Cultural Relations Among Speakers of South Halmahera Languages

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the cultural relationships between languages in Buli, East Makian, Gane, Gebe, Maba, Patani, and Sawai in South Halmahera, Indonesia. It portrayed the cultural relationships between the people from the regions speaking the South Halmahera languages. Furthermore, the cultural inventory was created and explained using qualitative and the 'wörter und sachen' methods. The findings showed a cultural tie between South Halmahera speakers living close to the language heartland. Those living away from their origin are related to different languages and cultures. The connections have resulted in lexical borrowings, syntactical alterations, as well as language and cultural divergences that cause language diversities.