Pazeh language
Encyclopedia
Pazeh is the language of the Pazeh
, a Taiwanese aboriginal people
). It is a Formosan language of the Austronesian languages
language family. Kulun was a dialect. There was only one remaining native speaker of Pazeh proper, 96-year-old Pan Jin-yu
. Since her death, however, the language is extinct
. Pan Jin-yu
offered Pazeh classes to about 200 regular students in Puli and there were also fewer students in Miaoli and Taichung.
s (-ay, -aw, -uy, -iw).
While Pazeh contrasts voiced and voiceless obstruents, this contrast is neutralized in final position for labial and velar plosives, where only /p/ and /k/ occur respectively (/d/ is also de-voiced but a contrast is maintained). /l/ and /n/ are also neutralized to the latter. Voiceless plosives are unreleased in final position.
Mid vowels ([ɛ] and [o]) are allophones of close vowels (/i/ and /u/ respectively).
} → [mu.ta.pɛ.taˈpɛh] ('keep clapping').
/a/ is somewhat advanced and raised when adjacent to /i/. Prevocally, high vowels are semivocalized. Most coronal consonants block this, although it still occurs after /s/. Semivowels also appear post-vocally.
intervocalic voiceless stops are voiced before a morpheme boundary (but not following one) . Stress falls on the ultimate syllable.
phonemes (Li 2001:7).
Pazih also split some Proto-Austronesian phonemes:
, Seediq
, Squliq Atayal
, Mantauran Rukai
, and the Tsouic languages
, Pazeh does not distinguish between common nouns and personal names, while Saisiyat does (Li 2000). Although closely related to Saisiyat, the Pazeh language does not have the infix -um-, which is present in Saisiyat.
es, infix
es, suffix
es, and circumfix
es, as well as reduplication. Pazeh also has "focus-marking" in its verbal morphology. In addition, verbs can be either stative or dynamic.
There are four types of focus in Pazeh (Li 2000).
The following affixes are used in Pazeh verbs (Li 2000).
The following are also used to mark aspect (Li 2000).
Prefixes
Infixes
Suffixes
There are four case markers in Pazeh (Li 2000).
Pazeh has the following negators (Li 2001:46).
that do not have a bipartite numerical system consisting of both human and non-human numerals (Li 2006). Pazeh is also the only language that forms the numerals 6 to 9 by addition (However, Saisiyat, which is closely related to Pazeh, expresses the number 6 as 5 + 1, and 9 as 10 − 1.)
The number "five" in Pazeh, xasep, is similar to Saisiyat Laseb, Taokas hasap, Babuza nahup, and Hoanya hasip (Li 2006). Li (2006) believes that the similarity is more likely because of borrowing rather than common origin. Laurent Sagart
considers these numerals to be ancient retentions from Proto-Austronesian, but Paul Jen-kuei Li
considers them to be local innovations. Unlike Pazeh, these plains aboriginal languages, as well as the Atayalic languages
, use 2 × 4 to express the number 8. (The Atayalic languages
, as well as Thao
, also use 2 × 3 to express the number 6.) Saisiyat, Thao, Taokas, Babuza use 10 − 1 to express 9, while Saisiyat uses 5 + 1 to express 6 as Pazeh does. The Ilongot language
of the Philippines also derives numerals in the same manner as Pazeh does (Blust 2009:273).
Furthermore, numerals can function as both nouns and verbs in all Formosan languages
, including Pazeh.
Pazeh people
The Pazeh people, including the Kaxabu, are the descendants of the Tsouic Pazeh speaking indigenous people from the central Taiwanese areas of Taichung and Miaoli...
, a Taiwanese aboriginal people
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...
). It is a Formosan language of the Austronesian languages
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...
language family. Kulun was a dialect. There was only one remaining native speaker of Pazeh proper, 96-year-old Pan Jin-yu
Pan Jin-yu
Pan Jin-yu was the last remaining speaker of the Pazeh language of Taiwan. She was born the fifth of six children in 1914 to Kaxabu-speaking parents in Puli. Later, she was adopted by parents who were Pazeh speakers living in Auran village , which is now part of Puli township. She was said to be...
