Paiwan language

Paiwan is a native language

Language

Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...

 of Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

, spoken by the Paiwan people

Paiwan

The Paiwan are an aboriginal tribe of Taiwan. They speak the Paiwan language. In the year 2000 the Paiwan numbered 70,331. This was approximately 17.7% of Taiwan's total indigenous population, making them the third-largest tribal group....

, one tribe of the Taiwanese aborigines

Taiwanese aborigines

Taiwanese aborigines is the term commonly applied in reference to the indigenous peoples of Taiwan. Although Taiwanese indigenous groups hold a variety of creation myths, recent research suggests their ancestors may have been living on the islands for approximately 8,000 years before major Han...

. Paiwan is a Formosan language

Formosan languages

The Formosan languages are the languages of the indigenous peoples of Taiwan. Taiwanese aborigines currently comprise about 2% of the island's population. However, far fewer can still speak their ancestral language, after centuries of language shift...

 of the Austronesian language family

Austronesian languages

The Austronesian languages are a language family widely dispersed throughout the islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, with a few members spoken on continental Asia that are spoken by about 386 million people. It is on par with Indo-European, Niger-Congo, Afroasiatic and Uralic as one of the...

. The number of speakers is estimated to be 66,000.

Dialects

Paiwan variants can be divided into the following dialect zones (Ferrell 1982:4–6).

• A1 – southern and central
  • Kuɬaɬau (Kulalao) – used in Ferrell's 1982 Paiwan Dictionary due to its widespread intelligibility and preservation of various phonemic distinctions; also spoken in Tjuabar Village, Taitung County
    Taitung County
    Taitung County is a county in eastern Taiwan. The name means "Eastern Taiwan". Taitung County is also known as 後山 by many of the locals, meaning behind the mountains or the back mountains. Taitung is officially administered as a county of Taiwan, Republic of China.Taitung runs along the south east...
    
    , where Tjariḍik and "Tjuabar" (closely related to Tjavuaɬi) are also spoken.
  • Kapaiwanan (Su-Paiwan)
  • Tjuaqatsiɬay (Kachirai) – southernmost dialect
• A2 – central
  • ɬarəkrək (Riki-riki)
  • Patjavaɬ (Ta-niao-wan)
• B1 – northernmost
  • Tjukuvuɬ (Tokubun)
  • Kaviangan (Kapiyan)
• B2 – northwestern
  • Tjaɬakavus (Chalaabus, Lai-yi)
  • Makazayazaya (Ma-chia)
• B3 – east-central
  • Tjariḍik (Charilik)
• B4 – eastern
  • Tjavuaɬi (Taimali)
  • Tjakuvukuvuɬ (Naibon, Chaoboobol)

Phonology

Kuɬaɬau Paiwan has 23–24 consonants (/h/ is found only in loanwords, and /ʔ/ is uncommon) and 4 vowels (Ferrell 1982:7). Unlike many other Formosan languages

Formosan languages

The Formosan languages are the languages of the indigenous peoples of Taiwan. Taiwanese aborigines currently comprise about 2% of the island's population. However, far fewer can still speak their ancestral language, after centuries of language shift...

that have merged many Proto-Austronesian phonemes, Paiwan preserves most Proto-Austronesian phonemes and is thus highly important for reconstruction purposes.

The four Paiwan vowels are /i ə a u/. /ə/ is written e in the literature.

Kuɬaɬau Paiwan consonants

	labial	alveolar	retroflex	palatal	velar	uvular	glottal
nasal	m	n			ŋ
plosive	p b	t d	ɖ	c ɟ	k ɡ	q	ʔ
affricate		ts
fricative	v	s z					(h)
trill		r
approximant	w	l ɬ		j

Central Paiwan consonants

	labial	alveolar	retroflex	palatal	velar	uvular	glottal
nasal	m	n			ŋ
plosive	p b	t d	ɖ	c ɟ	k ɡ	q	ʔ
affricate		ts ~ tʃ
fricative	v	s z					(h)
trill~ fricative		r ~ ɣ
approximant	ʋ		ɭ	ʎ j

In Northern Paiwan the palatal consonants have been lost, though this is recent and a few conservative speakers maintain them as allophonic variants (not as distinct phonemes). /ʔ/ is robust, unlike in other Paiwan dialects where its status is uncertain, as it derives from *q.

