Kavalan language
Encyclopedia
Kavalan was formerly spoken in the Northeast coast area of Taiwan by the Kavalan people
(噶瑪蘭). It is an East Formosan language of the Austronesian
family.
Kavalan is no longer spoken in its original area. As of 1930, it was used only as a home language
. As of 1987, it was still spoken in Atayal territories. In 2000, this language was still reported to be spoken by 24 speakers but considered moribund.
These speech communities in eastern Taiwan were named after older settlements from the north, such as Kariawan, Sahut, and Tamayan, where the Kavalan people originally migrated from. Modern-day Kavalan speakers are surrounded by the Amis.
Many Kavalan can also speak Amis, Taiwanese, Mandarin, and Japanese (Li 2006:1).
phonemes have merged as follows:
The following Proto-Austronesian phonemes are split:
The Kavalan language is also notable for having a large inventory of consonant clusters. It is also one of the only two Formosan languages that has geminate consonants
, with the other one being Basay (Blust 2009:642). Consonant gemination is also common in the northern Philippine languages
, but is non-existent in the Central Philippine languages
except for Rinconada Bikol (Blust 2009:220).
In total, there are 16 consonants and 4 vowels.
Kavalan nouns and verbs are distinguished by the lack of /a/ in the first syllable (nouns) or presence of /a/ (verbs). Kavalan syllables take on the structure (C)(C)V(C)(C) (Li 2006:5). Kavalan is also one of two Formosan languages to have geminating
consonants.
Kavalan affixes include:
Unlike many other Formosan languages, there is no *-en suffix.
Types of focus in Kavalan include (Li 2006:26-27):
The Kavalan case markers below are from Li (2006:27).
Prefixes
Suffixes
Infixes
Kavalan people
The Kavalan or Kuvalan are an indigenous people of Taiwan, part of the larger Taiwanese aborigine ethnic group. The Kavalan originally inhabited modern-day Yilan County. Most of them moved to the coastal area of Hualien County and Taitung County in the 19th century...
(噶瑪蘭). It is an East Formosan language of the Austronesian
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...
family.
Kavalan is no longer spoken in its original area. As of 1930, it was used only as a home language
Home language
Following a widely accepted definition by Valdes , a heritage language is a language that is acquired by individuals raised in homes where the dominant language of the region, such as English in the United States, is not spoken or not exclusively spoken...
. As of 1987, it was still spoken in Atayal territories. In 2000, this language was still reported to be spoken by 24 speakers but considered moribund.
Dialects
Kavalan consists the following speech communities ordered from north to south (Li 2006:1):- Kariawan (Jialiwan 加禮宛) - near Hualien, a formerly Sakizaya-speaking area
- PatRungan (Xinshe 新社) - located in FungpinFengbin, HualienFengbin is a rural township located in Hualien County, Taiwan, connected with Taitung County. The East is faced Pacific Ocean and the West is Haian Range. It has the least population around 5,000 inhabitants in Hualien County.-Transportation:...
(豐濱鄉), HualienHualien CountyHualien County is the largest county in Taiwan and is located on the mountainous eastern coast of Taiwan. It contains the island's largest port. It is the starting point of the Hualien-Taitung Line and the terminal point of North-Link Line of TRA... - Kulis (Lide 立德)
- Kralut (Zhangyuan 樟原)
These speech communities in eastern Taiwan were named after older settlements from the north, such as Kariawan, Sahut, and Tamayan, where the Kavalan people originally migrated from. Modern-day Kavalan speakers are surrounded by the Amis.
Many Kavalan can also speak Amis, Taiwanese, Mandarin, and Japanese (Li 2006:1).
Phonology
In Kavalan, Proto-AustronesianProto-Austronesian language
The Proto-Austronesian language is the reconstructed ancestor of the Austronesian languages, one of the world's major language families. However, Ross notes that what may be the most divergent languages, Tsou, Rukai, and Puyuma, are not addressed by the reconstructions, which therefore cannot...
phonemes have merged as follows:
- *n, *N, *j, *ɲ as n
- *t, *T, *c as t
- *d, *D, *Z as z
- *s, *S as s
- *q, *ʔ, *H are deleted
The following Proto-Austronesian phonemes are split:
- *k into q and k
- *l into r and R
- *a into *i (if adjacent to q) and *a
The Kavalan language is also notable for having a large inventory of consonant clusters. It is also one of the only two Formosan languages that has geminate consonants
Gemination
In phonetics, gemination happens when a spoken consonant is pronounced for an audibly longer period of time than a short consonant. Gemination is distinct from stress and may appear independently of it....
, with the other one being Basay (Blust 2009:642). Consonant gemination is also common in the northern Philippine languages
Northern Philippine languages
The Northern Philippine languages are the languages of central and northern Luzon, and the small islands between Luzon and Formosa, including Ilokano, Pangasinan, Kapampangan, and the Yami language of Taiwan....
, but is non-existent in the Central Philippine languages
Central Philippine languages
The Central Philippine languages are the most geographically widespread demonstrated group of languages in the Philippines, being spoken in southern Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao, and Sulu. They are also the most populous, including Tagalog , Bikol, and the major Visayan languages Cebuano, Hiligaynon,...
except for Rinconada Bikol (Blust 2009:220).