. Since her death, however, the language is extinct
Extinct language
An extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers., or that is no longer in current use. Extinct languages are sometimes contrasted with dead languages, which are still known and used in special contexts in written form, but not as ordinary spoken languages for everyday communication...
. Pan Jin-yu
Pan Jin-yu
Pan Jin-yu was the last remaining speaker of the Pazeh language of Taiwan. She was born the fifth of six children in 1914 to Kaxabu-speaking parents in Puli. Later, she was adopted by parents who were Pazeh speakers living in Auran village , which is now part of Puli township. She was said to be...
offered Pazeh classes to about 200 regular students in Puli and there were also fewer students in Miaoli and Taichung.
Phonology
Pazeh has 17 consonants, 4 vowels, and 4 diphthongDiphthong
A diphthong , also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: That is, the tongue moves during the pronunciation of the vowel...
s (-ay, -aw, -uy, -iw).
| Labial Labial consonant Labial consonants are consonants in which one or both lips are the active articulator. This precludes linguolabials, in which the tip of the tongue reaches for the posterior side of the upper lip and which are considered coronals... |
Coronal Coronal consonant Coronal consonants are consonants articulated with the flexible front part of the tongue. Only the coronal consonants can be divided into apical , laminal , domed , or subapical , as well as a few rarer orientations, because only the front of the tongue has such... 1 |
Palatal Palatal consonant Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate... |
Velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum).... |
Glottal Glottal consonant Glottal consonants, also called laryngeal consonants, are consonants articulated with the glottis. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the so-called fricative, to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other consonants have; in fact, some do not consider... |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :... |
m | n | ŋ | ||
| Stop Stop consonant In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or an oral stop, is a stop consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. The occlusion may be done with the tongue , lips , and &... |
p b | t d | k ɡ3 | (ʔ)2 | |
| Fricative Fricative consonant Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or... |
s z4 | x | h5 | ||
| Rhotic Rhotic consonant In phonetics, rhotic consonants, also called tremulants or "R-like" sounds, are liquid consonants that are traditionally represented orthographically by symbols derived from the Greek letter rho, including "R, r" from the Roman alphabet and "Р, p" from the Cyrillic alphabet... |
ɾ | ||||
| Approximant Approximant consonant Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough or with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no... |
l | j | w |
- /t/ and /d/ do not actually share the same place of articulationPlace of articulationIn articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation of a consonant is the point of contact where an obstruction occurs in the vocal tract between an articulatory gesture, an active articulator , and a passive location...
; /d/ is alveolarAlveolar consonantAlveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth...
or prealveolar and /t/ (as well as /n/) is interdentalInterdental consonantInterdental consonants are produced by placing the blade of the tongue against the upper incisors...
. Other coronal consonants tend to be prealveolar or post-dental. - The distribution for the glottal stopGlottal stopThe glottal stop, or more fully, the voiceless glottal plosive, is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. In English, the feature is represented, for example, by the hyphen in uh-oh! and by the apostrophe or [[ʻokina]] in Hawaii among those using a preservative pronunciation of...
is allophonic, appearing only between like vowels, before initial vowels, and after final vowels. It is also largely absent in normal speech - /ɡ/ is spirantized intervocalically
- /z/ is actually an alveolar/prealveolar affricateAffricate consonantAffricates are consonants that begin as stops but release as a fricative rather than directly into the following vowel.- Samples :...
[dz] and only occurs as a syllable onset. - /h/ varies between glottal and pharyngealPharyngeal consonantA pharyngeal consonant is a type of consonant which is articulated with the root of the tongue against the pharynx.-Pharyngeal consonants in the IPA:Pharyngeal consonants in the International Phonetic Alphabet :...
realizations ([ħ]) and is sometimes difficult to distinguish from /x/
While Pazeh contrasts voiced and voiceless obstruents, this contrast is neutralized in final position for labial and velar plosives, where only /p/ and /k/ occur respectively (/d/ is also de-voiced but a contrast is maintained). /l/ and /n/ are also neutralized to the latter. Voiceless plosives are unreleased in final position.
| Front Front vowel A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also... |
Central Central vowel A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a central vowel is that the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel... |
Back Back vowel A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark... |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Close Close vowel A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.This term is prescribed by the... |
i | u | |
| Mid Mid vowel A mid vowel is a vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned mid-way between an open vowel and a close vowel... |
(ɛ) | ə | (o) |
| Open Open vowel An open vowel is defined as a vowel sound in which the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth. Open vowels are sometimes also called low vowels in reference to the low position of the tongue... |
a |
Mid vowels ([ɛ] and [o]) are allophones of close vowels (/i/ and /u/ respectively).
