The Northern Formosan languages is a proposed grouping of
Formosan languages that includes the ''
Atayalic languages
The Atayalic languages are a group of Formosan languages spoken in northern Taiwan. Robert Blust considers them to form a primary branch within the Austronesian language family, However, Paul Jen-kuei Li
Paul Li, or Li Jen-kuei (; born 20 Sep ...
'', the ''Western Plains languages'' (Papora, Hoanya, Babuza, and Taokas), and the ''Northwest Formosan languages'' (
Pazeh and
Saisiyat; Li places ''Western Plains'' with this grouping).
The Northern Formosan subgroup was first proposed by
Paul Jen-kuei Li in 1985.
[Li, Paul Jen-kuei (1985). "The position of Atayal in the Austronesian family." In Li, Paul Jen-kuei. 2004. ''Selected Papers on Formosan Languages'', vol. 2. Taipei, Taiwan: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica.] Blust (1999) rejects the unity of the proposed Northern Formosan branch. A 2008 analysis of the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database, however, supports the unity of the Northern Formosan branch with a 97% confidence level (see ''
Austronesian languages#Classification'').
Evidence
The following sound changes from
Proto-Austronesian occurred in the Northern Formosan languages (Li 2008:215).
[Li, Paul Jen-kuei. 2008. "Time perspective of Formosan Aborigines." In Sanchez-Mazas, Alicia ed. ''Past human migrations in East Asia: matching archaeology, linguistics and genetics''. Taylor & Francis US.]
* *S
2, *H
1 > h
* *S
2, *H
1, *s > h (
Atayalic languages
The Atayalic languages are a group of Formosan languages spoken in northern Taiwan. Robert Blust considers them to form a primary branch within the Austronesian language family, However, Paul Jen-kuei Li
Paul Li, or Li Jen-kuei (; born 20 Sep ...
and
Saisiyat only)
Also,
Pazeh,
Saisiyat, and
Thao are only
Formosan languages that allow for SVO constructions, although this may be due to intensive contact with
Taiwanese
Taiwanese may refer to:
* Taiwanese language, another name for Taiwanese Hokkien
* Something from or related to Taiwan ( Formosa)
* Taiwanese aborigines, the indigenous people of Taiwan
* Han Taiwanese, the Han people of Taiwan
* Taiwanese people, ...
.
[Li, Paul Jen-kuei. 1998. "台灣南島語言 he Austronesian Languages of Taiwan" In Li, Paul Jen-kuei. 2004. Selected Papers on Formosan Languages. Taipei, Taiwan: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica.]
Also, the Atayal, Seediq, and Pazeh languages have devoiced final consonants that were present in the
Proto-Austronesian (Blust 2009:616).
Northwestern Formosan
Li (2003, 2008) concludes the six western Plains languages split off from Proto-Northwestern Formosan. The classification is as follows.
The four coastal languages of
Taokas,
Babuza,
Papora, and
Hoanya share the following innovations (Li 2003).
#Loss of *k
#Loss of *-y
#Merger of *s and *t in non-final position
#Complete merger of *ŋ and *n
Thao shares the following innovations with the four coastal languages (Li 2003).
#Merger of *s and *t
#Merger of *ŋ and *n
Pazih has undergone the following two sound changes.
#Merger of *j and *s as /z/
#Merger of *C and *S
1 as /s/
Li (2003) does not consider Pazih to be very closely related to
Saisiyat (Li 2003:946).
Notes
References
*Li, Paul Jen-kuei (2003). "The Internal Relationships of Six Western Plains Languages." In Li, Paul Jen-kuei. 2004. ''Selected Papers on Formosan Languages'', vol. 2. Taipei, Taiwan: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica.
{{Austronesian languages
Formosan languages
Languages of Taiwan