Rahul Sharma (Editor)

Yami language

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Native to
  
Taiwan

Native speakers
  
3,800 (2006)

Glottolog
  
yami1254

Ethnicity
  
Yami

ISO 639-3
  
tao

Language family
  
Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian (Philippine?) Batanic Yami–Itbayat Yami

Yami (Chinese: 雅美), also known as Tao (Chinese: 達悟語), is Malayo-Polynesian language. It is a member of the Ivatan dialect continuum spoken by the Yami people of Taiwan. It is spoken on Orchid Island, 46 kilometers southeast of the main island of Taiwan. Yami is known as ciriciring no Tao, or "human speech," by its native speakers.

Contents

Yami is the only native language of Taiwanese aborigines that is not a member of the Formosan grouping of Austronesian; it is one of the Batanic languages found in the northern Philippines.

Phonology

Yami has 20 consonants and 4 vowels:

Consonants
  • Stops: /p, b, t, d, k, g, ʔ/
  • Fricatives: /v, ʂ, h/
  • Nasals: /m, n, ŋ/
  • Liquids: /l, ɻ/
  • Affricates: /t͡ʃ, d͡ʒ/
  • Trills: /r/
  • Glides: /w, j/
  • Vowels

    /a, ə, i, o/

    Iraralay Yami, spoken on the north coast, distinguishes between geminative consonants (e.g., opa 'thigh' vs. oppa 'hen' form one such minimal pair).

    Verbs

    The following list of Yami verbal inflections is from Rau (2006: 135).

    Dynamic intransitive
  • -om-/om- (subjunctive: N-)
  • mi-
  • ma-
  • maN-
  • maka-
  • maci-/masi-/macika-/macipa-
  • Stative
  • ma- (subjunctive: a-)
  • ka- ... -an (subjunctive: ka- ... -i)
  • Dynamic
  • pi-
  • pa-
  • paN- (subjunctive: maN-)
  • paka- (subjunctive: maka-)
  • paci- (subjunctive: maci-)
  • Transitive
  • -en (subjunctive: -a)
  • -an (subjunctive: -i)
  • i- (subjunctive: -an)
  • Stative functioning as transitive
  • ma- (subjunctive: a- ... -a)
  • ka- ... -an (subjunctive: a- ... -a)
  • Affixes

    The following list of Yami affixes is from Rau (2006: 135-136).

    References

    Yami language Wikipedia