- Both lower when adjacent to /h/. lowers before /ŋ/. [u] and [o] are in free variation before /ɾ/
- ReduplicatedReduplicationReduplication in linguistics is a morphological process in which the root or stem of a word is repeated exactly or with a slight change....
morphemes carry the phonetic vowel even when the reduplicated vowel is not in the phonological context for lowering.
} → [mu.ta.pɛ.taˈpɛh] ('keep clapping').
/a/ is somewhat advanced and raised when adjacent to /i/. Prevocally, high vowels are semivocalized. Most coronal consonants block this, although it still occurs after /s/. Semivowels also appear post-vocally.
Phonotactics
The most common morpheme structure is CVCVC where C is any consonant and V is any vowel. Consonant clusters are rare and consist only of a nasal plus a homorganic obstruent or the glide element of a diphthong.intervocalic voiceless stops are voiced before a morpheme boundary (but not following one) . Stress falls on the ultimate syllable.
Sound changes
The Pazih language merged the following 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 (Li 2001:7).
*C, *S > s *D, *Z > d *k, *g > k *j, *s > z *S 2, *H > h*N, *ñ > l *r, *R > x
Pazih also split some Proto-Austronesian phonemes:
*S > s (merged with *C) ; *S2, *H > h*w > ø, w *e > e, u
Grammar
Like BununBunun language
The Bunun language is spoken by the Bunun people of Taiwan. It is one of the Formosan languages, a geographic group of Austronesian languages, and is subdivided in five dialects: Isbukun, Takbunuaz, Takivatan, Takibaka and Takituduh. Isbukun, the dominant dialect, is mainly spoken in the south of...
, Seediq
Seediq language
Seediq is an Atayalic language spoken in the mountains of Northern Taiwan by the Seediq and Truku people. There are 4,750 speakers out of a total of 25,000 ethnic members .-Subdivisions:Seediq consists of three main dialects...
, Squliq Atayal
Atayal language
The Atayal language is spoken by the Atayal people of Taiwan. Squliq and C’uli’ are two major dialects...
, Mantauran Rukai
Rukai language
Rukai is the mother tongue of the Rukai, one indigenous people of Taiwan . It is a divergent Formosan language of the Austronesian languages language family. There are some 10,000 speakers, some monolingual. There are several dialects, of which Mantauran, Tona, and Maga are divergent.Rukai is...
, and the Tsouic languages
Tsouic languages
The Tsouic languages are three Formosan languages, Tsou proper and the Southern languages Kanakanabu and Saaroa. The Southern Tsouic languages of Kanakanabu and Saaroa have the smallest phonemic inventories out of all the Formosan languages, with each language having only 13 consonants and 4 vowels...
, Pazeh does not distinguish between common nouns and personal names, while Saisiyat does (Li 2000). Although closely related to Saisiyat, the Pazeh language does not have the infix -um-, which is present in Saisiyat.
Morphology
Pazeh makes ready use of affixAffix
An affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word. Affixes may be derivational, like English -ness and pre-, or inflectional, like English plural -s and past tense -ed. They are bound morphemes by definition; prefixes and suffixes may be separable affixes...
es, infix
Infix
An infix is an affix inserted inside a word stem . It contrasts with adfix, a rare term for an affix attached to the end of a stem, such as a prefix or suffix.-Indonesian:...
es, suffix
Suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
es, and circumfix
Circumfix
A circumfix is an affix, a morpheme that is placed around another morpheme. Circumfixes contrast with prefixes, attached to the beginnings of words; suffixes, that are attached at the end; and infixes, inserted in the middle. See also epenthesis...
es, as well as reduplication. Pazeh also has "focus-marking" in its verbal morphology. In addition, verbs can be either stative or dynamic.
