North Halmahera languages

Last updated
North Halmahera
Halmaheran
Geographic
distribution
Maluku Islands, Indonesia
Linguistic classification West Papuan or independent language family
Glottolog nort2923
Langues Halmahera du Nord.png
Map of the North Halmahera languages; the location of the language users is mostly wrong.

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 Halmahera languages, which are a subgroup of Austronesian. They may be most closely related to the languages of the Bird's Head region of West Papua, but this is not well-established. [1]

Contents

The best known North Halmaheran language is Ternate (50,000 native speakers), which is a regional lingua franca and which, along with Tidore, were the languages of the rival medieval Ternate and Tidore sultanates, famous for their role in the spice trade.

Most of these languages are very closely related to each other, and their family status is well-demonstrated. West Makian stands out as an isolate. [2] [3] Their external links remain unclear. While genealogically distinct from most languages of Indonesia, they all show evidence of extensive contact with the dominant Austronesian language family. [4]

Some of the North Halmahera languages are characterized by their elaborate morphological structures. [4] Others exhibit deep external influence, having shifted to a more Austronesian-type grammar as a consequence of prolonged contact. [5] [6]

Genetic and areal relations

Spoken in the Maluku Islands, the North Halmahera languages are some of the westernmost Papuan languages (the only other such outlier family in eastern Indonesia being Timor–Alor–Pantar). [7] [8] Located within Southeast Asia, the two families are arguably the only non-Melanesian linguistic groups that can be linked to the Papuan families of Oceania. [9] :151 The languages are thought to have been brought to the region as a result of migration from New Guinea, likely predating the arrival of Austronesian languages. [2] :136 [3] :216

These languages are classified by some to be part of a larger West Papuan family, along with the languages of the Bird's Head region of Western New Guinea, [2] while others consider NH to form a distinct language family, with no demonstrable relationship outside the region. [10] :269 The languages of North Halmahera appear to have the closest affinity with the languages of the Bird's Head, which suggests a migration from the western Bird's Head to northern Halmahera. [11] :364 However, Ger Reesink notes that the evidence for genetic relatedness between the different "West Papuan" groupings is too skimpy to form a firm conclusion, [1] suggesting that they be considered an areal network of unrelated linguistic families. Moreover, many speakers of NH languages, such as the Ternate  [ ru ], Tidore, and Galela  [ ru ] peoples, are physically distinct from New Guineans, while Papuan traits are more prevalent among the Austronesian-speaking peoples of South Halmahera. [12] Robert Blust (2013) considers this paradox to be a result of historical language replacement. [12] The ethnic groups of the north Halmahera area share civilizational links with the Islamic world and the populations of western Indonesia, betraying a mismatch between cultural and linguistic affiliation. [2]

At the turn of the 19th century, the NH languages had already been recognized as a highly divergent (but perhaps Austronesian) group. Their non-Austronesian character was finally demonstrated by Hendrik van der Veen in 1915. [6] :190 The structural similarities between NH and certain Papuan families in Melanesia were noted as far back as 1900, and an early version of the West Papuan family was proposed by H.K.J. Cowan (1957–1965), linking NH with the Bird's Head languages, among others (based on lexical and morphemic evidence). [6] :193 Holton and Klamer (2018: 626) do not unequivocally accept the genealogical unity of West Papuan, but note that the more restricted "West Papuan" proposal, linking NH with West Bird's Head in particular (and also the Yapen/Yawa languages), appears to be particularly convincing. [4]

The family has a demonstrable Austronesian stratum, [13] :41 with the ancestral language having received lexical influence from an unnamed Philippine language (or languages). [5] :652 There are also borrowings of probable Central Maluku origin, as well as Oceanic ones; [6] :195 in particular, Voorhoeve (1982) has noted a set of lexical similarities between NH and the Central Papuan languages of the south coast of Papua New Guinea. [3] [14] In addition, Ternate, Tidore, West Makian, and Sahu have adopted many elements of Austronesian grammar; [2] [3] however, other languages of the family are rather conservative, having preserved the SOV word order, the use of postpositions, as well as the use of object and subject prefixes. [5] [6] :192 The presence of archaic typological features sharply distinguishes these languages from other West Papuan languages, which generally have a left-headed syntactic structure. [11] :364

