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Writing Systems Of Formosan Languages
The writing systems of the Formosan languages are Latin-based alphabets. Currently, 16 languages (45 dialects) have been regulated. The alphabet was made official in 2005. History The Sinckan Manuscripts are one of the earliest written materials of several Formosan languages, including Siraya. This writing system was developed by Dutch missionaries in the period of Dutch ruling (1624–1662). After 1947, with the need for translation of Bible, Latin scripts for Bunun, Paiwan, Taroko, Atayal, and Amis were created. Currently, all 16 Formosan languages are written with similar systems. The Pe̍h-ōe-jī of Taiwanese Hokkien and Pha̍k-fa-sṳ of Taiwanese Hakka were also created with by the western missionaries. In 2005, standardized writing systems for the languages of Taiwan's 16 recognized indigenous peoples were established by the government. Alphabets The table shows how the letters and symbols are used to denote sounds in the 16 officially recognized Formosan languages. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Formosan Languages
The Formosan languages are a geographic grouping comprising the languages of the indigenous peoples of Taiwan, all of which are Austronesian. They do not form a single subfamily of Austronesian but rather nine separate subfamilies. The Taiwanese indigenous peoples recognized by the government are about 2.3% of the island's population. However, only 35% speak their ancestral language, due to centuries of language shift. Of the approximately 26 languages of the Taiwanese indigenous peoples, at least ten are extinct, another four (perhaps five) are moribund, and all others are to some degree endangered. The aboriginal languages of Taiwan have great significance in historical linguistics since, in all likelihood, Taiwan is the place of origin of the entire Austronesian language family. According to American linguist Robert Blust, the Formosan languages form nine of the ten principal branches of the family, while the one remaining principal branch, Malayo-Polynesian, contains nea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kavalan Language
Kavalan (also known as Kvalan, Kebalan or Kbalan) was formerly spoken in the Northeast coast area of Taiwan by the Kavalan people (噶瑪蘭). It is an East Formosan language of the Austronesian family. Kavalan is no longer spoken in its original area. As of 1930, it was used only as a home language. As of 1987, it was still spoken in Atayal territories. In 2000, this language was still reported to be spoken by 24 speakers but considered moribund. In 2017, a study using the EDGE metric from species conservation found that Kavalan, although critically endangered, was among the most lexically distinct of Austronesian languages. Dialects Kavalan consists of the following speech communities ordered from north to south: *Kariawan (Jialiwan 加禮宛) – near Hualien, a formerly Sakizaya-speaking area *Patʀungan (Xinshe 新社) – located in Fungpin (豐濱鄉), Hualien *Kulis (Lide 立德) *Kralut (Zhangyuan 樟原) These speech communities in eastern Taiwan were named a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taiwanese Indigenous Peoples
Taiwanese indigenous peoples (formerly Taiwanese aborigines), also known as Formosan people, Austronesian Taiwanese, Yuanzhumin or Gaoshan people, are the indigenous peoples of Taiwan, with the nationally recognized subgroups numbering about 569,000 or 2.38% of the island's population. This total is increased to more than 800,000 if the indigenous peoples of the plains in Taiwan are included, pending future official recognition. When including those of mixed ancestry, such a number is possibly more than a million. Academic research suggests that their ancestors have been living on Taiwan for approximately 6,500 years. A wide body of evidence suggests Taiwan's indigenous peoples maintained regular trade networks with regional cultures before the Han Chinese colonists began settling on the island from the 17th century. Taiwanese indigenous peoples are Austronesians, with linguistic and cultural ties to other Austronesian peoples in the region. Taiwan is also the origin and lingu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic transcription, phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standardized representation of speech sounds in written form.International Phonetic Association (IPA), ''Handbook''. The IPA is used by lexicography, lexicographers, foreign language students and teachers, linguistics, linguists, speech–language pathology, speech–language pathologists, singers, actors, constructed language creators, and translators. The IPA is designed to represent those qualities of speech that are part of wiktionary:lexical, lexical (and, to a limited extent, prosodic) sounds in oral language: phone (phonetics), phones, phonemes, Intonation (linguistics), intonation, and the separation of words and syllables. To represent additional qualities of speech—such as tooth wiktionary:gnash, gnashing, lisping, and sounds made wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yami Language
