Considerable lexical influence comes from Spanish, Portuguese, and Ternate, a historical legacy of the presence of foreign powers.[1][2] The Minahasan languages are distinct from the Manado Malay (Minahasa Malay) language, which is Malayic in origin, and has been displacing the indigenous languages of the area.[3][4]
The Minahasan languages are classified as a branch of the Philippine subgroup.[6]
The Bantik, Ratahan, and Ponosakan languages, although also spoken in the Minahasa region, are more distantly related, thus not covered by the term in a genealogical sense.[7][8]
Proto-Minahasan (PMin) has been reconstructed by Sneddon (1978).[9] The comparison table (a small selection from Sneddon 1978:120–183) illustrates the correspondences between the Minahasan languages, including inherited vocabulary as well as Minahasan innovations.[10]
^Watuseke, F. S. (1965), "Kata-kata Ternate dalam bahasa Melaju-Manado dan bahasa-bahasa Minahasa", Pembina Bahasa Indonesia (in Indonesian), IX: 107–110
^Schouten, M. J. C. (1998), Leadership and social mobility in a Southeast Asian society: Minahasa, 1677–1983, Leiden: KITLV Press, pp. 39–40
^Watupongoh, Geraldine Y. J. Manoppo (1992), Struktur bahasa Tondano (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa, Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, p. 2
^Henley, David (1996), Nationalism and regionalism in a colonial context: Minahasa in the Dutch East Indies, Leiden: KITLV Press, p. 86
^Watuseke, F. S. (1956), "Bahasa Tondano", Bahasa dan budaja (in Indonesian), 4/5: 3–14
^Watuseke, F. S. (1977), "'Kolano' in the Tondano Language", Papers in Borneo and Western Austronesian linguistics No. 2(PDF), Pacific Linguistics A-33, C. Court, R. A. Blust, F. S. Watuseke, Canberra: Department of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, pp. 123–132, doi:10.15144/PL-A33, retrieved 2022-12-24
Sneddon, James N. (1989). "The North Sulawesi Microgroups: In Search of Higher Level Connections". In Sneddon, James N. (ed.). Studies in Sulawesi Linguistics, Part 1(PDF). NUSA Vol. 31. Jakarta: Universitas Katolik Atma Jaya.
Adelaar, Alexander (2005). "The Austronesian languages of Asia and Madagascar: a historical perspective". In Adelaar, Alexander; Himmelmann, Nikolaus (eds.). The Austronesian languages of Asia and Madagascar. London: Routledge.