Wiki Languages: Tayal language (Tayal)
| Language: Tayal (Tayal language) | Local name: Tayal |
| Language code: tay | Display language: English (en)|
| Speak area: Taiwan | Classification: Austronesian |
| Country: Taiwan | Second language: |
| Usage: regional | Wiki language for Tayal language |
Dictionary for Tayal (Tayal) in English
| English | Tayal |
| Tayal | English |
| Atayal | |
|---|---|
| Tayal | |
| Region | north Taiwan |
| Ethnicity | 86,000 Atayal people (2014)[1] |
Language family | Austronesian
|
Writing system | Latin |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | tay |
| Glottolog | atay1247 |
| Linguasphere | 30-AAA |
 A map showing the distribution of the two major dialect groups of the Atayal language. The Atayal people reside in central and northern Taiwan, along the Hsuehshan mountains. | |
 | |
The Atayal language is spoken by the Atayal people of Taiwan. Squliq and C’uli’ (Ts’ole’) are two major dialects. Mayrinax and Pa’kuali’, two subdialects of C’uli’, are unique among Atayal dialects in having male and female register distinctions in their vocabulary.
History
Several works on the language, including several reference grammars, have been published. In 1980 an Atayal–English dictionary was published by Søren Egerod.[2] The Bible has been translated into Atayal and was published in 2002.[by whom?] Atayal was one of the source languages of Yilan Creole Japanese.[3]
In April 2020 an Atayal language Wikipedia was launched following efforts by Taiwan's Ministry of Education and National Chengchi University to promote the written use of Taiwan's Aboriginal languages.[4][5]
Dialects
Atayal dialects can be classified under two dialects groups: Squliq and C’uli’ (Ts’ole’).[6][7]
Orthography
The Atayal language is most commonly written in the Latin script; a standard orthography for the language was established by the Taiwanese government in 2005.[5] In writing, ⟨ng⟩ represents the velar nasal /ŋ/, and the apostrophe ⟨'⟩ represents the glottal stop. In some literature, ⟨ḳ⟩ is used to represent /q/ and ⟨č š ž⟩ are used to represent /tʃ ʃ ʒ/.
In some dialects but not all, schwa /ə/ is frequently omitted in writing, resulting in long consonant clusters on the surface (e.g. pspngun/pəsəpəŋun/).[8]
The pronunciation of certain letters differs from the IPA conventions. The letter ⟨b⟩ represents /β/, ⟨c⟩ is /ts/, ⟨g⟩ is /ɣ/, ⟨y⟩ is /j/, and ⟨z⟩ is /ʒ/.
Phonology
Dialects differ slightly in their phonology. Presented below are the vowel and consonant inventories of Mayrinax Atayal (Huang 2000a). Orthographic conventions are added in ⟨angle brackets⟩.
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | u | |
| Mid | e | ə | o |
| Low | a |
Consonants
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p | t | k | q | ʔ | |||
| Affricate | ts ⟨c⟩ | |||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | s | x | ħ ⟨h⟩ | ||||
| voiced | β | ɣ ⟨g⟩ | ||||||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||||
| Trill | r | |||||||
| Semivowel | w | j ⟨y⟩ | ||||||
Most of these sounds are also encountered in other Formosan languages, but the velar fricative [x] is a trade mark of Atayalic languages. This sound has restricted distribution, though, as it never occurs in word-initial position.
Even though some literature includes a glottal fricative in the consonant inventory, that phoneme is phonetically realized as a pharyngeal (Li 1980), which is true for Atayalic languages in general. The alveolar fricative (s) and affricate (ts) are palatalized before [i] and [j], rendering [ɕ] and [tɕ], respectively (Lu 2005), as in the Sinitic contact languages Mandarin Chinese and Taiwanese Hokkien.
Plngawan Atayal (a subdialect of Ci'uli') differs from this inventory in that it lacks a schwa (ə), and that there are two phonemic rhotics (Shih 2008).
Squliq Atayal has a voiced alveo-palatal fricative [z] (Li 1980), but Huang 2015 doubts its phonemicity, arguing that it is an allophone of [y].
Grammar
Verbs
Mayrinax Atayal (a Cʔuliʔ dialect spoken in Tai'an Township, Miaoli County) has a four-way focus system (Huang 2000b).[9]
- Agent focus (AF)
- Patient focus (PF)
- Locative focus (LF)
- Instrumental/Beneficiary focus (IF/BF)
The following list of focus markers are used in Mayrinax Atayal.
