Yami language
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(Redirected from Tao language)
| Yami | |
|---|---|
| Tao | |
| Spoken in | Taiwan |
| Ethnicity | Yami people |
| Native speakers | 3,800 (Rau 2006:79) (date missing) |
| Language family | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | tao |
| Linguasphere | 31-CAA-a |
Yami (雅美), also known as Tao (Chinese: 達悟語), is a variety of the Ivatan dialect cluster spoken by the Tao 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 (Rau 2006:79). Yami is the only language of Taiwanese aborigines that does not fit in with the other Formosan languages but instead shares linguistic similarities with the Ivatan language spoken in the Batanes of northern Philippines.
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[edit] Phonology
Yami has 20 consonants and 4 vowels, namely (Rau 2006:79-80):
- Consonants (in Yami script)
- Stops: /p, b, t, d, k, g, '/
- Fricatives: /v, s, h/ (/s/ is a retroflex)
- Nasals: /m, n, ng/
- Liquids: /l, r/
- Affricates: /c, j/ (palatal affricates)
- Trills: /z/ (alveolar trill)
- Glides: /w, y/
- Vowels
-
- /a, e, i, o/ (e is a mid-central vowel)
Iraralay Yami, spoken on the north coast, distinguishes between long and short consonants (e.g., opa 'thigh' vs. oppa 'hen' form one such minimal pair) (Rau 2006:81).
[edit] 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)
[edit] Affixes
The following list of Yami affixes is from Rau (2006:135-136).
- icia- 'fellows such and such who share the same features or fate'
- ikeyka- 'even more so'
- ika- 'feel such and such because...'
- ika- 'ordinal number'
- ipi- 'multiple number'
- ji a- 'negation or emphatic'
- ka- 'company, as ... as, abstract noun'
- ka- 'and then, just now, only'
- ka- 'stative verb prefix reappearing in forming transitive verbs'
- ka- (reduplicated root) 'very'
- ka- (reduplicated root) 'animals named after certain features'
- ka- ... -an 'common noun'
- ma- ... -en 'love to do such and such'
- mapaka- 'pretend to be such and such'
- mapi- 'do such and such as an occupation'
- mi-/mala- 'kinship relationships in a group of two or three'
- mika-/mapika-/ipika- 'all, gradually, one by one'
- mala- 'taste or look like...'
- mipa- 'getting more and more...'
- mipipa- 'even more...'
- mapi-/mapa-/pa- ... -en/ipa- 'causative verb affixes'
- ni- 'perfective'
- ni- ... na 'superlative'
- noka- 'past'
- noma- 'future (remote)'
- sicia- 'present'
- sima- 'future (proximal)'
- tey- 'direction'
- tey- 'very, too'
- tey- (reduplicated root) 'amount allocated to each unit
[edit] Vocabulary
[edit] Cognates with Tagalog
| English | Yami | Filipino/Ilokano/Tagalog etc |
|---|---|---|
| Person | tao | tao |
| Mother | ina | ina |
| Father | ama | ama |
| Head | oo | ulo |
| Yes | nohon | oho (opo) |
| Friend | kagagan | kaibigan |
| who | sino | sino |
| they | sira | sila |
| their | nira | nila |
| offspring | anak | anak |
| I (pronoun) | ko | ako, siak (Ilokano) |
| you | ka | ikaw, ka (Cebuano), sika (Ilokano) |
| day | araw | araw, aldaw (Ilokano) |
| eat | kanen | kumain, kanen (Ilokano) |
| drink | inomen | inomin, inomen (Ilokano) |
| and | aka | saka |
| ouch | Ananay | Aray, Araray (Cebuano), Anay (Ilokano) |
| home | vahay | bahay, balay (Ilokano, Cebuano) |
| pig | viik | biik (piglet) |
| goat | kadling | kambing, kanding (Cebuano), kalding (Ilokano) |
| stone | vato | bato |
| one | ása | isa, maysa (Ilokano) |
| two | dóa (raroa) | dalawa, duha (Cebuano), dua (Ilokano) |
| three | tílo | tatlo, tulo (Cebuano), talo (Ilokano) |
| four | ápat | apat, upat (Ilokano, Cebuano) |
| five | líma | lima |
| six | ánem | anim, inem (Ilokano), unom (Cebuano) |
| seven | píto | pito |
| eight | wáo | walo |
| nine | síam | siyam |
| ten | póo | sampo, sangapulo (Ilokano) |
[edit] Japanese loanwords
| English | Yami | Japanese |
|---|---|---|
| Airplane | sikoki | hikouki (飛行機) |
| Alcohol | saki | sake (酒) |
| Battleship | gengkang | gunkan (軍艦) |
| Bible | seysio | seisho (聖書) |
| Christ | Kizisto | kirisuto (キリスト) |
| Doctor | koysang | o-isha-san? (お医者さん) |
| Flashlight | dingki | denki (電気) |
| Holy Spirit | seyzi | seirei (聖霊) |
| Key | kagi | kagi (鍵) |
| Medicine | kosozi | kusuri (薬) |
| Motorcycle | otobay | ootobai (オートバイ; auto bike) |
| Police | kisat | keisatsu (警察) |
| School | gako | gakkō (学校) |
| School bag | kabang | kaban (鞄) |
| Teacher | sinsi | sensei (先生) |
| Ticket | kipo | kippu (切符) |
| Truck | tozako | torakku (トラック; truck) |
[edit] Chinese loanwords
| English | Yami | Mandarin Chinese |
|---|---|---|
| Wine | potaw cio | pútáojǐu (葡萄酒) |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Rau, D. Victoria ,and Maa-Neu Dong. 2006. Yami texts with reference grammar and dictionary. Taipei: Academia Sinica.
[edit] External links
- Yami wordlists at the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: 1, 2
- Online Yami language course, Providence University, Taiwan [1]
- Yami Language Documentation Project Website: [2]
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