Yami language (), also known as Tao language (), is a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by the Tao people of Orchid Island, 46 kilometers southeast of Taiwan. It is a member of the Ivatan dialect continuum. Yami is known as 'human speech' by its native speakers. Native speakers prefer the 'Tao' name. Classification Yami is the only native language of Taiwanese aborigines that is not a member of the Formosan grouping of Austronesian; it is one of the Batanic languages also found in the northern Philippines, and as such is part of the Malayo-Polynesian branch of Austronesian. Phonology Yami has 20 consonants and 4 vowels: Vowels * /o/ can be heard as after labial stop consonants. Iraralay Yami, spoken on the north coast, distinguishes between geminative consonants (e.g., 'thigh' vs. 'hen' form one such minimal pair). Consonants * /k ʁ/ can also be heard as sounds ɦwhen between vowel /a/ intervocalically. * Sounds /n l ʂ/ can be heard as sounds ɮ ʃbefor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tsou Language
Tsou () is a divergent Austronesian language spoken by the Tsou people of Taiwan. Tsou is a threatened language; however, this status is uncertain. Its speakers are located in the west-central mountains southeast of the Chiayi/ Alishan area in Taiwan. Name The name ''Tsou'' literally means "person", from Proto-Austronesian ''*Cau'' through regular sound changes. It is therefore cognate with the name of the Thao. Classification Tsou has traditionally been considered part of a Tsouic branch of Austronesian. However, several recent classifications, such as Chang (2006)Chang, Henry Yungli. 2006. "Rethinking the Tsouic Subgroup Hypothesis: A Morphosyntactic Perspective." In Chang, H., Huang, L. M., Ho, D. (eds.). ''Streams converging into an ocean: Festschrift in honor of Professor Paul Jen-Kuei Li on his 70th birthday.'' Taipei: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica. and Ross (2009)Ross, Malcolm. 2009. "Proto Austronesian verbal morphology: A reappraisal." In Alexander Adelaar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thao Language
Thao (; Thao: Thau a lalawa), also known as Sao, is the nearly extinct language of the Thao people, an indigenous people of Taiwan from the Sun Moon Lake region in central Taiwan. It is a Formosan language of the Austronesian family; Barawbaw and Shtafari are dialects. Name The name ''Thao'' literally means "person", from Proto-Austronesian ''*Cau''. It is therefore cognate with the name of the Tsou. History In 2014, there were four L1 speakers and a fluent L2 speaker living in Ita Thaw (伊達邵) village (traditionally called Barawbaw), all but one of whom were over the age of sixty. Two elderly native speakers died in December of that year, including chief Tarma (袁明智), age 75. Four elderly L1 speakers and some semi-speakers were reported in 2021. Phonology Consonants Orthographic notes: * are written . is though written in Blust's dictionary. * is written * is written . It's though written in Blust's dictionary. * is written Notes: *The glides are deri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Truku Language
Seediq, also known as Sediq, Taroko, is an Atayalic language spoken in the mountains of Northern Taiwan by the Seediq and Taroko people. Subdivisions Seediq consists of three main dialects (Tsukida 2005). Members of each dialect group refer to themselves by the name of their dialect, while the Amis people call them "Taroko." #Truku (Truku) – 20,000 members including non-speakers. The Truku dialect, transcribed 德路固 in Chinese. #Toda (Tuuda) – 2,500 members including non-speakers. #Tgdaya (Tkdaya, Paran) – 2,500 members including non-speakers. Phonology In Seediq there are 19 consonant phonemes and 4 vowel phonemes. Among these, there are two velar fricatives, one voiceless and the other voiced, and a uvular stop. In both labial and alveolar plosive series, voice opposition is contrastive; velar and uvular series, however, only display voiceless sounds. The alveolar affricate has a marginal phonological status and is found in some interjections (such as ''teʼcu!'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seediq Language