- Agent focus (AF)
- Realis: m-, -um- (more dynamic); ma-, ø (less dynamic / more stative)
- Irrealis: m-, ma-, -um- ... -ay (projective/immediate); pa- (future)
- Patient focus (PF)
- Realis: -un (neutral), ø (perfective)
- Irrealis: -aw (projective/immediate); -un (future)
- Locative focus (LF)
- Realis: -an
- Irrealis: -ay (projective/immediate); -an (future)
- Instrumental/Beneficiary focus (IF/BF)
- Realis: si-
- Irrealis: -anay (projective/immediate); ø (future)
Aspect markers include:[9]
- -in-: perfective
- pa-: irrealis (also serves as a causative marker)
- kiaʔ and haniʔan: progressive
Other verbal markers include:[9]
- ka-: stative marker
- i-: locative marker
- ø- (null marker): agent-focus imperative
Dynamic and stative verbal prefixes run along a continuum. Here, they are listed from most dynamic to most stative.[9]
- m-, -um-
- ma1-, ø1
- ma-2
- ø2
Case markers
Mayrinax Atayal has an elaborate case marking system. The Mayrinax case markers below are sourced from Huang (2002).
| Case | Nominative | Accusative | Genitive/ Oblique | Comitative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proper noun | ʔiʔ | ʔiʔ | niʔ | kiʔ |
| Common noun (referential) | kuʔ | ckuʔ | nkuʔ | – |
| Common noun (non-referential) | aʔ | cuʔ | naʔ | – |
Wulai Atayal (a Squliq Atayal dialect spoken in Wulai District, New Taipei City) has a much simpler case-marking system (Huang 1995).
| Case | Nominative | Instrumental | Genitive | Comitative | Locative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Markers | quʔ | naʔ | naʔ, nquʔ | kiʔ | te, squʔ, sa |
Pronouns
The Mayrinax and Wulai Atayal personal pronouns below are sourced from Huang (1995). In both varieties, the nominative and genitive forms are bound while the neutral and locative ones are free (unbound).
| Type of Pronoun | Nominative | Genitive | Locative | Neutral |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1s. | sakuʔ, kuʔ | makuʔ, mu, kuʔ | knan | kuzing, kun |
| 2s. | suʔ | suʔ | sunan | isuʔ |
| 3s. | – | nyaʔ | hiyan | hiyaʔ |
| 1p. (incl.) | taʔ | taʔ | itan | itaʔ |
| 1p. (excl.) | sami | myan | sminan | sami |
| 2p. | simu | mamu | smunan | simu |
| 3p. | – | nhaʔ | hgan | hgaʔ |
| Type of Pronoun | Nominative | Genitive | Neutral |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1s. | cu, ciʔ | mu, miʔ | kuing |
| 2s. | suʔ, siʔ | suʔ | isuʔ |
| 3s. | – | niaʔ | hiyaʔ |
| 1p. (incl.) | taʔ, tiʔ | taʔ, tiʔ | itaʔ |
| 1p. (excl.) | cami | niam | cami |
| 2p. | cimu | mamu | cimu |
| 3p. | – | nhaʔ | nhaʔ |
Affixes
The following list of Mayrinax Atayal affixes is sourced from the Comparative Austronesian Dictionary (1995).
- Note: Some affixes are unglossed.
- Verbal prefixes
- ma- 'stative'
- ma- 'active'
- man-
- mana-
- maɣ-
- ma-ša- 'reciprocal, mutual'
- ma-ši 'natural release or movement'
- pana-
- ma-ti-
- ʔi-
- pa- 'causative'
- ši- 'benefactive'
- ga- 'verbalizer'
- kan- + RED + N (body parts) 'body movement'
- ma-ka- 'mutual, reciprocal'
- maki- 'active verb'
- mat- 'to turn'
- mi-
- paš-
- ta- ... -an 'location'
- tiɣi- 'to release gas'
- tu- 'for some to ... '
- Verbal infixes
- -um- 'agent focus'
- -in- 'completive'
- Verbal suffixes
- -an 'locative focus'
- -un 'object focus'
- -i 'imperative'
- -aw 'future or mild request'
- -ani 'polite request'
- Nominal affixes
- -in- 'nominalizer'
- -in- ... -an 'nominalizer to indicate a completed action'
- Male affixes (i.e., male forms of speech in Mayrinax Atayal) include (Comparative Austronesian Dictionary): -niḳ, -iḳ, -ʔiŋ, -hiŋ, -iŋ, -tiŋ, -riʔ, -ḳiʔ, -niʔ, -nux, -ux, -hu, -u, -al, -liʔ, -kaʔ, -ha, -il, -in-, -il-, -i-, -a-, -na-.
