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!'' "what a mess!"), loanwords and non-finite verbal forms with the gerund prefix ''cese-'' (Tsukida 2005: 292, 297).

With the graphemes ''c'' and ''j'' the practical orthography indicates the palatal allophones of ''t'' and ''d'' respectively after ''i'' and ''y''.

The vowels are the following:

Seediq also has three diphthongs, mainly ''ay'' i̯ ''aw'' u̯and ''uy'' i̯

Seediq syllables have C, CV, or CVC structures, except for some interjections which have CVCC structures (e.g., ''saws'', which is uttered when offering food to ancestors, and ''sawp'', which is the sound of an object blown by the wind). Disyllabic words can take on the following structures:

*CVCV, CVCVC
*CVCCV, CVCCVC

Vowels in antepenultimate syllables are often /e/. The stressed syllable is usually the penultimate one, and is pronounced with a high pitch. In the Truku dialect stress is on the final syllable resulting in loss of first vowel in CVCCV and CVCCVC structures, for example compare: qduriq > pqdriqun, lqlaqi > lqlqian. In Taroko, up to six onset consonants are possible: CCCCCVC(VC), for example: tn'ghngkawas, mptrqdug, pngkrbkan, dmptbrinah.

Morphology

As other Austronesian languages, Seediq uses reduplication to convey grammatical functions, such as pluralization and reciprocal verb form derivation. There are two kinds of reduplication: one which involves only the first syllable of the stem, with structure Cə-CV(C), and one which involves the last pair of syllables of the stem excluding codas, having structure CəCə-CV(C)CV(C). Examples are:

Along with reduplication, there are also numerous prefixes and suffixes in Seediq that intervene to alter the meaning of words in derivational and inflectional processes. Affixes include:
* ''-an'': oblique case
* ''ne-'': something possessed by the prefixed noun

Clitics, unlike affixes, do not cause phonological alterations on their roots to which they are attached.

Verbs

Seediq verbs have three types of voices, which are in turn inflected for mood or aspect (Tsukida 2005:313). Nouns, however, do not inflect for voice.
#Agent voice – marked by ''-em-'' or its allomorphs ''me'' or Ø
#Goal voice
#Conveyance voice

There are four basic aspect/mood categories:
#Neutral – same as non-future/imperfective
#Perfect – marked by ''-en-''
#Non-finite – bare stem
#Hortative (i.e., when advising someone) – marked by ''-a(y/nay)''

The future is marked by ''me-, mpe-, mpe-ke-''.

There are a total of five different verb classes (conjugation paradigms). Other verb forms include causatives, reciprocals, and reflexives. Serial verb constructions are also allowed.

Word classes

Truku Seediq has 11 word classes (Tsukida 2005:295).

;Open classes
*Nouns
*Verbs
*Adjectives

;Closed classes
*Numerals
*Personal pronouns
*Deictics
*Adverbs
*Conjunctives
*Prepositions
*Interjections
*Sentence final particles

Like many other Formosan and Philippine languages, Seediq nouns and verbs behave similarly. Adjectives can be considered as a subcategory of verbs.

Syntax

The word order of Seediq is verb–object–subject (VOS), where S corresponds to the argument marked with absolutive case. This argument ordinarily occurs clause-finally, but may be followed by a topicalized ergative argument. Like many of its other Austronesian relatives, Seediq contains voice morphemes marked on the verb which indicate which of the verb's arguments (agent, patient, etc.) is treated as the subject and thus marked with absolutive case. In noun phrases, modifiers follow the head (Tsukida 2005:304). Unlike Tagalog and many other Philippine languages, there are no linkers connecting the heads and modifiers.

Clauses

There are three types of Seediq clauses (Tsukida 2005):
#Interjection clauses
#Basic clauses
#Existential/possessive clauses

Basic clauses have predicates (usually initial and consisting of single verbs, adjectives, or noun phrases), subjects, and optionally non-subject arguments and adjuncts.

