Saisiyat language

Saisiyat (sometimes spelled Saisiat) is the language of the Saisiyat, a Taiwanese indigenous people. It is a Formosan language of the Austronesian family. It has approximately 4,750 speakers.

Saisiyat
SaiSiyat
Native to	Taiwan
Ethnicity	7,900
Native speakers	4,750 (2002)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Northwest Formosan Saisiyat
Dialects	Taai Tungho
Language codes
ISO 639-3	xsy
Glottolog	sais1237
ELP	Saisiyat
Saisiyat, Pazeh, and Kulon (pink, northwest). Some Chinese-language sources designate the white area in the northwest as a Kulon area, as opposed to the small pink circle on this map.[2]
Saisiyat is classified as severely endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Distribution

The language area of Saisiyat is small, situated in the northwest of the country between the Hakka Chinese and Atayal regions in the mountains (Wufeng, Hsinchu; Nanchuang and Shitan, Miaoli).

There are two main dialects: Ta'ai (North Saisiyat) and Tungho (South Saisiyat). Ta'ai is spoken in Hsinchu and Tungho is spoken in Miao-Li.

Kulon, an extinct Formosan language, is closely related to Saisiyat but is considered by Taiwanese linguist Paul Jen-kuei Li to be a separate language.

Usage

Today, one thousand Saisiyat people do not use the Saisiyat language. Many young people use Hakka or Atayal instead, and few children speak Saisiyat. Hakka Chinese speakers, Atayal speakers and Saisiyat speakers live more or less together. Many Saisiyat are able to speak Saisiyat, Hakka, Atayal, Mandarin, and, sometimes, Min Nan as well. Although Saisiyat has a relatively large number of speakers, the language is endangered.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonant inventory

	Labial		Alveolar		Post-alveolar		Dorsal		Glottal
Nasal		m		n				ŋ
Plosive	p		t				k		ʔ
Fricative			s	z	ʃ				h
Approximant		w		l		ɭ		j
Trill				r

Orthographic notes:

• /ɭ/ is a retroflex lateral approximant, while /ʃ/ is a palato-alveolar fricative.^[3]

Vowels

Monophthongs

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i
Close-mid			o
Mid		ə
Open-mid	œ
Open	æ	ä

Orthography

• a - [ä]
• ae - [æ]
• b - [β]
• e - [ə]
• ng - [ŋ]
• oe - [œ]
• s - [s/θ]
• S - [ʃ]
• y - [j]
• z - [z/ð]
• ' - [ʔ]
• aa/aː - [aː]
• ee/eː - [əː]
• ii/iː - [iː]^[4]

Grammar

Syntax

Although it also allows for verb-initial constructions,^[5] Saisiyat is a strongly subject-initial language (i.e., SVO), and is shifting to an accusative language, while it still has many features of split ergativity (Hsieh & Huang 2006:91). Pazeh and Thao, also Northern Formosan languages, are the only other Formosan languages that allow for SVO constructions.

Saisiyat's case-marking system distinguishes between personal and common nouns (Hsieh & Huang 2006:93).

Saisiyat case markers

Type of Noun	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative	Possessive	Locative
Personal	Ø, hi	hi	ni	'an-a	'ini'	kan, kala
Common	Ø, ka	ka	noka	'an noka-a	no	ray

Pronouns

Saisiyat has an elaborate pronominal system (Hsieh & Huang 2006:93).

Saisiyat personal pronouns

Type of Pronoun	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative	Possessive	Locative
1s.	yako/yao	yakin/'iyakin	ma'an	'iniman	'amana'a	kanman
2s.	So'o	'iso'on	niSo	'iniSo	'anso'o'a	kanSo
3s.	sia	hisia	nisia	'inisia	'ansiaa	kansia
1p. (incl.)	'ita	'inimita	mita'	'inimita'	'anmita'a	kan'ita
1p. (excl.)	yami	'iniya'om	niya'om	'iniya'om	'anya'oma	kanyami
2p.	moyo	'inimon	nimon	'inimon	'anmoyoa	kanmoyo
3p.	lasia	hilasia	nasia	'inilasia	'anlasiaa	kanlasia

Verbs

The following are verbal prefixes in Saisiyat (Hsieh & Huang 2006:93).

Saisiyat Focus System

Type of Focus	I	II
Agent Focus (AF)	m-, -om-, ma-, Ø	Ø
Patient Focus (PF)	-en	-i
Locative Focus (LF)	-an	—
Referential Focus (RF)	si-, sik-	-ani

Saisiyat verbs can be nominalized in the following ways.^[6]

Nominalization in Saisiyat

	Lexical nominalization	Syntactic nominalization	Temporal/Aspectual
Agent	ka-ma-V	ka-pa-V	Habitual, Future
Patient	ka-V-en, V-in-	ka-V-en, V-in-	Future (for ka-V-en), Perfective (for V-in-)
Location	ka-V-an	ka-V-an	Future
Instrument	ka-V, Ca-V (reduplication)	ka-V, Ca-V (reduplication)	Future

Lexicon

Saisiyat has had influence from Japanese due to the Japanese occupation of Taiwan and Mandarin due to the Taiwanese governments former encouragement of the language. It also contains influence from Hakka though this varies wildly between more isolated dialects with almost no Hakka influence and less isolated dialects with heavy Hakka influence.^[7]