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 an Austronesian language 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
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Several works on the language, including several reference grammars, have been published. In 1980 an Atayal–English dictionary was published by Søren Egerod.[3] A translation of the Bible into Atayal was completed in 2003.[4] Atayal was one of the source languages of Yilan Creole Japanese.[5]
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.[6][7]
Dialects
Atayal dialects can be classified under two dialects groups: Squliq and C’uli’ (Ts’ole’).[8][9]
There are 7 Atayal dialects according to Goderich (2020).[10]
Squliq: prestige dialect, most widespread
S’uli (澤敖利泰雅語): spoken in Hsinchu County (including in both Jianshi 尖石鄉 and Wufeng 五峰鄉 Townships), and also along the Da'an River (大安溪) between Miaoli County and Taichung City
Klesan (or C’uli’; 宜蘭澤敖利): historically lived around Mount Nanhu (南湖大山), but were relocated by the Japanese during the early 1900s. Currently, spoken about 40 km north and east of Mount Nanhu, in the villages of Pyahaw (碧候), Ropoy (金岳), Ləlaŋan/Buta (武塔), Iyu (東澳), and Kəŋyan (金洋).
Matu’uwal (or Mayrinax; 汶水泰雅語): spoken in three villages along the Rinax River (汶水溪) in Tai'an Township (泰安鄉), Miaoli County, including in Qing'an Village (清安村) and Jinshui Village (錦水村).
Plngawan: (萬大泰雅語) is spoken in Sasi tribal village (親愛部落) in Ren'ai Township, Nantou County. Merged from three villages during the 1900s by the Japanese after they were relocated.
Skikun (四季泰雅語): is spoken in at least two villages, Skikun tribal village (四季部落) and Mnawyan tribal village (碼崙部落), in Datong Township, Yilan County.
Matu’aw (or Matabalay according to Li 1981[11]): spoken in Maymaralas (南灣) and Matabalay (榮安) villages in Daxing Administrative Village (大興村), Tai'an (泰安鄉), Miaoli County.
Goderich (2020:193) classifies the Atayal dialects as follows, and also reconstructs over 1,000 words for Proto-Atayal.[10]
Atayal
Northern Atayal
Matu’uwal
Nuclear Northern Atayal
Skikun
Squliq
Southern Atayal
Plngawan
Nuclear Southern Atayal
Klesan
Southwestern Atayal
S’uli
Matu’aw
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.[7] 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 /tʃʃʒ/.
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/).[12]
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⟩.
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).[13]
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.
Dynamic and stative verbal prefixes run along a continuum. Here, they are listed from most dynamic to most stative.[13]
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).
Mayrinax Atayal Case Markers
Case
Nominative
Accusative
Genitive/ Oblique
Comitative
Proper noun
ʔiʔ
ʔiʔ
niʔ
kiʔ
Common noun
referential
kuʔ
ckuʔ
nkuʔ
–
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).
Wulai Atayal Case Markers
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).
Wulai Atayal Personal Pronouns
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
Mayrinax Atayal Personal Pronouns
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-.
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. ISBN978-986-05-5683-4. Archived from the original on 2021-06-13. Retrieved 2021-06-10 – via alilin.apc.gov.tw.