Paiwan language

Paiwan variants are seen divided into the following dialect zones by Ferrell.^[3]

• A1 – southern and central
  • Kuɬaɬau (Kulalao) _ used in Ferrell's 1982 Paiwan Dictionary due to its widespread intelligibility and preservation of various phonemic distinctions; also spoken in Tjuabar Village, Taitung County, where Tjariḍik and "Tjuabar" (closely related to Tjavuaɬi) are also spoken.
  • Kapaiwanan (Su-Paiwan)
  • Tjuaqatsiɬay (Kachirai) – southernmost dialect
• A2 – central
  • Ɬarəkrək (Riki-riki)
  • Patjavaɬ (Ta-niao-wan)
• B1 – northernmost
  • Tjukuvuɬ (Tokubun)
  • Kaviangan (Kapiyan)
• B2 – northwestern
  • Tjaɬakavus (Chalaabus, Lai-yi)
  • Makazayazaya (Ma-chia)
• B3 – east-central
  • Tjariḍik (Charilik)
• B4 – eastern
  • Tjavuaɬi (Taimali)
  • Tjakuvukuvuɬ (Naibon, Chaoboobol)

This classification were thought to be corrected by Cheng 2016 as below:^{[full citation needed]}

Note: A village unnoted of Vuculj/Ravar is by default placed under Vuculj here.

Kuljaljau Paiwan has 23–24 consonants (/h/ is found only in loanwords, and /ʔ/ is uncommon) and 4 vowels.^[4] Unlike many other Formosan languages that have merged many Proto-Austronesian phonemes, Paiwan preserves most Proto-Austronesian phonemes and is thus highly important for reconstruction purposes.

The four Paiwan vowels are /i ə a u/. /ə/ is written ⟨e⟩ in the literature.

In Northern Paiwan the palatal consonants have been lost, though this is recent and a few conservative speakers maintain them as allophonic variants (not as distinct phonemes). /ʔ/ is robust, unlike in other Paiwan dialects where its status is uncertain, as it derives from *q.

Younger speakers tend to pronounce /ʎ/as[l]. Fricative [ɣ] is characteristic of Mudan village; elsewhere is Southern Paiwan it tends to be a trill [r], though it still varies [r ~ ɣ ~ ʁ ~ h]. Word-initial *k has become /ʔ/.

The Paiwan personal pronouns below are from Ferrell (1982).^[6]

Paiwan has three construction markers, which are also known as relational particles.^[7]

1. a – shows equational relationship; personal sing. = ti, personal plural = tia
2. nua – shows genitive / partitive relationship; personal sing. = ni, personal plural = nia
3. tua – shows that the relationship is neither equational nor genitive; personal sing. = *tjai, personal plural = tjaia

Other words include:

• i – be at, in (place)
• nu – if when
• na – already (definitely) done/doing or have become
• uri – definite future negative marker
• uri – definite future marker
• ɬa – emphasis, setting apart

Affixed adverbials include:^[6]

• -tiaw
  • nu-tiaw: tomorrow
  • ka-tiaw: yesterday
• -sawni
  • nu-sawni: soon, in a little while (future)
  • ka-sawni: a little while ago
• -ngida
  • nu-ngida: when? (future)
  • ka-ngida: when? (past)

Interjections include the following:^[8]

• ui – yes
• ini – no (not do)
• neka – no, not (not exist)
• ai – oh! (surprise, wonder)
• ai ḍivá – alas!
• uá – oh! (surprise, taken aback)
• ai ḍaḍá – ouch! (pain)

Paiwan verbs have 4 types of focus.^[9]

1. Agent/Actor
2. Object/Goal/Patient
3. Referent: spatial/temporal locus, indirect object, beneficiary
4. Instrument/Cause/Motivation/Origin

The following verbal affixes are used to express varying degrees of volition or intent, and are arranged below from highest to lowest intention.^[10]

1. ki- (intentional)
2. pa- (intentional)
3. -m- (volitionally ambiguous)
4. si- (volitionally ambiguous)
5. ma- (non-intentional)
6. se- (non-intentional)

Paiwan verbs can also take on the following non-derivational suffixes.^[7]

• -anga: "certainly," "truly doing"
• -angata: "definitely" (emphatic)
• -anga: "still, yet, continuing to"

The Paiwan affixes below are from the Kulalao dialect unless stated otherwise, and are sourced from Ferrell (1982).^[11]

