Rukai is a Formosan language spoken by the Rukai people in Taiwan. It is a member of the Austronesian language family. The Rukai language comprises six dialects, which are Budai, Labuan, Maga, Mantauran, Tanan and Tona. The number of speakers of the six Rukai dialects is estimated to be about 10,000. Some of them are monolingual. There are varying degrees of mutual intelligibility among the Rukai dialects. Rukai is notable for its distinct grammatical voice system among the Formosan languages.
Classification
Paul Jen-kuei Li considers Rukai to be the first language to have split from the Proto-Austronesian language. Below are the estimated divergence dates of various Formosan languages from Li (2008:215).
Proto-Austronesian: 4,500 BCE Rukai: 3,000 BCE Tsouic: 2,500 BCE (split into Tsou and Southern Tsouic around 1,000 BCE) Most other splits: 2,000 to 0 BCE Western Plains: 1,000 CE
Classifications by various scholars repeatedly find that Rukai is one of the, and often the, most divergent of the Austronesian languages. It is therefore prime evidence for reconstructing Proto-Austronesian. Ross (2009) notes that to date, reconstructions had not taken Rukai into account, and therefore cannot be considered valid for the entire family.
Dialects
Rukai is unique for being the only Formosan language without a focus system.
Tanan Rukai is also the Formosan language with the largest consonant inventory, with 23 consonants and 4 vowels having length contrast. Tanan Rukai also makes an animate/inanimate instead of a personal/non-personal one as most other Formosan languages do.
Mantauran is one of the most divergent dialects. Li (2001) classifies them as follows:
Rukai Mantauran (萬山 Wanshan, also oponoho): 250–300 speakers
Maga–Tona Maga (馬加 Majia) Tona (多納 Duona) Budai–Tanan (Rukai Proper) Budai (霧台 Wutai) Tanan (大南 Danan; also Taromak)
Geographic distribution
According to Zeitoun (2007:4), there are a total of 6 Rukai dialects spoken in 12 different villages.
+ Rukai Villages by Dialect Dialect Autonym Village Township Tanan Taromak Tunghsin 東興 Peinan Township, Taitung County Labuan Laboa(n) Tawu 大武 Wutai Township, Pingtung County Talamakao Chinye Wutai Township, Pingtung County Budai Vedrai Wutai 霧臺 Wutai Township, Pingtung County Kucapungan Haocha 好茶 Wutai Township, Pingtung County Adiri Ali 阿禮 Wutai Township, Pingtung County Kalramomodhesae Chiamu 佳暮 Wutai Township, Pingtung County Kinulan Chulu 吉露 Wutai Township, Pingtung County Maga Teldrɨka Maolin 茂林 Maolin Township, Kaohsiung CountyTona Kongadavane Tona 多納 Maolin Township, Kaohsiung County Mantauran oponoho Wanshan 萬山 Maolin Township, Kaohsiung County
Together, Maga, Tona, and Mantauran are also known as the "Lower Three Villages." Rukai have also recently in Sandimen Township and southern Sanhe Village, Majia Township, where there are many Paiwan. Sanhe Village is also where the Budai Rukai originally lived in before they relocated to Wutai Township in the mid-1900s.
Phonology
Most Rukai dialects have four vowels and retroflex and interdental consonants.
Budai Rukai has four vowels, . Words ending phonemically in a consonant add an echo vowel, one of , which unlike morphophonemic vowels is often lost in derivation. is used when the last vowel of the stem is .
+ Budai Rukai consonants Labial Dental Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Nasal Stopvoiceless voiced Affricate Fricativevoiceless voicedTrill Approximant
Due to influence from Paiwan and Chinese, younger speakers sometimes pronounce as , and in Tanan Rukai, younger speakers may merge into .
In Mantauran Rukai, the voiced stops have spirantized: *b to , *d and *ɖ to , and *g to .
The following table displays the consonant inventory of Mantauran Rukai, with written representations that differ from their IPA representations given in angle brackets (Zeitoun 2007):
+ Mantauran Rukai consonants Labial Dental Alveolar Retroflex Velar Glottal Nasal Stop Affricate Fricative Trill Approximant
4 vowels, written a, i, e, o
Grammar
Morphology Basic Mantauran Rukai syllables take on a basic structure, with words usually ranging from 2 to 4 syllables long (Zeitoun 2007). There are four morphological processes.
Affixation Stem modification Reduplication Compounding
The following reduplication patterns occur in Budai Rukai (Austronesian Comparative Dictionary).
Reduplication of the noun stem N + RED 'a great amount' N(umeral or period) + RED 'lasting for a period of...'
Reduplication of the verb stem V + RED 'continuous, keep doing, do repeatedly' V + RED 'future' V (stative) + RED 'intensity, comparatively greater'
In Budai Rukai, reduplication of a bound stem can also be used to create certain basic nouns and verbs, such as 'thunder,' 'mountain,' and 'to scrape' (Austronesian Comparative Dictionary).