Internal classification

The family is dialectally heterogeneous, with blurry lines between different languages. While different authors tend to disagree on the number of distinct languages identified, [15] there is general accord regarding the internal subgrouping of the family. [4] :577

The classification used here is that of Voorhoeve 1988. [6]

 Core Halmaheran 

TernateTidore

Sahu: Sahu, Waioli, Gamkonora

Galela–Tobelo (Northeast Halmaheran): TobeloTogutil, GalelaLoloda, Modole, PaguKao, Tabaru

West Makian

West Makian is divergent due to heavy Austronesian influence. It was once classified as an Austronesian language. [16] It should be distinguished from East Makian (Taba), an unrelated Austronesian language. [4] :577

There is a degree of mutual intelligibility between the Galela–Tobelo languages, and Voorhoeve 1988 considered them dialects of a language he called Northeast Halmaheran, though most speakers consider them to be distinct languages. They are probably best considered separate languages, as mutual intelligibility testing appears to be skewed by the cultural practice of multilingualism. [17]

Ternate and Tidore are generally treated as separate languages, though there is little Abstand involved, and the separation appears to be based on sociopolitical grounds. [15] Voorhoeve groups these idioms together as varieties of a unitary "Ternate-Tidore" language, while Miriam van Staden classifies them as distinct languages. [4] :577 Other North Halmahera languages, such as Galela and Tobelo, have received significant influence from Ternate, a historical legacy of the dominance of the Ternate Sultanate in the Moluccas. [18] Many Ternate loanwords can be found in Sahu. [4]

Lexical reconstruction

Proto-North Halmahera consonants are (after Voorhoeve 1994: 68, cited in Holton and Klamer 2018: 584): [4]

LabialDentalVelarGuttural
PlainRetroflex
PlosiveUnvoicedptkq
Voicedbdɖ <ḋ>g
Fricativefsh
Nasalmnŋ
Approximantwl (r)

Proto-North Halmahera is notable for having the voiced retroflex stop *ɖ, as retroflex consonants are often not found in Papuan languages.

The following proto-North Halmahera reconstructions are listed in Holton and Klamer (2018: 620–621). [4] Most of the forms in Holton and Klamer are derived from Wada (1980). [19]

