Yami language (), also known as Tao language (), is a

Malayo-Polynesian The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages, with approximately 385.5 million speakers. The Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken by the Austronesian peoples outside of Taiwan, in the island nations of Southea ...

language spoken by the

Tao people The Tao people are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the tiny outlying Orchid Island of Taiwan. They have a maritime culture, with great ritual and spiritual significance placed on boat-building and fishing. Their ways of life have been th ...

Orchid Island Orchid Island, also known by other names, is a volcanic island off the southeastern coast of Taiwan Island. The island is part of Taiwan. It is separated from the Batanes of the Philippines by the Bashi Channel of the Luzon Strait. It is g ...

, 46 kilometers southeast of

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

. It is a member of the Ivatan

dialect continuum A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated vari ...

. 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 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 peo ...

that is not a member of the Formosan grouping of Austronesian; it is one of the Batanic languages also found in the northern

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, 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 In phonology, minimal pairs are pairs of words or phrases in a particular language, spoken or signed, that differ in only one phonological element, such as a phoneme, toneme or chroneme, and have distinct meanings. They are used to demonstrate ...

Consonants

* /k ʁ/ can also be heard as sounds ɦwhen between vowel /a/ intervocalically. * Sounds /n l ʂ/ can be heard as sounds � ɮ ʃbefore /i/.

Grammar

Pronouns

The following set of pronouns is found in the Yami language.

Verbs

The following list are verbal inflections found in Yami. ;Dynamic intransitive *-om-/om- (subjunctive: N-) *mi- *ma- *maN- *maka- *maci-/masi-/macika-/macipa- ;Stative *ma- (subjunctive: a-) *ka- ... -an (subjunctive: ka- ... -i) ;Dynamic *pi- *pa- *paN- (subjunctive: maN-) *paka- (subjunctive: maka-) *paci- (subjunctive: maci-) ;Transitive *-en (subjunctive: -a) *-an (subjunctive: -i) *i- (subjunctive: -an) ;Stative functioning as transitive *ma- (subjunctive: a- ... -a) *ka- ... -an (subjunctive: a- ... -a)

Affixes

The following is a list of affixes found in Yami. *icia- 'fellows such and such who share the same features or fate' *ikeyka- 'even more so' *ika- 'feel such and such because...' *ika- 'ordinal number' *ipi- 'multiple number' *ji a- 'negation or emphatic' *ka- 'company, as ... as, abstract noun' *ka- 'and then, just now, only' *ka- 'stative verb prefix reappearing in forming transitive verbs' *ka- (reduplicated root) 'very' *ka- (reduplicated root) 'animals named after certain features' *ka- ... -an 'common noun' *ma- ... -en 'love to do such and such' *mapaka- 'pretend to be such and such' *mapi- 'do such and such as an occupation' *mi-/mala- 'kinship relationships in a group of two or three' *mika-/mapika-/ipika- 'all, gradually, one by one' *mala- 'taste or look like...' *mipa- 'getting more and more...' *mipipa- 'even more...' *mapi-/mapa-/pa- ... -en/ipa- 'causative verb affixes' *ni- 'perfective' *ni- ... na 'superlative' *noka- 'past' *noma- 'future (remote)' *- 'present' *sima- 'future (proximal)' *tey- 'direction' *tey- 'very, too' *tey- (reduplicated root) 'amount allocated to each unit

Vocabulary

Cognates with Philippine languages

Japanese loanwords

Chinese loanwords

References

Sources

* * *

External links

* Yami wordlists at the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database
language.psy.auckland.ac.nz/austronesian/language.php?id=254language.psy.auckland.ac.nz/austronesian/language.php?id=335

Yami Language Documentation Project website
– hosted by Providence University, Taiwan
Online Yami language course
– hosted by Providence University, Taiwan
Yami Dictionary Project website
– hosted by Providence University, Taiwan

– Yami search page at the "Aboriginal language online dictionary" website of the Indigenous Languages Research and Development Foundation
Yami teaching and leaning materials published by the Council of Indigenous Peoples of Taiwan

Yami translation of President Tsai Ing-wen's 2016 apology to indigenous people
– published on the website of the presidential office {{Languages of Taiwan Languages of Taiwan Batanic languages Vulnerable languages