Seediq, also known as Sediq, Taroko, is an Atayalic language spoken in the mountains of Northern Taiwan by the Seediq and Taroko people. Subdivisions Seediq consists of three main dialects (Tsukida 2005). Members of each dialect group refer to themselves by the name of their dialect, while the Amis people call them "Taroko." #Truku (Truku) – 20,000 members including non-speakers. The Truku dialect, transcribed 德路固 in Chinese. #Toda (Tuuda) – 2,500 members including non-speakers. #Tgdaya (Tkdaya, Paran) – 2,500 members including non-speakers. Phonology In Seediq there are 19 consonant phonemes and 4 vowel phonemes. Among these, there are two velar fricatives, one voiceless and the other voiced, and a uvular stop. In both labial and alveolar plosive series, voice opposition is contrastive; velar and uvular series, however, only display voiceless sounds. The alveolar affricate has a marginal phonological status and is found in some interjections (such as ''teʼcu! ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sakizaya Language
Sakizaya is a Formosan language closely related to Amis. One of the large family of Austronesian languages, it is spoken by the Sakizaya people, who are concentrated on the eastern Pacific coast of Taiwan. Since 2007 they have been recognized by the Taiwan government as one of the sixteen distinct indigenous groups on the island. History After the of 1878, the Sakizaya people hid among the Nataoran Amis. Scholars mistakenly categorised the Sakizaya language as a dialect of Amis. In 2002, the Center of Aboriginal Studies of National Chengchi University in Taiwan corrected this error when they edited the indigenous languages textbooks. That year, the Sakizaya language was designated both as a Chilai and Amis sublanguage. Both are included in the family of Austronesian languages. On 17 January 2007, the Sakizaya community became the thirteenth distinct indigenous ethnic group recognised by the Taiwanese government. A total of 985 people are registered as Sakizaya. They live ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saisiyat Language
Saisiyat (sometimes spelled Saisiat) is the language of the Saisiyat, a Taiwanese indigenous people. It is a Formosan language of the Austronesian family. It has approximately 4,750 speakers. Distribution The language area of Saisiyat is small, situated in the northwest of the country between the Hakka Chinese and Atayal regions in the mountains (Wufeng, Hsinchu; Nanchuang and Shitan, Miaoli). There are two main dialects: Ta'ai (North Saisiyat) and Tungho (South Saisiyat). Ta'ai is spoken in Hsinchu and Tungho is spoken in Miao-Li. Kulon, an extinct Formosan language, is closely related to Saisiyat but is considered by Taiwanese linguist Paul Jen-kuei Li to be a separate language. Usage Today, one thousand Saisiyat people do not use the Saisiyat language. Many young people use Hakka or Atayal instead, and few children speak Saisiyat. Hakka Chinese speakers, Atayal speakers and Saisiyat speakers live more or less together. Many Saisiyat are able to speak Saisiyat, Hakka ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saaroa Language
Saaroa or Lhaalua is a Southern Tsouic language is spoken by the Saaroa (Hla'alua) people, an indigenous people of Taiwan. It is a Formosan language of the Austronesian family. The Saaroa live in the two villages of Taoyuan and Kaochung in Taoyuan District (Taoyuan Township), Kaohsiung City, Taiwan (Zeitoun & Teng 2014). With fewer than 10 native speakers and an ethnic population of 400 people, Saaroa is considered critically endangered. Even among native speakers of the language, they use primarily Mandarin or Bunun in their daily lives. There is no longer an active speech community for Saaroa. Language evolution When grouped according to grammar, Saaroa is most closely related to the other Formosan language Tsou and branches very early from the Proto-Formosan language that defines the grouping. On lexical and phonographical grounds, Tsou, Kanakanabu, and Saaroa also cluster well to form the Tsouic subgroup; it is likely that the Rukai and the "Lower Three Villages Ruka ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