proto-North Halmahera reconstructions (Holton & Klamer 2018)
glossproto-North Halmahera
‘back’*ḋuḋun
‘bad’*torou
‘bark’*kahi
‘big’*lamok
‘bite’*goli
‘black’*tarom
‘blood’*aun
‘blow’*hoa
‘blue’*bisi
‘boil’*sakahi
‘bone’*koboŋ
‘brother’*hiraŋ
‘burn’*so(ŋa)ra
‘child’*ŋopak
‘cloud’*lobi
‘cold’ (1)*alo
‘cold’ (2)*malat
‘come’*bola
‘count’*etoŋ
‘cry’*ores
‘cut’*luit
‘dance’*selo
‘die’*soneŋ
‘dig’*puait
‘dirty’*pepeke
‘dog’*kaso
‘dull’*boŋo
‘ear’*ŋauk
‘earth’*tonak
‘eat’*oḋom
‘egg’*boro
‘eight’*tupaaŋe
‘eye’*lako
‘fall’*ḋota
‘far’*kurut
‘fat, grease’*saki
‘father’*baba
‘fear’*moḋoŋ
‘feather’*gogo
‘female’*ŋopeḋeka
‘few’*ucu
‘fight’*kuḋubu
‘fire’*uku
‘fish’*nawok
‘five’*motoha
‘float’*bawo
‘flow’*uhis
‘flower’*leru
‘fly’*sosor
‘fog’*rasa
‘four’*ihat
‘fruit’*sopok
‘give’*hike
‘good’*loha
‘grass’*ŋaŋaru
‘green’*ijo
‘guts’*toto
‘hair’*hutu
‘hand’*giam
‘head’*sahek
‘hear’*isen
‘heart’*siniŋa
‘heavy’*tubuso
‘hit’*ŋapo
‘horn’*taḋu
‘hot’*sahuk
‘husband’*rokat
‘kill’*tooma
‘knee’*puku
‘know’*nako
‘lake’*talaga
‘laugh’*ḋohe
‘leaf’*soka
‘left’*gubali
‘leg/foot’*ḋohu
‘lie’*ḋaḋu
‘live’*oho
‘liver’*gate
‘long’ (1)*kurut
‘long’ (2)*teka
‘louse/flea’*gani
‘male’*naur
‘many’*ḋala
‘meat’*lake
‘moon’*ŋoosa
‘mother’*awa
‘mountain’*tala
‘mouth’*uru
‘nail’*gitipir
‘name’*roŋa
‘narrow’*peneto
‘near’*ḋumu
‘neck’*toko
‘new’*momuane
‘night’*putu
‘nine’*siwo
‘nose’*ŋunuŋ
‘old’*ŋowo
‘one’*moi
‘person’*ɲawa
‘pierce’*topok
‘pull’*lia
‘push’*hito(si)
‘rain’*muura
‘red’*sawala
‘right’*girinak
‘river’*selera
‘roast’*tupu
‘root’*ŋutuk
‘rope’*gumin
‘rotten’*baka
‘round’*pululun
‘rub’*ese
‘salt’*gasi
‘sand’*ḋowoŋi
‘say’*temo
‘scratch’*rago
‘sea’*ŋolot
‘see’*kelelo
‘seed’*gisisi
‘seven’*tumuḋiŋi
‘sew’*urit
‘sharp’*ḋoto
‘shoot’*ḋupu
‘short’*timisi
‘sing’*ɲaɲi
‘sister’*biraŋ
‘sit’*tamie
‘six’*butaŋa
‘skin’*kahi
‘sky’*ḋipaŋ
‘sleep’*kiolok
‘small’*ece
‘smell’*hame
‘smoke’*ḋopo
‘smooth’*maahi
‘snake’*ŋihia
‘speak’*bicara
‘spear’*kamanu
‘spit’*hobir
‘split’*raca
‘stand’*oko
‘star’*ŋoma
‘stone’*teto
‘straight’*bolowo
‘suck’*suyu
‘swell’*ḋobo
‘swim’*toboŋ
‘tail’*pego
‘take, hold’*aho
‘ten’*mogiowok
‘thick’*kipirin
‘thin’*hina
‘think’*fikiri < Arabic
‘three’*saaŋe
‘throw’*sariwi
‘tie’*piriku
‘to dry’*ḋuḋuŋ
‘tongue’*akir
‘tooth’*iŋir
‘tree’*gota
‘true’*tero
‘twenty’*monohalok
‘two’*sinoto
‘vomit’*ŋunaŋ
‘walk’*tagi
‘warm’*sakuk
‘wash’*boka
‘water’*aker
‘way’*ŋekom
‘wet’*pesa
‘white’*ares
‘wide’*ŋohat
‘wife’*peḋakat
‘wind’*paro
‘wing’*golipupu
‘wipe’*piki
‘woods’*poŋan
‘worm’*kalubati
‘young’*kiau

Vocabulary comparison

The following basic vocabulary words are from the Trans-New Guinea database. [20] The words cited constitute translation equivalents, whether they are cognate (e.g. utu, hutu for “hair”) or not (e.g. dofolo, apota for “head”).

gloss Sahu [21] Tidore [22] West Makian [23]
headsae'edofoloapota; tabia
hairutuhutugigo; onga
earkocowo'o; ngau'u; 'oki; sidetengaukameu
eyela'olaoafe; sado
nosecu'dumu; ngunungu; payáhangunmudefete
toothngi'diingwi
tongueyai'iakibelo
legtarotaro
louseganeganbene
dognunu'ukasoaso
birdnamonamohaywan
egggosi; tounugosiesi
bloodngaunuauuni
bone'bero; 'obongogokasubebi
skineno'oahifi
breastsusuisususu
mannau'unau-nauat
womanweré'afayapapa; songa
skydiwangasorgatupam
moonngaraoraodo
water'banyoakebe
fireci'du; naoto; u'uukuipi
stonema'dimafumay
road, pathngo'omo; tapakalingagopao
namelomangarongaaym
eat'doroga; kou; oromo; tabuoyo; talesaam; fajow; fiam
onematéngo; moirimoigominye; maminye; meminye; minye
two'di'di; romo'dí'dimalofodimaede; edeng; je; maedeng; medeng

