The Northern Formosan languages is a proposed grouping of

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 Taiwa ...

that includes the '' Atayalic languages'', 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 Paul Li, or Li Jen-kuei (; born 20 September 1936), is a research fellow at the Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of th ...

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 Proto-Austronesian (commonly abbreviated as PAN or PAn) is a proto-language. It is the reconstructed ancestor of the Austronesian languages, one of the world's major language families. Proto-Austronesian is assumed to have begun to diversify ...

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. * *S₂, *H₁ > h * *S₂, *H₁, *s > h ( Atayalic languages and Saisiyat only) Also, Pazeh, Saisiyat, and Thao are only

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

(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 The Hoanya () are a Taiwanese Aboriginal people who live primarily in Changhua County, Chiayi City, Nantou County, and near Tainan City. Their language, Hoanya, is now extinct. The Lloa people and Arikun people are generally considered to be a ...

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 *S₁ 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