Transcript Numerals in Formosan Languages

Ch.13
Numerals in Formosan Languages
Based on Li, Paul.
Numerals in Formosan languages. (2006)
and The great diversity of Formosan languages. (2008)
授課老師：蘇以文
I-wen Su
【本著作除另有註明外，採取創用CC「姓名標示－
非商業性－相同方式分享」台灣3.0版授權釋出】
The “Work” under the Creative Commons Taiwan 3.0 License of “BY-NC-SA”.
Taiwan: Austronesian Homeland


Formosan languages are extremely diverse at all
linguistic levels.
This great diversity indicates a great time depth for
an early settlement on the island, so as to make
Taiwan the prime candidate for Austronesian
homeland and the center of Austronesian dispersal.
The Great Diversity of Formosan Languages:
Examples from Numerals
Formosan languages employ
 A decimal system or a modified decimal system;
 A quinary system (Pazih):
The numerals 6 to 9 are 5+1, 5+2, 5+3, 5+4
 Unique: 7 in Saisiyat is 6+1.
 Atayalic languages and Thao: 6 = 2×3, 8 = 2×4; Saisiyat
and western plains languages: 8 = 2×4 。
Li, Paul. 2006. Numerals in Formosan languages.
How to say the numbers?

All sorts of numeral systems in the entire
Austronesian language family are found in Formosan
languages (even those that cannot be found in other
areas), even though there are only a small number of
languages on this island.




Mostly by addition and multiplication.
Occasionally by subtraction: 9 in Saisiyat, Thao, and
western plains languages is10-1
The numeral 20 in Saisiyat is derived from the word ‘a
person’, that is, 10 fingers plus 10 toes.
Li, Paul. 2006. Numerals in Formosan languages.



Most Formosan languages distinguish between
human and nonhuman numerals. This distinction is
similar to that between personal and nonpersonal
case markers, as in many Formosan languages.
The human/nonhuman distinction is made not only in
cardinal numerals, but also for the terms that have to do
with number, such as ‘how many/much’, ‘many/much’ and
even ‘few/little’.
Some Formosan languages have the third set of numerals
for cardinals, different from both human and nonhuman
numerals.
Li, Paul. 2006. Numerals in Formosan languages.
Human and Nonhuman numerals: human
numeral = the numeral stem + Ca- reduplication
Language Nonhuman
Human








Tsou
Kanavu
Saaroa
RukTan
PaiSti
PuyPin
Kavalan



Thao
Amis
coni
u-cani
u-cani
ea
ita
sasa-ya
ussiq
u-zusa
la-tuSa
tosa
Li, Paul. 2006. Numerals in Formosan languages.
cihi
ta-cini
ta-ci{i
ta-ngea
ma-cidil
mi-sasa
paqnanem
kin-ausa
ta-tuSa
ta-tosa
‘one’
‘one’
‘one’
‘one’
‘one’
‘one’
‘one’
‘two’
‘two’
‘two’
Each human numeral form is derived from
the numeral stem
Kanakanavu, Saaroa, Thao and Amis, by prefixation, as taLanguage Nonhuman
Human
 Kanavu
u-cani
ta-cini
‘one’
 Saaroa
u-cani
ta-ci{i
‘one’
 Thao
la-tuSa
ta-tuSa
‘two’
 Amis
tosa
ta-tosa
‘two’
kin- in Kavalan
Kavalan u-zusa
kin-ausa
‘two’
by suppletive forms, as numeral one in Tsou and Kavalan
 Kavalan
ussiq
paqnanem
 Tsou i
coni
cihi
Li, Paul. 2006. Numerals in Formosan languages.
‘one’
‘one’
Human numerals are more marked!


Languages in the world generally show a distinction
of animacy higher in the hierarchy than a distinction
of humanness. But not in Formosan languages.
What cognitive implications are there for the Formosan
languages to be different in this regard?


Formosan people in general consider human of great
value in their daily life.
Parents rarely beat their own children.
Li, Paul. 2006. Numerals in Formosan languages.
Human/nonhuman numeral distinction is
also true for the case markers

Thao
a. la-piza
wa fatu?
LA-how many Lig stone



b. kan pa-piza
maniun?
go Red-how many you




‘How many stones are there?’
‘How many of you will go?’
Amis
a. pina
ko lomaq no miso?
how many Nom house Gen yours



‘How many houses do you own?’
b. pa-pina
ko wawa no miso?
Red-how many Nom child Gen yours



‘How many children do you have?’
Li, Paul. 2006. Numerals in Formosan languages.
The third set for the cardinal:
different from both human and nonhuman numeral forms