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maluku Islands</span> Archipelago in eastern Indonesia

The Maluku Islands or the Moluccas are an archipelago in the eastern part of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located east of Sulawesi, west of New Guinea, and north and east of Timor. Lying within Wallacea, the Moluccas have been considered a geographical and cultural intersection of Asia and Oceania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Makian</span> Island in North Maluku, Indonesia

Makian, known to local people as Mount Kie Besi, is a volcanic island, one of the Maluku Islands within the province of North Maluku in Indonesia. It lies near the southern end of a chain of volcanic islands off the western coast of the province's major island, Halmahera, and lies between the islands of Moti and Tidore to the north and Kayoa and the Bacan Group to the south. The island, which forms two districts within South Halmahera Regency of North Maluku Province, covers an area of 84.36 sq.km, and had a population of 12,394 at the 2010 Census, which rose to 14,000 at the 2020 Census. The official estimate as at mid 2022 was 13,833.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Papuan languages</span> Non-Austronesian languages of New Guinea and adjacent islands

The Papuan languages are the non-Austronesian languages spoken on the western Pacific island of New Guinea, as well as neighbouring islands in Indonesia, Solomon Islands, and East Timor. It is a strictly geographical grouping, and does not imply a genetic relationship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Maluku</span> Province of Indonesia

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 maritime borders with North Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi and Central Sulawesi to the west, Maluku to the south, Southwest Papua to the east, and Palau and the Philippines to the north. The provincial capital is Sofifi on the largest island of Halmahera, while the largest city is the island city of Ternate. The population of North Maluku was 1,038,087 in the 2010 census, making it one of the least-populous provinces in Indonesia, but by the 2020 Census the population had risen to 1,282,937, and the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 1,328,594.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Papuan languages</span> Language family of Indonesia

The West Papuan languages are a proposed language family of about two dozen non-Austronesian languages of the Bird's Head Peninsula of far western New Guinea, the island of Halmahera and its vicinity, spoken by about 220,000 people in all. It is not established if they constitute a proper linguistic family or an areal network of genetically unrelated families.

The Lower Mamberamo languages are a recently proposed language family linking two languages spoken along the northern coast of Papua province, Indonesia, near the mouth of the Mamberamo River. They have various been classified either as heavily Papuanized Austronesian languages belonging to the SHWNG branch, or as Papuan languages that had undergone heavy Austronesian influence. Glottolog 3.4 classifies Lower Mamberamo as Austronesian, while Donohue classifies it as Papuan. Kamholz (2014) classifies Warembori and Yoke each as coordinate primary subgroups of the South Halmahera–West New Guinea languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Halmahera–West New Guinea languages</span> Subgroup of the Austronesian language family

The South Halmahera–West New Guinea (SHWNG) languages are a branch of the Malayo-Polynesian languages, found in the islands and along the shores of the Halmahera Sea in the Indonesian province of North Maluku and of Cenderawasih Bay in the provinces of Papua and West Papua. There are 38 languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tobelo language</span> North Halmahera language spoken in Indonesia

Tobelo is a North Halmahera language spoken on the eastern Indonesian island of Halmahera and on parts of several neighboring islands. The Tobelo-speaking heartland is in the six administrative districts of Tobelo, located on the western shore of Kao Bay and forming the central part of Halmahera Utara Regency. Other Tobelo speaking areas are the five districts of Wasile on the south and east coast of Kao Bay, and the northern half of Morotai Island. The district capital, also known as Tobelo, serves as a regional commercial and administrative center and is the largest settlement on Halmahera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Pantar language</span> Papuan language spoken in parts of Indonesia

Western Pantar, sometimes referred to by the name of one of its dialects, Lamma, is a Papuan language spoken in the western part of Pantar island in the Alor archipelago of Indonesia. Western Pantar is spoken widely in the region by about 10,000 speakers. Although speakers often use Malay in political, religious, and educational contexts, Western Pantar remains the first language of children of the region, and is acquired to some extent by immigrants.

