South Halmahera | |
---|---|
Geographic distribution | Maluku Islands |
Linguistic classification | Austronesian |
Proto-language | Proto-South Halmahera |
Subdivisions |
|
Language codes | |
Glottolog | None east2439 (East Makian–Gane) cent2270 (Buli) |
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.[1]