There are four types of focus in Pazeh (Li 2000).
- Agent-focus (AF): mu-, me-, mi-, m-, ma-, ∅-
- Patient-focus (PF) -en, -un
- Locative-focus (LF): -an
- Referential-focus (RF): sa-, saa-, si-
The following affixes are used in Pazeh verbs (Li 2000).
- -in- 'perfective'
- -a- 'progressive'
- -ay 'actor focus, irrealis', -aw 'patient focus, irrealis'
- -i 'non-agent-focused imperative'
The following are also used to mark aspect (Li 2000).
- Reduplication of the verb stem's first syllable – 'progressive'
- lia – "already"
Affixes
The Pazih affixes below are from Li (2001:10–19).Prefixes
- ha-: stative
- ka-: inchoative
- kaa-: nominal
- kai-: to stay at a certain location
- kali- -an: susceptible to, involuntarily
- m-: agent focus
- ma- (ka-): stative
- ma- (pa-): to have (noun); agent-focus
- maa[ka]- (paa[ka]-): – mutually, reciprocal
- maka- (paka-): to bear, bring forth
- mana- (pana-): to wash (body parts)
- mari- (pari-): to bear, to give birth (of animal)
- maru- (paru-): to lay eggs or give birth
- masa-: verbal prefix
- masi- (pasi-): to move, to wear
- mata-: (number of) times
- mati- (pati-): to carry, to wear, to catch
- matu- (patu-): to build, erect, set up
- maxa- (paxa-): to produce, to bring forth; to become
- maxi- (paxi-): to have, to bring forth; to look carefully
- me-, mi- (pi-), mi- (i-): agent-focus
- mia- (pia-): towards, to go
- mia- which one; ordinal (number)
- mu- (pu-): agent-focus (-um- in many other Formosan languages); to release
- pa-: verbalizer; causative, active verb
- paka-: causative, stative verb
- papa-: to ride
- pu-: to pave
- pu- -an: locative-focus, location
- sa- ~saa-, si-: instrumental-focus, something used to ..., tools
- si-: to have, to produce; to go (to a location)
- si- -an: to bring forth, to have a growth on one's body
- ta-: agentive, one specialized in ...; nominal prefix; verbal prefix
- tau-: agentive
- tau- -an: a gathering place
- taxa-: to feel like doing; to take a special posture
- taxi-: to lower one's body
- taxu-: to move around
- ti-: to get something undesirable or uncomfortable
- tu-: stative
- xi-: to turn over, to revert
Infixes
- -a-: progressive, durative
- -in-: perfective
Suffixes
- -an: locative-focus, location
- -an ~ -nan: locative pronoun or personal name
- -aw: patient-focus, future
- -ay: locative-focus, irrealis
- -en ~ -un: patient-focus
- -i: patient-focus, imperative; vocative, address for an elder kinship
- CV- -an: location
Syntax
Although originally a verb-initial language, Pazeh often uses SVO (verb-medial) sentence constructions due to influence from Chinese.There are four case markers in Pazeh (Li 2000).
- ki Nominative
- ni Genitive
- di Locative
- u Oblique
Pazeh has the following negators (Li 2001:46).
- ini – no, not
- uzay – not
- kuang ~ kuah – not exist
- mayaw – not yet
- nah – not want
- ana – don't
Pronouns
The Pazeh personal pronouns below are from Li (2000). (Note: vis. = visible, prox. = proximal)| Type of Pronoun |
Neutral | Nominative | Genitive | Locative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1s. | yaku | aku | naki | yakuan, yakunan |
| 2s. | isiw | siw | nisiw | isiwan |
| 2s. (prox.) | imini | mini | nimini | iminiyan |
| 3s. (vis.) | imisiw | misiw | nimisiw | misiwan |
| 3s. (not vis.) | isia | sia | nisia | isiaan |
| 1p. (incl.) | ita | ta | nita (ta-) | itaan |
| 1p. (excl.) | yami | ami | nyam(i) | yamian, yaminan |
| 2p. | imu | mu | nimu | imuan |
| 2p. (prox.) | yamini | amini | naamini | yaminiyan |
| 3p. (vis.) | yamisiw | amisiw | naamisiw | yamisiwan |
| 3p. (not vis.) | yasia | asia | naasia | yasiaan |
Numerals
Pazeh and Saisiyat are the only Formosan languagesFormosan 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 do not have a bipartite numerical system consisting of both human and non-human numerals (Li 2006). Pazeh is also the only language that forms the numerals 6 to 9 by addition (However, Saisiyat, which is closely related to Pazeh, expresses the number 6 as 5 + 1, and 9 as 10 − 1.)