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. Historically, it was the primary language of the Sultanate of Tidore, a major Moluccan Muslim state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Bird's Head languages</span> Families of Papuan languages

The South Bird's Head or South Doberai languages are three families of Papuan languages. They form part of the Trans–New Guinea languages in the classifications of Malcolm Ross (2005) and Timothy Usher (2020), though Pawley and Hammarström (2018) do not consider them to be part of Trans–New Guinea. However, according to Dryer (2022), based on a preliminary quantitative analysis of data from the ASJP database, South Bird's Head languages are likely to be a subgroup of Trans–New Guinea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Bomberai languages</span> Family of Papuan languages

The (Greater) West Bomberai languages are a family of Papuan languages spoken on the Bomberai Peninsula of western New Guinea and in East Timor and neighboring islands of Indonesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alor–Pantar languages</span> Papuan languages of Nusa Tenggara Timur, Indonesia

The Alor–Pantar languages are a family of clearly related Papuan languages spoken on islands of the Alor archipelago near Timor in southern Indonesia. They may be most closely related to the Papuan languages of eastern Timor, but this is not yet clear. A more distant relationship with the Trans–New Guinea languages of the Bomberai peninsula of Western New Guinea has been proposed based on pronominal evidence, but though often cited has never been firmly established.

The Timor–Alor–Pantar (TAP) languages are a family of languages spoken in Timor, Kisar, and the Alor archipelago in Southern Indonesia. It is the westernmost Papuan language family that survives, and one of two such outlier families in east Nusantara.

Ternate is a language of northern Maluku, eastern Indonesia. It is spoken by the Ternate people, who inhabit the island of Ternate, as well as many other areas of the archipelago. It is the dominant indigenous language of North Maluku, historically important as a regional lingua franca. A North Halmahera language, it is unlike most languages of Indonesia which belong to the Austronesian language family.

West Bird's Head languages are a small family of poorly documented Papuan languages spoken on the Bird's Head Peninsula of New Guinea.

West Makian is a divergent North Halmahera language of Indonesia. It is spoken on the coast near Makian Island, and on the western half of that island.

Sahu is a North Halmahera language. Use is vigorous; dialects are Pa’disua (Palisua), Tala’i, Waioli, and Gamkonora. A fifth dialect, Ibu, used to be spoken near the mouth of the Ibu River.

The Tidore are a major ethnic group living in North Maluku province of Indonesia. They primarily live in Tidore island and also in some parts of Halmahera. They speak the Tidore language. The Tidore people are predominantly Sunni Muslim and famous as the founders of the Tidore Sultanate, the easternmost Muslim kingdom in the world along with Ternate, Jailolo and Bacan.

