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 Taiwan ...

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 Paul Li, or Li Jen-kuei (; born 20 September 1936), is a research fellow at the Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan. Li is a leading specialist on Formosan languages The Formosan languages are a geographic grouping c ...

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 (

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.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 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