South Halmahera–West New Guinea languages

The South Halmahera–West New Guinea (SHWNG) languages are a small group of Austronesian languages spoken in Halmahera, an island in Indonesia, and the Doberai Peninsula of western New Guinea.1

While preliminary descriptions exist for some SHWNG languages like Buli, Numfor-Biak, and Waropen, most are only known from brief word lists. The island of Halmahera itself is the largest of the Moluccas and is administratively part of the province of North Maluku. The population of Halmahera is diverse, with native languages in the southern part belonging to the Austronesian family, while those in the north are West Papuan languages.12