Glottolog tern1247 | ISO 639-3 tft | |
Native speakers (42,000 cited 1981)20,000 L2 speakers (1981) Language family West PapuanHalmaheraTernate–TidoreTernate | ||
The Ternate language of eastern Indonesia is centered on the island of Ternate but also spoken in neighboring areas such as Kayoa, the Bacan islands, Halmahera, and other areas in North Maluku. It was used by Sultanate of Ternate, famous for its role in spice trade.
A Papuan language, Ternate is unlike the languages spoken the most in Indonesia, which belong to the Austronesian language family. It appears to be related to languages spoken in Bird's Head Peninsula in Papua.
It is closely related to the Tidore language, which spoken in Tidore, its southern neighboring island.
This language is distinct from Ternate Malay, which is a variation of Malay language. Most inhabitants of Ternate use Ternate language as first language but will use Ternate Malay for inter-ethnic or trade communication.