Northern Paiwan (Sandimen) consonants

	labial	alveolar	retroflex	palatal	velar	glottal
nasal	m	n			ŋ
plosive	p b	t d	ɖ		k ɡ	ʔ
affricate		ts
fricative	v	s z				(h)
trill~ fricative		r
approximant	w	l~ʎ	ɭ	j

Southern Paiwan (Mudan) consonants

	labial	alveolar	retroflex	palatal	velar	uvular	glottal
nasal	m	n			ŋ
plosive	p b	t d	ɖ	c ɟ	k ɡ	q	ʔ
affricate		ts
fricative	v	s z			ɣ ~ r		(h)
approximant	w		ɭ	ʎ j

Younger speakers tend to pronounce /ʎ/ as [l]. Fricative [ɣ] is characteristic of Mudan village; elsewhere is Southern Paiwan it tends to be a trill [r], though it still varies [r ~ ɣ ~ ʁ ~ h]. Word-initial *k has become /ʔ/.

Pronouns

The Paiwan personal pronouns below are from Ferrell (1982:14).

Paiwan Personal Pronouns

Type of Pronoun	Equational	Genitive	Non-Eq., Non-Gen.
1s.	-aken, ti-aken	ku-, ni-aken	tjanu-aken
2s.	-sun, ti-sun	su-, ni-sun	tjanu-sun
3s.	ti-madju	ni-madju	tjai-madju
1p. (incl.)	-itjen, ti-tjen	tja-, ni-tjen	tjanu-itjen
1p. (excl.)	-amen, ti-amen	nia-, ni-amen	tjanu-amen
2p.	-mun, t-mun	nu-, ni-mun	tjanu-mun
3p.	ti-a-madju	ni-a-madju	tjai-a-madju

Function words

Paiwan has 3 construction markers, which are also known as relational particles (Ferrell 1982:13).

1. a – shows equational relationship; personal sing. = ti, personal plural = tia
2. nua – shows genitive / partitive relationship; personal sing. = ni, personal plural = nia
3. tua – shows that the relationship is neither equational nor genitive; personal sing. = tjai, personal plural = tjaia

Other words include:

• i – be at, in (place)
• nu – if when
• na – already (definitely) done/doing or have become
• uri – definite future negative marker
• uri – definite future marker
• ɬa – emphasis, setting apart

Affixed adverbials include (Ferrell 1982:14):

• -tiaw
  • nu-tiaw: tomorrow
  • ka-tiaw: yesterday
• -sawni
  • nu-sawni: soon, in a little while (future)
  • ka-sawni: a little while ago
• -ngida
  • nu-ngida: when? (future)
  • ka-ngida: when? (past)

Interjections include (Ferrell 1982:12):

• ui – yes
• ini- no (not do)
• neka – no, not (not exist)
• ai – oh! (surprise, wonder)
• ai ḍivá – alas!
• uá – oh! (surprise, taken aback)
• ai ḍaḍá – ouch! (pain)

Verbs

Paiwan verbs have 4 types of focus (Ferrell 1982:30).

1. Agent/Actor
2. Object/Goal/Patient
3. Referent: spatial/temporal locus, indirect object, beneficiary
4. Instrument/Cause/Motivation/Origin

The following verbal affixes are used to express varying degrees of volition or intent, and are arranged below from highest to lowest intention (Ferrell 1982:37).

1. ki- (intentional)
2. pa- (intentional)
3. -m- (volitionally ambiguous)
4. si- (volitionally ambiguous)
5. ma- (non-intentional)
6. se- (non-intentional)

Paiwan verbs can also take on the following non-derivational suffixes (Ferrell 1982:13).