(16)
Lang
Cardinal
Nonhuman
Human
Kan
Sar
Thao
Kav
cuusa
suua
tuSa
zusa
u-rucini
u-sua
la-tuSa
u-zusa
ta-susa
sa-sua
ta-tuSa
kin-ausa
Li, Paul. 2006. Numerals in Formosan languages.
‘two’
‘two’
‘two’
‘two’
The decimal and quinary systems
Most Formosan languages keep the decimal system as
has generally been reconstructed:
Tsou, Kanakanavu, Saaroa, Rukai, Bunun, Paiwan,
Puyuma, Kavalan, Amis and Siraya
The PAN numerals


1 *esa/isa 2 *DuSa
5 *lima
3 *telu
4 *Sepat
6 *enem 7 *pitu
10 *puluq.
8 *walu
9 *Siwa



Li, Paul. 2006. Numerals in Formosan languages.
Modified decimal systems by addition,
subtraction or multiplication







Addition and multiplication apply much more frequently
than subtraction.
Pazih is unique in that it is the only Formosan language
that almost has a quinary system except for isit ‘ten’,
and that the numerals from 6 to 9 are all additive
xasep ‘5’: different from the widely attested form
lima/variant
6 xaseb-uza ‘5+1’
7 xaseb-i-dusa ‘5+2’
8 xaseb-i-turu ‘5+3’
Li, Paul. 2006. Numerals in Formosan languages.
9 xaseb-i-supat ‘5+4’
A Unique Case of ‘7’

Saisiyat is the only language which indicates the numeral
seven by ‘6+1’ = 7:
(18) SayboSiL o ?aehae? ‘6+1’ = 7

This example is unique

not only to Formosan,
 but also to extra-Formosan languages

Li, Paul. 2006. Numerals in Formosan languages.
6=2x3; 8=2x4
UNIQUE to Formosan languages
(19) Thao
Saisiyat
Taokas
Babuza
Siraya






ka-turu
ka-Spat
maha-lpat
maa-spat
kougi-pat
‘2x3’ = 6, ka-Spat
‘2x4’ = 8
‘2x4’ = 8
‘2x4’ = 8
‘2x4’ = 8
‘2x4’ = 8
Thao and Saisiyat employ the same prefix ka- ‘2 times’, which may
have been borrowed from one language to another at an earlier
stage.
Li, Paul. 2006. Numerals in Formosan languages.

“These multiplicative numerals in various Formosan languages
thus appear to be an areal feature which may have begun with
Blust, Robert. 1996. Some remarks on the linguistic position of Thao.
‘8’ = 2x4” (Blust)
Numeral Systems in Formosan Languages


Language

Pazih 巴宰
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5+1, 5+2, 5+3, 5+4, 10
Saisiyat 賽夏
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6+1, 2×4, 10-1, 10
Atayalic 泰雅語群1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 2×3, 7, 2×4, 9, 10
Thao 邵
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 2×3, 7, 2×4, 10-1, 10
Taokas/Babuza
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 2×4, 10-1, 10




Numerals
Li, Paul. 2006. Numerals in Formosan languages.
11-19; 20-90



11-19: Like Chinese, in all Formosan 11 to 19 are
formed by addition, namely 10+1, 10+2, etc.,
20 to 90: formed by multiplication indicated by the
discontinuous morpheme *ma-...-N in most languages,
namely 2x10, 3x10, etc.
20 in Saisiyat: sam?iLaeh (cf. mae?iLaeh ‘person’)


A person: 10 fingers + 10 toes
21-29: all formed by multiplication before addition,


Paiwan: Dusa puLuq katu ida
Tsou: m-pusku via ucni ‘21 = 2x10+1’.
Li, Paul. 2006. Numerals in Formosan languages.
9

Forming a numeral is by subtraction:






found only in ‘9’ in three northwestern plains languages, more
closely related (Blust 1996; Li 2001)
Thao: ta-na-Tu,
Taokas: Taokas ta-na-su
Babuza: na-ta-xa-xo-an
The three morphemes in each of the numeral stem for
word ‘9’ are derived from
PAN *esa ‘one’ + *na ‘genitive’ + *Cu ‘that’
Literally, ‘one of/from that’, namely ‘10-1’
(Ogawa 1944, Tsuchida, p.c.)
Ogawa, Naoyosh. 1944. The position of the Formosan aboriginal languages in the Indonesian [Austronesian] languages.
What do the numerals tell us?

Preserving features of the Proto-Austronesian languages

Formosan languages preserve the most features of the
Proto-Austronesian language, many of which cannot be
found in Austronesian languages spoken in other areas.

