South Halmahera languages explained

See also: North Halmahera languages.

South Halmahera
Familycolor:Austronesian
Fam2:Malayo-Polynesian
Fam3:Central–Eastern
Fam4:South Halmahera–West New Guinea
Fam5:Halmahera Sea
Protoname:Proto-South Halmahera
Child1:East Makian – Gane
Child2:Buli
Glotto:none
Glotto2:east2439
Glottoname2:East Makian–Gane
Glotto3:cent2270
Glottoname3:Buli
Glottorefname3:Central–Eastern South Halmahera

The South Halmahera languages are the branch of Austronesian languages found along the southeast coast of the island of Halmahera in the Indonesian province of North Maluku. Irarutu is spoken in the east of the Bomberai Peninsula 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, which are notable for being non-Austronesian. However, Ternatan influence is considerable, a legacy of the historical dominance of the Ternate Sultanate.

Classification

The South Halmahera languages are listed below according to Glottolog 4.0's classification, with alternate names and dialects listed from Kamholz (2014: 17):[1]

Notes and References

  1. 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