The South Halmahera languages are the branch of Austronesian languages

Austronesian languages

The Austronesian languages are a language family widely dispersed throughout the islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, with a few members spoken on continental Asia that are spoken by about 386 million people. It is on par with Indo-European, Niger-Congo, Afroasiatic and Uralic as one of the...

 found along the southeast coast of the island of Halmahera

Halmahera

Halmahera is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku province of Indonesia.Halmahera has a land area of 17,780 km² and a population in 1995 of 162,728...

 in the Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

n province of North Maluku

North Maluku

North Maluku is a province of northeastern Indonesia. It covers the northern part of the Maluku Islands, which are split between it and the province of Maluku. Maluku province used to cover the entire group...

. Irarutu is spoken in the east of the Bomberai Peninsula

Bomberai Peninsula

Bomberai Peninsula is located on the Western New Guinea region at the opposite south of the Bird's Head Peninsula in South East Asia. To the west lies the Sebakor Bay and the south Kamrau Bay. Sabuda island lies off the western tip of the peninsula, which is separated from the mainland by Berau...

 in West Papua province.

Most of the languages are only known from short word lists, but Buli

Buli language

Buli is a Gur language of Ghana. It is an SVO language.Reference: []...

 is fairly well attested.

Classification

A 2008 analysis of the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database fully supported the unity of South Halmahera, with the exception of the isolate Irarutu

Irarutu language

Irarutu, or Kasira, is an Austronesian language of most of the interior of the Bomberai Peninsula of New Guinea....

, which it placed as an isolate in Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian.

• East Makian – Gane
  • Gane
  • Taba
    Taba language
    Taba is a Malayo-Polynesian language of the South Halmahera – West New Guinea group. It is spoken mostly on the islands of Makian, Kayoa and southern Halmahera in North Maluku province of Indonesia by about 20,000 people.-Dialects:There are minor differences in dialect between all of the villages...
    
     (East Makian)
• Buli languages
  • Buli
    Buli language
    Buli is a Gur language of Ghana. It is an SVO language.Reference: []...
    
    
  • Maba
  • Patani
  • Sawai
    Sawai language
    The Sawai language is a South Halmahera language of Austronesian stock spoken in Weda and Gane Timor districts of southern Halmahera, northern Maluku Providence, Indonesia...