The Northern Formosan languages is a proposed grouping of Formosan languages that includes the Atayalic languages, the Western Plains languages (Papora, Hoanya, Babuza, and Taokas), and the Northwest Formosan languages (Pazeh and Saisiyat; Li places Western Plains with this grouping).
The Northern Formosan subgroup was first proposed by Paul Jen-kuei Li in 1985.[1]Blust (1999) rejects the unity of the proposed Northern Formosan branch. A 2008 analysis of the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database, however, supports the unity of the Northern Formosan branch with a 97% confidence level (see Austronesian languages#Classification).
Evidence
The following sound changes from Proto-Austronesian occurred in the Northern Formosan languages (Li 2008:215).[2]
The four coastal languages of Taokas, Babuza, Papora, and Hoanya share the following innovations (Li 2003).
Loss of *k
Loss of *-y
Merger of *s and *t in non-final position
Complete merger of *ŋ and *n
Thao shares the following innovations with the four coastal languages (Li 2003).
Merger of *s and *t
Merger of *ŋ and *n
Pazih has undergone the following two sound changes.
Merger of *j and *s as /z/
Merger of *C and *S1 as /s/
Li (2003) does not consider Pazih to be very closely related to Saisiyat (Li 2003:946).
Notes
^Li, Paul Jen-kuei (1985). "The position of Atayal in the Austronesian family." In Li, Paul Jen-kuei. 2004. Selected Papers on Formosan Languages, vol. 2. Taipei, Taiwan: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica.
^Li, Paul Jen-kuei. 2008. "Time perspective of Formosan Aborigines." In Sanchez-Mazas, Alicia ed. Past human migrations in East Asia: matching archaeology, linguistics and genetics. Taylor & Francis US.
^Li, Paul Jen-kuei. 1998.『台灣南島語言 [The Austronesian Languages of Taiwan].』In Li, Paul Jen-kuei. 2004. Selected Papers on Formosan Languages. Taipei, Taiwan: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica.
References
Li, Paul Jen-kuei (2003). "The Internal Relationships of Six Western Plains Languages." In Li, Paul Jen-kuei. 2004. Selected Papers on Formosan Languages, vol. 2. Taipei, Taiwan: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica.
