Taiwanese indigenous peoples, also known as Formosans, Native Taiwanese or Austronesian Taiwanese and formerly as Taiwanese aborigines, Takasago people or Gaoshan people, are the indigenous peoples of Taiwan, with the nationally recognized subgroups numbering about 569,000 or 2.38% of the island's population. This total is increased to more than 800,000 if the indigenous peoples of the plains in Taiwan are included, pending future official recognition. When including those of mixed ancestry, such a number is possibly more than a million. Academic research suggests that their ancestors have been living on Taiwan for approximately 15,000 years. A wide body of evidence suggests that the Taiwanese indigenous peoples had maintained regular trade networks with numerous regional cultures of Southeast Asia before the Han Chinese colonists began settling on the island from the 17th century, at the behest of the Dutch colonial administration and later by successive governments towards the 20th century.
The Sinkang Manuscripts are a series of leases, mortgages, and other commerce contracts written in the Sinckan, Taivoan, and Makatao languages. Among Han Chinese, they are commonly referred to as the "barbarian contracts". Some are written only in a Latin-based script, considered the first script to be developed in Taiwan itself, while others were bilingual with adjacent Han writing. Currently there are approximately 140 extant documents written in Sinckan; they are important in the study of Siraya and Taivoan culture, and Taiwanese history in general although there are only a few scholars who can understand them.
The Siraya people are a Taiwanese indigenous people. The Siraya settled flat coastal plains in the southwest part of the island of Taiwan and corresponding sections of the east coast; the area is identified today with Tainan City and Taitung County. At least four communities make up the group: Mattauw, Soelangh, Baccloangh, and Sinckan. The first four communities correspond to the modern-day districts of Madou, Jiali, Shanhua, and Sinshih, respectively.
The languages of Taiwan consist of several varieties of languages under the families of Austronesian languages and Sino-Tibetan languages. The Formosan languages, a geographically designated branch of Austronesian languages, have been spoken by the Taiwanese indigenous peoples for thousands of years. Owing to the wide internal variety of the Formosan languages, research on historical linguistics recognizes Taiwan as the Urheimat (homeland) of the whole Austronesian languages family. In the last 400 years, several waves of Han emigrations brought several different Sinitic languages into Taiwan. These languages include Taiwanese Hokkien, Hakka, and Mandarin, which have become the major languages spoken in present-day Taiwan.
Tsou is a divergent Austronesian language spoken by the Tsou people of Taiwan. Tsou is a threatened language; however, this status is uncertain. Its speakers are located in the west-central mountains southeast of the Chiayi/Alishan area in Taiwan.
Kanakanavu is a Southern Tsouic language spoken by the Kanakanavu people, an indigenous people of Taiwan. It is a Formosan language of the Austronesian family.
Proto-Austronesian 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 c. 4000 BCE – c. 3500 BCE in Taiwan.
Siraya is a Formosan language spoken until the end of the 19th century by the indigenous Siraya people of Taiwan, derived from Proto-Siraya. Some scholars believe Taivoan and Makatao are two dialects of Siraya, but now more evidence shows that they should be classified as separate languages.
The Tsouic languages are three Formosan languages, Tsou proper and the Southern languages Kanakanavu and Saaroa. The Southern Tsouic languages of Kanakanavu and Saaroa have the smallest phonemic inventories out of all the Formosan languages, with each language having only 13 consonants and 4 vowels. These two languages are highly endangered, as many Southern Tsouic speakers are shifting to Bunun and Mandarin Chinese.
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 groups them into the Northern Formosan branch, which includes the Northwestern Formosan languages.
The East Formosan languages consist of various Formosan languages scattered across Taiwan, including Kavalan, Amis, and the extinct Siraya language. This grouping is supported by both Robert Blust and Paul Jen-kuei Li. 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.
This article describes the personal pronoun systems of various Austronesian languages.
Plains indigenous peoples, also known as Pingpu people and previously as plain aborigines, are Taiwanese indigenous peoples originally residing in lowland regions, as opposed to Highland indigenous peoples. Plains indigenous peoples consist of anywhere from eight to twelve individual groups, or tribes, rather than being a single ethnic group. They are part of the Austronesian family. Beginning in the 17th century, plains indigenous peoples have been heavily influenced by external forces from Dutch, Spanish, and Han Chinese immigration to Taiwan. This ethnic group has since been extensively assimilated with Han Chinese language and culture; they have lost their cultural identity, and it is almost impossible without careful inspection to distinguish plains indigenous peoples from Taiwanese Han people.
The Taivoan or Tevorangh are a Taiwanese indigenous people. The Taivoan originally settled around hill and basin areas in Tainan, especially in the Yujing Basin, which the Taivoan called Tamani, later transliterated into Japanese Tamai (玉井) and later borrowed in Chinese (Yujing). The Taivoan historically called themselves Taivoan, Taibowan, Taiburan or Shisha.
The Makatao people, also written Makatau or Makattau, are an indigenous people in Taiwan. The Makatao originally settled around lowland Kaohsiung in Southern Taiwan, later largely migrating to Pingtung and even further to Taitung in the early 19th century due to the influx of Chinese immigrants.
The writing systems of the Formosan languages are Latin-based alphabets. Currently, 16 languages have been regulated. The alphabet was made official in 2005.
Sirayaic languages is one of the sub-branches of the Formosan branch, under the Austronesian languages family. Both Blust (1999) and Li (2010) considers Proto-Siraya belongs to East Formosan languages, along with Kavalanic and Amis languages.
Dazhuang is a community located in Tungli Village, Fuli Township in Hualien County, Taiwan. Dazhuang used to be an old community of Amis, until 1845 when some plain indigenous people started to migrate from Southern Taiwan to here. It was the most populous community in Fuli between Qin dynasty and Japanese occupation period, and so called the name Tuā-tsng, which means "a big village" in Taiwanese.
Guanshan Village, also called by the locals as Alikuan or Aliguan, is an indigenous Taivoan community located in Jiaxian District in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. As driven by Chinese immigrants and Siraya, Taivoan people started to emigrate from Tainan to Kaohsiung in the early 18th century, and eventually founded the community in 1744. Alikuan was also an important battle field in Tapani incident in 1915.
A Kong-kài, literally "the Public Hall" in Taiwanese Hokkien, is a temple or shrine where indigenous peoples like the Siraya, Taivoan or Makatao hold rituals for their ancestral spirits. Historical records indicate that in the past, the Kong-kài served other functions, including a men's gathering place or a public meeting place for discussions and decision-making.
