Saisiyat language

Saisiyat 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.

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.
There are two main dialects: Ta'ai and Tungho. 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

Orthographic notes:

is a retroflex lateral approximant, while is a palato-alveolar fricative.

Orthography

a -
ae -
b -
e -
ng -
oe -
s -
S -
y -
z -
' -
aa/aː -
ee/eː -
ii/iː -

Grammar

Syntax

Although it also allows for verb-initial constructions, Saisiyat is a strongly subject-initial language, and is shifting to an accusative language, while it still has many features of split ergativity. 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.

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.

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.	'ita	'inimita	mita'	'inimita'	'anmita'a	kan'ita
1p.	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.

Type of Focus	I	II
Agent Focus	m-, -om-, ma-, Ø	Ø
Patient Focus	-en	-i
Locative Focus	-an	—
Referential Focus	si-, sik-	-ani

Saisiyat verbs can be nominalized in the following ways.

	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, Perfective
Location	ka-V-an	ka-V-an	Future
Instrument	ka-V, Ca-V	ka-V, Ca-V	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.