The East Formosan languages consist of various
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 up to nine separate primary subfamili ...
scattered across Taiwan, including
Kavalan,
Amis, and the extinct
Siraya language
Siraya is a Formosan languages, Formosan language spoken until the end of the 19th century by the indigenous Siraya people of Taiwan, derived from Proto-Siraya language, Proto-Siraya. Some scholars believe Taivoan language, Taivoan and Makatao la ...
. This grouping is supported by both
Robert Blust
Robert A. Blust (; zh, c=白樂思, p=Bái Lèsī; May 9, 1940 – January 5, 2022) was an American linguist who worked in several areas, including historical linguistics, lexicography and ethnology. He was Professor of Linguistics at the Uni ...
and
Paul Jen-kuei Li
Paul Li, or Li Jen-kuei ( zh, c=李壬癸, p=Lǐ Rénguǐ; born 20 September 1936), is a Taiwanese linguist. Li is a research fellow at the Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan. Li is a leading specialist on Formosan lang ...
. Li considers the Siraya-speaking area in the southwestern plains of Taiwan to be the most likely homeland of the East Formosan speakers, where they then spread to the eastern coast of Taiwan and gradually migrated to the area of modern-day
Taipei
, nickname = The City of Azaleas
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.
Languages
*East Formosan
**Kavalanic
***
Kavalan(endangered)
***
Basay†
***
Qauqaut†
**Amis–Sakizaya
***
Sakizaya
***
Amis
**
Sirayaic
***
Siraya†
***Taivoan–Makatao
****
Taivoan†
****
Makatao†
Luilang is often lumped together with the Ketagalan dialect of Basay, but is poorly attested and remains unclassified. Sagart posits it as a primary branch of Austronesian.
Evidence
Li presents the following criteria as evidence for an East Formosan subgrouping.
#Merger of *C and *t as /t/
#Merger of *D and *Z as /r/ or /l/ in Basay, as /z/ in Kavalan
#Merger of *q, *H, *ʔɦ and zero
#Merger of *j, *n, and *N as /n/
#Shift of *k into /q/ and /q/ > /h/ (Basay only) before *a
Li notes that the split of *k into k and q (before *a) is shared exclusively by Basay and Kavalan. Like Kavalan and Basay, the Siraya language merges the patient-focus and locative-focus forms, although Amis distinguishes the two focus forms. Li also lists dozens of
lexical innovations shared by the East Formosan languages.
The
Basay,
Kavalan, and
Amis also share an oral tradition stating a common origin from an island called “Sinasay” or “Sanasay,” which is probably the
Green Island of today.
Laurent Sagart
Laurent Sagart (; born 1951) is a senior researcher at the Centre de recherches linguistiques sur l'Asie orientale (CRLAO – UMR 8563) unit of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS).
Biography
Born in Paris in 1951, he earned ...
rejects having a nasal reflex of Proto-Austronesian ''*j'' as a criterion for an East Formosan subgrouping. He believes instead that ''*j'' was originally , making the nasal reflexes in East Formosan a common retention of the original nasality, not a common innovation that can define East Formosan.
References
Works cited
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{{Austronesian languages
Formosan languages
Languages of Taiwan