Morphology
The Kavalan phonemic inventory is as follows (Li 2006:3):- True consonants: /p, t, k, q, s, z, b, R, m, n, ng, l, r/
- Semivowels: /w, y/
- Glottal stop: /'/
- Vowels: /i, u, e, a/
In total, there are 16 consonants and 4 vowels.
Kavalan nouns and verbs are distinguished by the lack of /a/ in the first syllable (nouns) or presence of /a/ (verbs). Kavalan syllables take on the structure (C)(C)V(C)(C) (Li 2006:5). Kavalan is also one of two Formosan languages to have geminating
Gemination
In phonetics, gemination happens when a spoken consonant is pronounced for an audibly longer period of time than a short consonant. Gemination is distinct from stress and may appear independently of it....
consonants.
Kavalan affixes include:
- m- (agent focus)
- -um-/-m- (agent focus)
- -in/-n- as variants of ni- (patient)
- -a (irrealis patient-focus marker)
- -an (locative-focus marker, nominalizer)
- -i (imperative, patient focus)
- pa- (causative)
- qa- (future)
Unlike many other Formosan languages, there is no *-en suffix.
Syntax
Kavalan, like most other Formosan and Philippine languages, has many case markers.- Nominative: a/ya
- Oblique: ta, tu
- Genitive: na, ni
- Locative: sa, ta- -an
Types of focus in Kavalan include (Li 2006:26-27):
- Agent
- Patient
- Locative
- Instrumental
- Beneficiary
The Kavalan case markers below are from Li (2006:27).
| Case | Nominative | Oblique | Genitive | Locative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Common | a, ya | tu | na | sa, ta- -an |
| Personal | a, ya | ta | ni | - |
Pronouns
The Kavalan Personal pronouns below are from Li (2006:30).| Type of Pronoun |
Nominative | Genitive | Oblique | Locative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1s. | aiku, =iku | zaku, -ku | timaiku | tamaikuan |
| 2s. | aisu, =isu | zasu, -su | timaisu | tamaisuan |
| 3s. | aizipna tiyau | zana, -na | timaizipna tiyau | tamaizipan tiyauan |
| 1p. (incl.) | aita, =ita | zata, -ta, -kita | timaita | tamaitan |
| 1p. (excl.) | aimi, =imi | zanyaq, -nyaq | timaimi | tamaimian |
| 2p. | aimu, =imu | zanumi, -numi | timaimu | tamaimuan |
| 3p. | qaniyau | zana, -na | qaniyau | taqaniyauan |
Affixes
The Kavalan affixes below are from Li (2006:14-24).Prefixes
- i-: stative, having to do with location
- kar-: rapid motion; defective, not perfect
- ki-, qi-: pluck, pidl
- kin-: number of humans
- lu-: flat
- luq(e)-: bumpy, rough (used with stative verbs)
- m-, -m-, mu-, -u-, -um-: agent-focus
- ma-, m-: stative
- maq-: where from
- mar-: sine kind of shape
- mi-: discharge something from the body
- mri-: settle down; to shrink, huddle up
- mrim-: a division of (a numeral)
- nan-: two people (kinship); distributive numeral
- ni-, n-, -in-, -n-: past, perfective
- pa-: causative (used with active verbs)
- pa- -an: agentive
- pa-ti: personal marker for the dead
- paq-, paqa-: causative (used with stative verbs)
- paq-: get on (a boat)
- pa-qi-: cause to become
- pat-: make a change
- pi-: put into, put away; do something to protect a body part; every (time)
- qa-: immediate future; ride, take (means of transportation)
- qa- -an: place of/for
- qaRu-: become, transform into; transformable into
- qi-: pick, gather, get
- qna-: nominaizer (used with stative verbs; -an is used with active verbs)
- Ra-: to transform into
- Ra-CV-: light color of
- Ri-: catch, get
- Ru-: just now; for the first time
- sa-: have the event (natural phenomena); do, make, produce, have; secrete (body fluid); tool
- sam-CV-: pretend
- saqa-: ordinal (numeral)
- si-: wear, own, possess
- sia-: go towards (place/direction); go to the side (often euphemistic for urinating/defecating)
- sim-: reciprocal
- siqa-: (number of) times
- smu-: finger
- sna-: model of, copy of
- su-: remove; move downwards, upside down, slanting
- su-CV-: stink or smell of
- tan-: speak the language
- taRi-: position, people in such a position
- ti-: instrumental-focus; to take eacher other (?)
- ti- (-an): beneficiary-focus
- tRi-CV(C)- (-an): discharge (body discharge) with control
- u-: agent-focus; non-human numeral
Suffixes
- -a: irrealis patient-focus marker
- -an: locative-focus marker, nominalizer
- -i: irrealis non-agent-focus imperative
Infixes
- -m-, -um-: agent-focus
- -n-, -in-, ni-: perfective
General references
- Paul Jen-kuei Li (李壬癸) and Shigeru Tsuchida (土田滋) (2006) Kavalan Dictionary. Language and Linguistics Monograph Series A-19. ISBN 978-986-00-6993-8.
- Blust, Robert. 2009. The Austronesian Languages. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University. ISBN 0858836025, 978-0858836020.