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]
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.
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.[3]
^Li, Paul Jen-kuei (2004) [1998]. 台灣南島語言 [The Austronesian Languages of Taiwan]. In Li, Paul Jen-kuei (ed.). Selected Papers on Formosan Languages. Taipei, Taiwan: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica.
^Yeh, Marie Mei-li (n.d.), Nominalization in Saisiyat, Hsinchu, Taiwan: National Hsinchu University of Education
Zeitoun, Elizabeth; Chu, Tai-hwa; Lalo a tahesh Kaybaybaw (2015). A Study of Saisiyat Morphology. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press. ISBN978-0-8248-5042-5.
External links
Yuánzhùmínzú yǔyán xiànshàng cídiǎn 原住民族語言線上詞典(in Chinese) – Saisiyat search page at the "Aboriginal language online dictionary" website of the Indigenous Languages Research and Development Foundation