“2” in Formosan languages is dusa, Dusa, or ro∫a‘, in which the
sound /s/ or /∫ / is preserved.


“4” in Formosan languages is sepat or ∫epat


It became dua in other Austronesian languages.
In other Austronesian languages, it is epat, whose onset fricative has
been dropped.
“7” in all Autronesian languages is pitu
Endangered languages


Only 14 of the Formosan languages are still alive.
Most of the plains languages are extinct.




Nowadays, only Thao and Kavalan are still spoken by some
senior speakers. *There is no Pazih speaker as of now (2011).
Only very few people (less than 10) in the mountain areas of
Kaohsiung can speak Kanakanavu.
The preservation of Saisiyat is far from ideal.
Every language has its own structure system and
represents a particular knowledge system. Losing any one
of them, especially for any of the Formosan languages to
become extinct, is a loss that cannot be compensated in
any way.
Linguistic dispersal and expansion




So, why investigating Formosan languages?
To explore the wonder in these languages!
To reconstruct the history of the dispersal and expansion
of the Formosan aborigines in Taiwan, if the relationship
between different Formosan languages can be clarified,.
To establish the path of how the Formosan aborigines in
Taiwan dispersed and expanded in the past 5000 years
linguistic evidence : the main source to rely on
The Dispersal of
the Formosan
Aborigines in
Taiwan
中央研究院計算中心
Computing Center, Academia Sinica 繪製 (2004)
Reconstruction via linguistic evidence

The center of the dispersal of the ancient Formosan
aborigines should be at the southwestern plain, namely
the Jia1Nan2 (嘉南) Plain

because greatest diversity is found in the Formosan
languages spoken in the central and southern parts of
Taiwan
Some ‘facts’




Most historical linguists agree that Proto-Austronesians
started to disperse and expand around 5000 years ago.
The first split was the Rukaic group (the only language
without a focus system), which dispersed to the mountain
area in the southeast.
The second split was the Tshouic group (with many
unique grammatical features) to the mountain area in the
northeast.
The third stage of split (around 4000 years ago) was into
three: one to the north (the Ataylic group, Saisiyat, Pazih,
and the western plain tribes), another to the south
(Paiwan and Puyuma), and the other to the northeast
(Bunun).
Some ‘facts’ - continued


The fourth split (around 3500 years ago) was from the
southwestern plain to the east (Amis, Kavalan, Pazih and
Siraya), which further expanded to the greater Taipei region
around 2000 years ago and to the Ilan Plain around 1000
years ago.
As for Yami,



an Austronesian language spoken on the Orchid Island,
genetically rather distant from Formosan languages spoken in
Taiwan but close to the Austronesian languages spoken on the
Batan Island, the Philippines
starting to move from Batan to the Orchid Island around 700
years ago
Written documentation for verification

There was virtually no written record in
Taiwan until 400 years ago.

The stages of dispersal are inferred from




linguistic,
ethnological,
archaeological,
various other information, such as the oral history of the
natives and written documents in Dutch, Chinese and
Japanese.
Stages of dispersal




1. 400 years ago, the Paiwan tribe dispersed from the
Da4wu3 mountain to the south and the east.
2. 300 years ago, the Bunun tribe dispersed from
Nan2tou2 to the south and the east.
3. 250 years ago, the Atayalic group dispersed from
Nan2tou2 to the north and the east.
4. 100 years ago, the western plain tribes moved to
the Ilan Plain.
Copyright Declaration
Work
p.3-15
p. 17
Licensing
Author/Source
中央研究院計算中心
Computing Center, Academia Sinica 繪製 (2004)
Original source: 李壬癸《臺灣原住民史─語言篇》(1999)
and used subject to the fair use doctrine of the Taiwan
Copyright Act Article 50 by NTU OCW
Li, Paul. 2006. Numerals in Formosan languages. Oceanic
Linguistics 45.1:133-152
and used subject to the fair use doctrine of the Taiwan
Copyright Act Article 50 by NTU OCW
Ogawa, Naoyosh. 1944. The position of the Formosan
aboriginal languages in the Indonesian [Austronesian]
languages. In Peoples and culture in the Pacific area, vol.1, ed.
By Yoshitaro Hirano, 451-503. Tokyo: Kawade Shobo.
and used subject to the fair use doctrine of the Taiwan
Copyright Act Article 50 by NTU OCW
Copyright Declaration
Work
p. 14
Licensing
Author/Source
Blust, Robert. 1996. Some remarks on the linguistic position
of Thao. Oceanic Linguistics 35:272-94.
and used subject to the fair use doctrine of the Taiwan
Copyright Act Article 50 by NTU OCW