South Halmahera languages

See also: North Halmahera languages

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.

South Halmahera
Geographic distribution	Maluku Islands
Linguistic classification	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian Eastern Malayo-Polynesian South Halmahera–West New Guinea Raja Ampat–South Halmahera South Halmahera
Proto-language	Proto-South Halmahera
Subdivisions	Gebe Central-Eastern Southern
Language codes
Glottolog	sout3231

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]

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:

1sg.	*k-, *y- (V), *k-, *-y- (C)	1pl.	*t- (incl.), *am-, *k- (excl.)
2sg.	*my- (V), *m-y- (C)	2pl.	*f-
3sg.	*n- (V), *n- (C)	3pl.	*d-

1sg.	*-g	1pl.	*-d (incl.), *-mam (excl.)
2sg.	*-m	2pl.	*-meu
3sg.	*-∅	3pl.	*si-...-ri

Proto-Central-Eastern South Halmahera:

1sg.	*k-, *y- (V), *k-, *-i- (C)	1pl.	*t- (incl.), *k- (excl.)
2sg.	*my- (V), *m-i- (C)	2pl.	*f-
3sg.	*n- (V), *n- (C)	3pl.	*d-

1sg.	*a-...-g	1pl.	*ite-...-r (incl.), *ma-...-mam (excl.)
2sg.	*a-...-m	2pl.	*meu-...-meu
3sg.	*i-	3pl.	*si-...-ri

Proto-Southern South Halmahera:

1sg.	*k- (V), *k- (C)	1pl.	*t- (incl.), *am- (excl.)
2sg.	*m- (V), *m- (C)	2pl.	*f-
3sg.	*n- (V), *n- (C)	3pl.	*d-?

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
  • Central-Eastern South Halmahera
    • Buli
    • Maba
    • Patani
    • Sawai
  • Southern South Halmahera
    • Gane
    • Taba (East Makian)

Lexical reconstructions

Reconstruction of lexemes found in Proto-South Halmahera according to Zobel (ongoing), cited from Arnold (2025).^[2]

Proto-South Halmahera	Gloss
*giəs	'areca nut'
*sopi	'to bathe'
*masə (?)	'low tide'
*fen(V)	'sea turtle'
*topi	'sugarcane'
*toli	'three'

Reconstruction of lexemes found in Proto-Southern South Halmahera according to Zobel (ongoing).^[3]

Proto-Southern South Halmahera	Gloss
*ˈdɛwa	'grass'
*ˈdɔba	'garden'
*ˈkiu	'fear'
*ˈkobit	'knife'
*ˈkuy-ô	'fingernail'
*ˈlɛbo	'flame'
*ˈlekat	'bad'
*ˈlilas	'lightning'
*ˈpokal	'short'
*ˈpoy-ô	'head'
*ˈsɛpo	'fruit'
*ˈtakis	'sea water'
*ˈtɛbal	'shoot'
*ˈuat	'mountain'
*ˈweli	'rattan'
*aˈwɔyan	'right'
*baˈtɔl	'star'
*faˈɔn/aˈfɔn	'eat'
*haˈmasik	'rice'
*kaˈbus	'wet'
*kVkˈle	'hair'
*mˈnɔpa	'wide'
*maˈdimal	'yellow'
*maˈleo	'other'
*mei	'who'
*nɔn	'sharp'
*tes	'not'

Further reading

• Collins, James (1982). "A short vocabulary of East Makian". In C.L. Voorhoeve (ed.). The Makian languages and their neighbours. Pacific Linguistics. pp. 99–128.
• Kamholz, David (2015). The reconstruction of Proto-SHWNG morphology
• Kamhold, David (2024). "Historical linguistics of the South Halmahera–West New Guinea subgroup". In Alexander Adelaar; Antoinette Schapper (eds.). The Oxford Guide to the Malayo-Polynesian Languages of Southeast Asia. Oxford University Press. pp. 181–187. doi:10.1093/oso/9780198807353.003.0012.