Malay, North Moluccan

A language of Indonesia

ISO 639: max
Alternate Names: Melayu Maluku Utara, Ternate Malay
Autonym: Bahasa Pasar
Population: 1,000,000, all users. L1 users: 700,000 (2001 SIL). L2 users: 300,000 (2001 R. Whisler). 100,000 monolinguals.
Location:: North Maluku province: Halmahera Selatan regency, Damar, northwest Jaronga, and south Halmahera islands.
Language Status: 3 (Wider communication). Lingua franca in Tidore in 1512, widespread medium of communication, trade language. Used mainly in bird business, forest products and more.
Classification: Creole, Malay based
Dialects: None known. Different meaning of particles from Manado Malay [xmm]. Reportedly more similar to Manado Malay than to Ambonese Malay [abs]. A member of macrolanguage Malay [msa].
Language Use: A few communities use it as L1. Used orally between speakers of different languages. Most also use Indonesian [ind]. Used as L2 by Bacanese Malay [btj], Ibu [ibu], Sawai [szw], Tabaru [tby], Tidore [tvo], Tobelo [tlb].
Language Development: Literacy rate in L1: 1%–5%. Literacy rate in L2: 50%–75%. NT: 2020.
Language Resources: OLAC resources in and about Malay, North Moluccan
Writing: Latin script [Latn].
Other Comments: Muslim, Christian.

Location: North Maluku province: Halmahera Selatan regency, Damar, northwest Jaronga, and south Halmahera islands.