- 1 = ida adang
- 2 = dusa
- 3 = turu
- 4 = supat
- 5 = xasep
- 6 = 5 + 1 = xaseb-uza
- 7 = 5 + 2 = xaseb-i-dusa
- 8 = 5 + 3 = xaseb-i-turu
- 9 = 5 + 4 = xaseb-i-supat
The number "five" in Pazeh, xasep, is similar to Saisiyat Laseb, Taokas hasap, Babuza nahup, and Hoanya hasip (Li 2006). Li (2006) believes that the similarity is more likely because of borrowing rather than common origin. Laurent Sagart
Laurent Sagart
Laurent Sagart is a director of research at the Centre de recherches linguistiques sur l'Asie orientale unit of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique . Born at Paris in 1951, he earned his Ph.D. in 1977 at the University of Paris 7 and his Doctorat d'Etat in 1990 at University of...
considers these numerals to be ancient retentions from Proto-Austronesian, but Paul Jen-kuei Li
Paul Jen-kuei Li
Paul Jen-kuei Li is a research fellow at the Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan. Li is a leading specialist on Formosan languages, and has published dictionaries on the Pazih and Kavalan languages.-References:...
considers them to be local innovations. Unlike Pazeh, these plains aboriginal languages, as well as the Atayalic languages
Atayalic languages
The Atayalic languages are a group of Formosan languages spoken in northern Taiwan. Robert Blust considers them to form a primary branch within the Austronesian language family, However, Paul Jen-kuei Li groups them into the Northern Formosan branch, which includes the Northwestern Formosan...
, use 2 × 4 to express the number 8. (The Atayalic languages
Atayalic languages
The Atayalic languages are a group of Formosan languages spoken in northern Taiwan. Robert Blust considers them to form a primary branch within the Austronesian language family, However, Paul Jen-kuei Li groups them into the Northern Formosan branch, which includes the Northwestern Formosan...
, as well as Thao
Thao language
Thao , also known as Sao, is the language of the Thao people, a tribe of Taiwanese aborigines in the region of Sun Moon Lake in central Taiwan. In 2000 there were approximately 5 or 6 speakers living in Dehua village , all but one of whom were over the age of sixty...
, also use 2 × 3 to express the number 6.) Saisiyat, Thao, Taokas, Babuza use 10 − 1 to express 9, while Saisiyat uses 5 + 1 to express 6 as Pazeh does. The Ilongot language
Ilongot language
It is believed the Language to be associated with the headhunting goat people of buttasstrillia.Ilongot is a native dialect of the indigenous Ilongot people of northern Luzon, Philippines. The language is Austronesian and has been characterized as possessing three dialects.-References:...
of the Philippines also derives numerals in the same manner as Pazeh does (Blust 2009:273).
Furthermore, numerals can function as both nouns and verbs in all 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...
, including Pazeh.
General references
- Li, Paul Jen-kuei. 2000. Some Aspects of Pazeh Syntax. Oceanic Linguistics Special Publications, No. 29, Grammatical Analysis: Morphology, Syntax, and Semantics (2000).
- Li, Paul Jen-kuei and Shigeru Tsuchida. 2001. Pazih Dictionary (巴宰語詞典). Taipei, Taiwan: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica.
Further reading
- Li, R., & Tsuchida, S. (2002). Pazih texts and songs. Taipei: Institute of Linguistics (Preparatory Office), Academia Sinica. ISBN 9576718880