay had various regional dialects established after the rise of the Srivijaya empire in Sumatra, Indonesia. Also, Malay spread through interethnic contact and trade across the Malay Archipe ...

which it has heavily influenced. Ternate serves as the first language of ethnic Ternateans, mainly in the rural areas, while Ternate Malay is nowadays used as a means of interethnic and trade communication, particularly in the urban part of the island. More recently, there has been a language shift from Ternate towards Malay. It can be assumed that its role as a lingua franca has greatly waned. While the Ternate people are scattered all over eastern Indonesia, it is not known how many expatriate Ternateans still speak the language. In Indonesian, it is generally known as ''bahasa Ternate'', however the term ''bahasa Ternate asli'' is sometimes used to distinguish it from Ternate Malay. The language has been influential as a source of lexical and grammatical borrowing for North Moluccan Malay, the local variant of Malay, which has given rise to other eastern Indonesian offshoots of Malay, such as Manado Malay.

Written records

The Ternate language was recorded with the

Arabic script The Arabic script is the writing system used for Arabic and several other languages of Asia and Africa. It is the second-most widely used writing system in the world by number of countries using it or a script directly derived from it, and the ...

since the 15th century, while the Latin alphabet is used in modern writing. Ternate and Tidore are notable for being the only indigenous

non-Austronesian languages The Papuan languages are the non- Austronesian and non-Australian languages spoken on the western Pacific island of New Guinea in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, as well as neighbouring islands, by around 4 million people. It is a strictly geogra ...

of the region to have established literary traditions prior to first European contact. Other languages of the North Halmahera region, which were not written down until the arrival of Christian missionaries, have received significant lexical influence from Ternate.

Classification

Ternate is a member of the North Halmahera language family, which is classified by some as part of a larger West Papuan family, a proposed linking of the North Halmahera languages with the Papuan languages of the Bird's Head Peninsula. It is most closely related to the

Tidore language Tidore is a language of North Maluku, Indonesia, spoken by the Tidore people. The language is centered on the island of Tidore, but it is also spoken in some areas of the neighbouring Halmahera. A North Halmahera language, it is unlike most lan ...

, which is native to the southern neighboring island. The distinction between Ternate and Tidore appears to be based on sociopolitical factors rather than linguistic differences. While many authors have described these varieties as separate languages, some classifications identify them as dialects of a single language, collectively termed as either "Ternate" or "Ternate-Tidore".

Written records

Classification

Phonology

Consonants

Vowels

References