• ka-: used as an inchoative marker with some stems; past marker
• ka- -an: principal, main
• kaɬa- -an: time/place characterized by something
• ma-ka-: go past, via; having finished
• pa-ka-: go/cause to go by way of (something/place)
• ka-si-: come from
• ken(e)-: eat, drink, consume
• ki-: get, obtain
• ku-: my; I (as agent of non-agent focus verb)
• ɬa-: belonging to a given [plant/animal] category
• ɬe-: to go in the direction of
• ɬia-: (have) come to be in/at
• li-: have quality of
• ma-: be affected by, be in condition of (involuntary)
• mare-: having reciprocal relationship
• mare-ka-: in some general category
• maɬe-: number of persons
• me-: agent marker usually involving change of status (used with certain verbs)
• mere-: be gigantic, super-
• mi-: agent marker that is usually intransitive (used with certain verbs)
• mi- -an: pretend, claim
• mu-: agent marker (certain verbs)
• ka-na- -anga: every
• pa-: to cause to be/occur
• pe-: emerge, come into view
• pi-: put in/on; do something to
• pu-: have or produce; acquire
• pu- -an: place where something is put or kept
• ma-pu-: do nothing except ...
• ra-: having to do with
• r-m-a-: do at/during
• r-m-a- -an: do at/in
• sa-: wish to; go to, in direction of; have odor, quality, flavor of
• pa-sa-: transfer something to; nearly, be on point of doing
• ki-sa-: use, utilize, employ
• na-sa-: perhaps, most likely is
• san(e)-: construct, work on/in
• ki-sane(e)-: become/act as; one who acts as
• ru-: do frequently/habitually; have many of
• se-: people of (village/nation); have quality of; occur suddenly/unexpectedly/unintentionally
• s-ar-e-: be in state/condition of (involuntary)
• si-: be instrument/cause/beneficiary of; instrument focus marker; belonging to certain time in past
• ma-si-: carry, transport
• su-: your; you (agent of non-agent focus verb); leave, remove, desist from
• ki-su-: remove or have removed from oneself
• ta-: past marker
• tu-: similar to, like
• ma-ru-: be dissimilar but of same size
• tja-: our, we (inclusive); more, to a greater extent, further
• ki-tja-: take along for use
• tjaɬa- -an: most, -est
• tjara-: be definitely
• tjaɬu-: reach/extend as far as
• tjari-: furthest, utmost
• tja-u-: to have just done
• tje-: choose to do at/from
• ka-tje- -an: containing
• tji-: used mainly in plant/animal species names (non-Kulalao frozen affix)
• tji-a-: be/remain at
• tju-: do/use separately; be/do at certain place
• m-uri-: search for

Infixes

• -aɬ-, -al-, -ar-: having sound or quality of; involving use of; non-Kulalao
• -ar-: do indiscriminately, on all sides; non-Kulalao
• -m-: agent or actor; -n- following /p/, /b/, /v/, /m/; m- before vowel-initial words
• -in-: perfective marker, action already begun or accomplished, object or product of past action; in- before vowel-initial words

Suffixes

• -an: specific location in time/space; specific one/type; referent focus
• -en: object/goal of action; object focus
• -aw, -ay: projected or intended action, referent focus
• -u: agent focus (most subordinate clauses); most peremptory imperative
• -i: object focus (most subordinate clauses); polite imperative
• -ɬ: things in sequence; groupings; durations of time

The following affixes are from the Tjuabar dialect of Paiwan, spoken in the northwest areas of Paiwan-occupied territory (Comparative Austronesian Dictionary 1995).

• -aḷ-, -alʸ- 'tiny things'
• -in- 'things made from plant roots'
• -an 'place' (always used with another affix)
• mar(ə)- 'a pair of' (used for humans only)
• pu- 'rich'
• ḳay- 'vegetation'
• sə- 'inhabitants'
• cua- 'name of a tribe'

Verbs

• -aŋa 'already done'
• ka- 'to complete'
• kə- 'to do something oneself'
• ki- 'to do something to oneself'
• kisu- 'to get rid of'
• kicu- 'to do something separately'
• maCa- 'to do something reciprocally' (where C indicates the initial consonant of the stem)
• mə- 'to experience, to be something'
• pa- 'to cause someone to do something'
• pu- 'to produce, to get something'
• sa- 'to be willing to do something'
• calʸu- 'to arrive at'

Adjectives

• ma- 'being'
• na- 'with the quality of'
• səcalʸi- 'very'
• ca- 'more than'

• Yuánzhùmínzú yǔyán xiànshàng cídiǎn 原住民族語言線上詞典 (in Chinese) – Paiwan search page at the "Aboriginal language online dictionary" website of the Indigenous Languages Research and Development Foundation
• Paiwan teaching and leaning materials published by the Council of Indigenous Peoples of Taiwan Archived 2021-11-20 at the Wayback Machine (in Chinese)
• Paiwan translation of President Tsai Ing-wen's 2016 apology to indigenous people – published on the website of the presidential office