References

  1. 1 2 Reesink, Ger (2009), "West Papuan languages", in Brown, Keith; Ogilvie, Sarah (eds.), Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World, Elsevier, pp. 1176–1178, ISBN   978-0-08-087775-4, OCLC   318247422
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Bellwood, Peter (1998), "The archaeology of Papuan and Austronesian prehistory in the Northern Moluccas, Eastern Indonesia", in Blench, Roger; Spriggs, Matthew (eds.), Archaeology and Language II : Correlating archaeological and linguistic hypotheses, London: Routledge, pp. 128–140, doi:10.4324/9780203202913, ISBN   9780415117616
  3. 1 2 3 4 Bellwood, Peter (2019), "The Northern Spice Islands in prehistory, from 40,000 years ago to the recent past", in Bellwood, Peter (ed.), The Spice Islands in Prehistory: Archaeology in the Northern Moluccas, Indonesia, Canberra: ANU Press, pp. 211–221, doi: 10.22459/TA50.2019.13 , ISBN   978-1-76046-291-8
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Holton, Gary; Klamer, Marian (2018). "The Papuan languages of East Nusantara and the Bird's Head". In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 569–640. ISBN   978-3-11-028642-7.
  5. 1 2 3 Voorhoeve, Clemens L. (1994), "Contact-induced change in the non-Austronesian languages in the north Moluccas, Indonesia", in Dutton, Tom; Tryon, Darrell T. (eds.), Language Contact and Change in the Austronesian World, Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, pp. 649–674, doi:10.1515/9783110883091.649, ISBN   978-3-11-012786-7
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Voorhoeve, Clemens L. 1988. The languages of the northern Halmaheran stock. Papers in New Guinea Linguistics, no. 26., 181-209. (Pacific Linguistics A-76). Canberra: Australian National University.
  7. Holton, Gary; Klamer, Marian; Kratochvíl, František; Robinson, Laura C.; Schapper, Antoinette (2012), "The Historical Relations of the Papuan Languages of Alor and Pantar", Oceanic Linguistics, 51 (1): 86–122, doi:10.1353/ol.2012.0001, hdl: 1887/18594 , JSTOR   23321848, OCLC   5964292934
  8. Musgrave, Simon (2014), "Language Shift and Language Maintenance in Indonesia", in Sercombe, P.; Tupas, R. (eds.), Language, Education and Nation-building: Assimilation and Shift in Southeast Asia, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 87–105, doi:10.1057/9781137455536_5, ISBN   978-1-137-45553-6, OCLC   888035738
  9. Pawley, Andrew; Hammarström, Harald (2018). "The Trans New Guinea family". In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 21–195. ISBN   978-3-11-028642-7.
  10. Gil, David (2015), "The Mekong-Mamberamo linguistic area", in Enfield, Nick; Comrie, Bernard (eds.), Languages of Mainland Southeast Asia: The State of the Art, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, pp. 266–355, doi:10.1515/9781501501685-008, ISBN   9781501501685
  11. 1 2 Foley, William (2000), "The Languages of New Guinea", Annual Review of Anthropology, 29: 357–404, doi:10.1146/annurev.anthro.29.1.357, JSTOR   223425
  12. 1 2 Robert Blust (2013). The Austronesian languages. Asia-Pacific Linguistics, School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University. p. 9. ISBN   978-1-922185-07-5.
  13. Chlenov, Mikhail (1986), "North Halmahera languages: a problem of internal classification", Papers in New Guinea Linguistics No. 24, Pacific Linguistics A-70, Canberra: Department of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, pp. 39–44, doi:10.15144/PL-A70.39
  14. Voorhoeve, Clemens L. (1982), "The Halmahera connection: a case for prehistoric traffic through Torres Straits", in Halim, Amran; Carrington, Lois; Wurm, Stephen A. (eds.), Papers from the Third International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics, Vol. 2, Tracking the travellers, Pacific Linguistics C-75, Canberra: Department of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, pp. 217–239, doi:10.15144/PL-C75.217
  15. 1 2 Bowden, John, "Emic and Etic Classifications of Languages in the North Maluku Region" (PDF), Workshop on the Languages of Papua 3, 20–24 January 2014, Manokwari, West Papua, Indonesia, retrieved 2024-07-10
  16. Voorhoeve, Clemens L. (1982), "The West Makian language, North Moluccas, Indonesia: a fieldwork report", in Voorhoeve, Clemens L. (ed.), The Makian Languages and Their Neighbours (PDF), Materials in languages of Indonesia, vol. 12, Pacific Linguistics, p. 46
  17. Unterladstetter, Volker (2020). Multi-verb constructions in Eastern Indonesia. Studies in Diversity Linguistics 28. Berlin: Language Science Press. pp. 35–37. doi:10.5281/zenodo.3546018. ISBN   978-3-96110-216-7.
  18. Dalby, Andrew (2015), Dictionary of Languages: The definitive reference to more than 400 languages, London: A & C Black, p. 620, ISBN   978-1-4081-0214-5, OCLC   842286334
  19. Wada, Yuiti. "1980 Correspondence of consonants in North Halmahera languages and the conservation of archaic sounds in Galela.". In Ishige, Naomichi (ed.). The Galela of Halmahera: A Preliminary Survey. Osaka: Museum of Ethnology. pp. 497–527.
  20. Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea" . Retrieved 2020-11-05.
  21. Visser, Leontien E., and C. L. Voorhoeve. 1987. Sahu-Indonesian-English dictionary and Sahu grammar. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
  22. Pikkert, J. J. et al. 1994. Kamus bahasa Tidore, Indonesia, Inggris. Tidore, Maluku, Indonesia: Pemerintah Daerah Tingkat II Halmahera Tengah.
  23. Voorhoeve, C. L. 1982. The Makian languages and their neighbours. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.