• -anga: "certainly," "truly doing"
• -angata: "definitely" (emphatic)
• -anga: "still, yet, continuing to"

Affixes

The Paiwan affixes below are from the Kulalao dialect unless stated otherwise, and are sourced from Ferrell (1982:15–27).
Prefixes

• ka-: used as an inchoative marker with some stems; past marker
• ka- -an: principal, main
• kaɬa- -an: time/place characterized by something
• ma-ka-: go past, via; having finished
• pa-ka-: go/cause to go by way of (something/place)
• ka-si-: come from
• ken(e)-: eat, drink, consume
• ki-: get, obtain
• ku-: my; I (as agent of non-agent focus verb)
• ɬa-: belonging to a given [plant/animal] category
• ɬe-: to go in the direction of
• ɬia-: (have) come to be in/at
• li-: have quality of
• ma-: be affected by, be in condition of (involuntary)
• mare-: having reciprocal relationship
• mare-ka-: in some general category
• maɬe-: number of persons
• me-: agent marker usually involving change of status (used with certain verbs)
• mere-: be gigantic, super-
• mi-: agent marker that is usually intransitive (used with certain verbs)
• mi- -an: pretend, claim
• mu-: agent marker (certain verbs)
• ka-na- -anga: every
• pa-: to cause to be/occur
• pe-: emerge, come into view
• pi-: put in/on; do something to
• pu-: have or produce; acquire
• pu- -an: place where something is put or kept
• ma-pu-: do nothing except ...
• ra-: having to do with
• r-m-a-: do at/during
• r-m-a- -an: do at/in
• sa-: wish to; go to, in direction of; have odor, quality, flavor of
• pa-sa-: transfer something to; nearly, be on point of doing
• ki-sa-: use, utilize, employ
• na-sa-: perhaps, most likely is
• san(e)-: construct, work on/in
• ki-sane(e)-: become/act as; one who acts as
• ru-: do frequently/habitually; have many of
• se-: people of (village/nation); have quality of; occur suddenly/unexpectedly/unintentionally
• s-ar-e-: be in state/condition of (involuntary)
• si-: be instrument/cause/beneficiary of; instrument focus marker; belonging to certain time in past
• ma-si-: carry, transport
• su-: your; you (agent of non-agent focus verb); leave, remove, desist from
• ki-su-: remove or have removed from oneself
• ta-: past marker
• tu-: similar to, like
• ma-ru-: be dissimilar but of same size
• tja-: our, we (inclusive); more, to a greater extent, further
• ki-tja-: take along for use
• tjaɬa- -an: most, -est
• tjara-: be definitely
• tjaɬu-: reach/extend as far as
• tjari-: furthest, utmost
• tja-u-: to have just done
• tje-: choose to do at/from
• ka-tje- -an: containing
• tji-: used mainly in plant/animal species names (non-Kulalao frozen affix)
• tji-a-: be/remain at
• tju-: do/use separately; be/do at certain place
• m-uri-: search for

Infixes

• -aɬ-, -al-, -ar-: having sound or quality of; involving use of; non-Kulalao
• -ar-: do indiscriminately, on all sides; non-Kulalao
• -m-: agent or actor; -n- following /p/, /b/, /v/, /m/; m- before vowel-initial words
• -in-: perfective marker, action already begun or accomplished, object or product of past action; in- before vowel-initial words

Suffixes

• -an: specific location in time/space; specific one/type; referent focus
• -en: object/goal of action; object focus
• -aw, -ay: projected or intended action, referent focus
• -u: agent focus (most subordinate clauses); most peremptory imperative
• -i: object focus (most subordinate clauses); polite imperative
• -ɬ: things in sequence; groupings; durations of time

The following affixes are from the Tjuabar dialect of Paiwan, spoken in the northwest areas of Paiwan-occupied territory (Comparative Austronesian Dictionary 1995).
Nouns

• -aḷ-, -al^y- 'tiny things'
• -in- 'things made from plant roots'
• -an 'place' (always used with another affix)
• mar(ə)- 'a pair of' (used for humans only'
• pu- 'rich'
• ḳay- 'vegetation'
• sə- 'inhabitants'
• cua- 'name of a tribe'

Verbs

• -aŋa 'already done'
• ka- 'to complete'
• kə- 'to do something oneself'
• ki- 'to do something to oneself'
• kisu- 'to get rid of'
• kicu- 'to do something separately'
• maCa- 'to do something reciprocally' (where C indicates the initial consonant of the stem)
• mə- 'to experience, to be something'
• pa- 'to cause someone to do something'
• pu- 'to produce, to get something'
• sa- 'to be willing to do something'
• cal^yu- 'to arrive at'

Adjectives

• ma- 'being'
• na- 'with the quality of'
• səcal^yi- 'very'
• ca- 'more than'