Northern Formosan languages

Last updated
Northern Formosan
(proposed)
Geographic
distribution
Taiwan
Linguistic classification Austronesian
  • Northern Formosan
Subdivisions
Language codes
Glottolog west2572  (Western Plains)
nort2899  (Northwestern)
atay1246  (Atayalic)
Formosan languages 2005.png
(orange) Li's Northern Formosan

The Northern Formosan languages is a proposed grouping of Formosan languages 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).

Contents

The Northern Formosan subgroup was first proposed by Paul Jen-kuei Li in 1985. [1] 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 occurred in the Northern Formosan languages (Li 2008:215). [2]

Also, Pazeh, Saisiyat, and Thao are only Formosan languages that allow for SVO constructions, although this may be due to intensive contact with Taiwanese. [3]

Also, the Atayal, Seediq, and Pazeh languages have devoiced final consonants that were present in the Proto-Austronesian (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.

Northwestern

The four coastal languages of Taokas, Babuza, Papora, and Hoanya share the following innovations (Li 2003).

  1. Loss of *k
  2. Loss of *-y
  3. Merger of *s and *t in non-final position
  4. Complete merger of *ŋ and *n

Thao shares the following innovations with the four coastal languages (Li 2003).

  1. Merger of *s and *t
  2. Merger of *ŋ and *n

Pazih has undergone the following two sound changes.

  1. Merger of *j and *s as /z/
  2. Merger of *C and *S1 as /s/

Li (2003) does not consider Pazih to be very closely related to Saisiyat (Li 2003:946).

However, Shibata (2022) argues that the "Western Plains" languages in fact form a convergence area or linguistic area rather than a true subgroup. [4]

Notes

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Li, Paul Jen-kuei. 1998. "台灣南島語言 [The Austronesian Languages of Taiwan]." In Li, Paul Jen-kuei. 2004. Selected Papers on Formosan Languages. Taipei, Taiwan: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica.
  4. Shibata, Kye. 2022. Reexamining the historical relationships of the "Western Plains" languages . Presentation given at the 31st Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society (SEALS 31), University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, May 18–20, 2022.

References