Subjects can be recognized via (Tsukida 2005):
#Voice affix
#Clitic pronoun
#Quantifier floating
#Relativization
#Possessum demotion

Function words

Some function words are given below:
*''ni'' – "and" (conjunction)
*''deni'' – "and then" (conjunction)
*u, du'u, ga, dega'' – all meaning "in case that" (conjunction)
*''nasi'' – "if"
*ana'' – "even"
*''ka'' – subordinating conjunction, case marker, linker
*ini'' – negator
*adi'' – negates noun phrase predicates, future/perfect verb forms
*''wada'' – past
*''na'a'' – "had better, could have done..."
*''dima'' – "already"
*''hana'' – "just"
*''ya'asa'' – "because"
*''niqan'' – existential predicate (like Tagalog "may")
*ungat'' – negative existential predicate (like Tagalog "wala")

Deictics include (Tsukida 2009:132-133):
*Demonstratives:
**''niyi'' – this, this one
**''ga/gaga'' – that, that one
**kiya/ki – that, that one (referring to things previously referenced or mutually understood)
*Deictic adverbials:
**''hini'' – here
**''hi/hiya'' – there

There are a total of six prepositions (Tsukida 2005:303):
*''quri'' – toward, about, in the direction of
*''pa'ah'' – from
*''bitaq'' – until, up to
*''saw'' – like
*asaw'' – because of
*''mawxay'' – for the sake of

Stative locatives (e.g., "on the mountain") do not take on any prepositions, but are rather placed directly after the verb without any additional marking.

Predicate extenders

Preverbal elements such as adverbs, demonstratives, and prepositions can be used to extend predicates. Below is a partial list of predicate extenders from Tsukida (2008:308).

#Extenders that require neutral verb forms
##''wada'' – past
##''ga(ga)'' – distal progressive
##''niyi'' – proximal progressive
##''gisu'' – progressive, state
##''meha'' – future, "is going to do"
##''(me-)teduwa'' – "be able to do"
##''nasi'' – "if"
##''na'a'' – "could have done something but did not
#Extenders that require non-finite verb forms
##asi ~ kasi'' – "at once, suddenly"
##''pasi'' – "at once"
##''kani'' – "one did not have to do something but did it"
##ini'' – negative
##iya'' – negative imperative
#Extenders that require future forms
##''saw'' – "is/was about to do"
##''rubang'' – "was about to do"
#Extenders that require future/perfect forms of verbs/nouns
##adi'' – negative
#Extenders that are combined with adjectives/nouns
##''ma'a'' – "become"
#Extenders without specific requirements
##''pekelug'' – "just"
##''dima'' – "already"
##''hana'' – "at last"
##ida'' – "surely"
##''ya'a'' – uncertainty
##''wana'' – only
##ana'' – "even"
##''ma'' – "why"
##alung ~ 'alaw ~ 'arang'' – "as is expected"
##''pida'' – exactly
##''lengu'' – "planned to do..."
##''binaw'' – confirmation
##atih'' – "at the last moment," "nearly"
##''seperang'' – "purposefully, on purpose"

Pronouns

Numerals

The cardinal numbers are:
#kingal
#deha
#teru
#sepat
#rima
#mataru
#mpitu
#maspat
#mengari
#maxal

Other numerals and numeral-related affixes (Tsukida 2005:297):
*taxa: used for humans – one person
*'uwin: used for objects – one object
*ma- -(u)l: used to form words for 10, 20, 30, 40, 50
*ma-xa-l: 10
*m-pusa-l: 20
*me-teru-l: 30
*me-sepat-ul: 40
*me-rima-l: 50

References

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Further reading

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* – The alphabets of written Taiwanese aboriginal languages and the corresponding sounds in IPA
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External links

Yuánzhùmínzú yǔyán xiànshàng cídiǎn 原住民族語言線上詞典
– Seediq search page at the "Aboriginal language online dictionary" website of the Indigenous Languages Research and Development Foundation


– Truku search page at the "Aboriginal language online dictionary" website of the Indigenous Languages Research and Development Foundation

Seediq teaching and leaning materials published by the Council of Indigenous Peoples of Taiwan


Truku teaching and leaning materials published by the Council of Indigenous Peoples of Taiwan


Seediq translation of President Tsai Ing-wen's 2016 apology to indigenous people
– published on the website of the presidential office

Truku translation of President Tsai Ing-wen's 2016 apology to indigenous people
– published on the website of the presidential office

{{Formosan languages

Verb–object–subject languages
Truku people
Atayalic languages