The South Halmahera languages are the branch of
Austronesian languages
The Austronesian languages ( ) are a language family widely spoken throughout Maritime Southeast Asia, parts of Mainland Southeast Asia, Madagascar, the islands of the Pacific Ocean and Taiwan (by Taiwanese indigenous peoples). They are spoken ...
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 Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia, and Sofifi, the capital of the province, is located on the west coa ...
in the
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
n province of
North Maluku
North Maluku (; ) 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. It shares marit ...
.
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 (NH) 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 H ...
, 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 script, Jawi: ), previously also known as the Kingdom of Gapi, is one of the oldest Muslim kingdoms in Indonesia besides the sultanates of Sultanate of Tidore, Tidore, Sultanate of Jailolo, Jailolo, and Sultanat ...
.
Historical morphology
Reconstructions of subject markers and inalienable possessive markers for Raja Ampat–South Halmahera proto-languages according to Kamholz (2015). Note that V = vocalic conjugation, C = consonantal conjugation:
Proto-South Halmahera:
:
:
Proto-Central-Eastern South Halmahera:
:
:
Proto-Southern South Halmahera:
:
Most Gane and Taba dialects descending from Proto-Southern South Halmahera lost the inalienable possession suffixes. However, evidence from the Tahane dialect of Taba (Collins 1982) suggests that inalienable possession should be reconstructed for Proto-Southern South Halmahera, albeit in relic forms (compare Tahane ''mta-g'' "my eye", ''nim mta-m'' "your eye", and ''nim mta'' "his/her/its eye").
Languages
From Kamholz (2024):
*South Halmahera
**
Gebe
Gebe is an island in Maluku Islands, Indonesia, between Raja Ampat and Halmahera. Administratively it is part of Central Halmahera, North Maluku.
The island is part of a small island group which also includes Fau island, Yoi, Uta, and Sain.
...
**Central-Eastern South Halmahera
***
Buli
***
Maba
***
Patani
Pattani (or Patani in Malay spelling) may refer to:
Places Continental Asia
* Patani (historical region), a historical region in the Malay peninsula, in Thailand and Malaysia.
* Pattani Province, modern province in southern Thailand
** Pattani, ...
***
Sawai
Sawai may refer to:
*Sawai (surname), a Japanese surname
*Sawai (title), a title of honor used in India
*Sawai language, a South Halmahera language of Austronesian stock spoken in Indonesia
*Sawai, Car Nicobar, a village in the Andaman and Nicobar ...
**Southern South Halmahera
***
Gane
***
Taba (East Makian)
Lexical reconstructions
Reconstruction of lexemes found in Proto-Southern South Halmahera according to Zobel (ongoing).
[https://database.outofpapua.com/sources/1615/entries ]
Further reading
*
* Kamholz, David (2015)
The reconstruction of Proto-SHWNG morphology*
References
{{Languages of Indonesia
South Halmahera–West New Guinea languages
Languages of the Maluku Islands
Languages of Western New Guinea
Halmahera