See also
- Yilan Creole Japanese
Notes
- ^"Amis Remains Taiwan's Biggest Aboriginal Tribe at 37.1% of Total". Focus Taiwan. CNA. February 15, 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-02-16. Retrieved 2020-06-04.
- ^see Egerod (1980)
- ^Yuehchen, Chien; Shinji, Sanada (2010-08-16). "Yilan Creole in Taiwan". Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages. 25 (2): 350–357. doi:10.1075/jpcl.25.2.11yue. ISSN 0920-9034.
- ^"Atayal and Sediq Added to Wikipedia's Languages". Taipei Times. 17 April 2020. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
- ^ ab"Indigenous Taiwanese Languages Now Available on Wikipedia". Language Magazine. 2021-04-29. Retrieved 2021-07-04.
- ^Huang (1995), p. 261
- ^Li (1980), p. 349
- ^Rau (1992), pp. 22–23
- ^ abcdHuang (2000b)
References
- Chen, Shu-chuan 陳淑娟 (2010). "Tàiyǎyǔ de yǔyán huólì yǔ yǔyán fù zhèn: Yǐ Sīmǎkùsī jí Zhúdōng wéi lì" 泰雅語的語言活力與語言復振─以司馬庫斯及竹東為例 [Language Vitality and Language Revitalization of the Atayal in Taiwan: The Cases of Smangus and Chutung] (PDF). Táiwān yǔwén yánjiū / Journal of Taiwanese Languages and Literature (in Chinese). 5 (1): 15–36.
- Egerod, Søren (1980). Atayal–English Dictionary. Curzon Press.
- Huang, Lillian M. (1995). "The Syntactic Structure of Wulai and Mayrinax Atayal: A Comparison". Bulletin of National Taiwan Normal University. 40: 261–294.
- Huang, Mei-chin 黃美金; Wu, Hsi-sheng 吳新生 (2018). Tàiyǎyǔ yǔfǎ gàilùn泰雅語 語法概論 [Introduction to Atayal Grammar] (in Chinese). Xinbei Shi: Yuanzhuminzu weiyuanhui. ISBN 978-986-05-5683-4 – via alilin.apc.gov.tw.
- Li, Paul Jen-kuei (1980). "The Phonological Rules of Atayal Dialects"(PDF). Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica. 51 (2): 349–405.
- Rau, D. V. (1992). A Grammar of Atayal (Ph.D. thesis). Cornell University. – Describes Squliq Atayal.
- Shih, P. (2008). Interrogative Constructions in Plngawan Atayal (M.A. thesis). National Taiwan Normal University.
- Valle, G. d. (1963). Handbook of Atayal: As It Is Spoken in Wufeng (Hsinchu Hsien). Taichung: Kuangchi Press.
- Mayrinax Atayal
- Huang, Lillian (2000a). Tàiyǎyǔ cānkǎo yǔfǎ泰雅語參考語法 [Atayal Language Reference Grammar] (in Chinese). Taipei: Yuanliou. – Describes Mayrinax Atayal
- Huang, Lillian M. (2000b). "Verb Classification in Mayrinax Atayal". Oceanic Linguistics. 39 (2): 364–390. doi:10.2307/3623428. JSTOR 3623428.
- Huang, Lillian M. (2001). "Focus System of Mayrinax Atayal: A Syntactic, Semantic and Pragmatic Perspective". Journal of Taiwan Normal University: Humanities & Social Science. 46 (1&2): 51–69. doi:10.6210/JNTNULL.2001.46.04.
- Huang, Lillian M. (2002). "Nominalization in Mayrinax Atayal"(PDF). Language and Linguistics. 3 (2): 197–225.
- Lu, Anne Yu-an (2005a). "Order and Interaction of Prefixes in Mayrinax Atayal"(PDF). UST Working Papers in Linguistics. 1: 295–310.
- Lu, Anne Yu-an (2005b). Mayrinax Phonology: With Special Reference to UM Affixation (M.A. thesis). National Tsing Hua University.
External links
- Rosetta Project: Atayal Swadesh list
- Ci'uli Atayal Wordlist at the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database
- Yuánzhùmínzú yǔyán xiànshàng cídiǎn 原住民族語言線上詞典(in Chinese) – Atayal search page at the "Aboriginal language online dictionary" website of the Council of Indigenous Peoples of Taiwan