Based on an analysis of the Budai (Kucapungan) dialect, Rukai is said to be unusual among Formosan languages for having a dichotomous active-passive voice system, (Chen & Sung, 2005) which may include voices such agent, patient, locative, or instrumental focus. Stanley Starosta considers this to be an indication that Rukai is the first offshoot of the Austronesian language family (Zeitoun, 2007). However, this dichotomy has been challenged (Chen, 2005).
Active / Agent Focus (AF): prefix u-/w- Passive / Patient Focus (PF): prefix ki-
Syntax
Unlike most other Formosan languages, Rukai has an accusative case-marking system instead of an ergative one typical of Austronesian-aligned languages (Zeitoun 2007). There are two types of clauses in Mantauran Rukai:
Nominal Verbal
Complementalization can take on four strategies (Zeitoun 2007).
Zero strategy (i.e. paratactic complements) Verb serialization Nominalization Causativization
Definite objects can be topicalized in both active and passive sentences.
Function words
Below are some Mantauran Rukai function words from Zeitoun (2007).
la – and mani – then
Word classes
Zeitoun (2007) distinguishes eleven word classes in Mantauran Rukai:.
Nouns Verbs Pronouns Demonstratives Numerals Adverbs Phrasal elements Clausal elements Interclausal elements Exclamations Interjections
Verbs
Below are some Mantauran Rukai verb affixes from Zeitoun (2007).
Dynamic verbs: o-; very rarely om- and m- Stative verbs: ma- Negating prefix: ki- Causative: pa- ʔini-Ca- "(one)self" mati- "well" k-in-a ... aə "... more" ʔako- "barely, just" ka- "in fact" mata ... aə "certainly"
Pronouns
Below are Rukai pronouns from Zeitoun (1997). Note that Mantauran Rukai pronouns are usually bound.
+ Mantauran Rukai Personal Pronouns Type of Pronoun Topic Nominative Oblique Genitive 1st person singular iɭaə -ɭao, nao- -i-a-ə -li plural exclusive inamə -nai -i-nam-ə -nai inclusive imitə, ita -mita, -ta -i-mit-ə -ta 2nd person singular imiaʔə -moʔo i-miaʔ-ə -ʔo plural inomə -nomi -i-nom-ə -nomi 3rd person visible singular ana – -i-n-ə -(n)i plural ana-lo – -i-l-i-n-ə -l-i-ni not visible singular ðona – -i-ð-ə -ða plural ðona-lo – -i-l-i-ð-ə -l-i-ða
+ Budai Rukai Personal Pronouns Type of Pronoun Topic Nominative Oblique Genitive 1st person singular kunaku -(n)aku, naw- nakuanə -li plural exclusive kunai -nai naianə -nai inclusive kuta -ta mitaanə -ta 2nd person singular kusu -su musuanə -su plural kunumi -numi, -nu numianə -numi 3rd person visible singular kuini – inianə -ini plural kuini – inianə -ini not visible singular kuiɖa – – – plural kuiɖa – – –
+ Maga Rukai Personal Pronouns Type of Pronoun Topic Nominative Oblique Genitive 1st person singular i kɨkɨ ku-, kɨkɨ ŋkua -li plural exclusive i knamɨ namɨ-, knamɨ nmaa -namɨ inclusive i miti ta-, miti mitia -ta 2nd person singular i musu su-, musu sua -su plural i mumu mu-, mumu mua -mu 3rd person visible singular i kini kini nia -ini plural i kini kini nia -ini not visible singular i kiɖi kiɖi ɖia -ɖa plural i kiɖi kiɖi ɖia -ɖa
Affixes
Budai Rukai
The list of Budai Rukai affixes below is sourced from Chen (2006:199-203).
Prefixes a- 'become' ana- 'if' api- 'like', 'want' i- 'at', 'in' ki- 'to gather', 'to collect' ki- 'Dative Focus' ki- 'to dig ku- 'to remove' ku- 'Free Pronoun marker' ku- 'Past marker' la- 'Plural' lu- 'Future' ma- 'Stative Verb' ma- 'reciprocal' ma- 'dual (two people)' mu- 'to remove' mu- 'self-motion' - 'ordinal' nai- 'have done' ŋi- 'to move in certain direction' ŋi- '-self' ŋu- 'to ride' pa- 'causative' paŋu- 'by' sa- 'body parts' sa- 'when' si- 'verbal prefix' si- 'to wear' sini- 'from' su- 'to clean' su- 'belong' ta- 'to feel' taru- 'certain' tu- 'to mark' tua- 'to wash' θi- 'to release' u-/w- 'Agent Focus'
Suffixes -a 'imperative' -a 'Accusative Case' -ana 'still', 'yet' -anə 'nominalize' -ŋa 'completive' -ŋa 'close to'
Infixes 'past tense; non-future' 'realis' 'Goal subject', 'Past time'
Circumfixes aanə 'future state' aanə 'nominalizer' kaanə 'real or genuine' kalaanə 'season' saanə 'ins>rument' sanuanə 'left-over' sanulə 'frequency' taanə 'time', 'location'
Compound (Multiple) Affixes la-ma- 'plural marker' ɭi-tara- 'have to', must' sa-ka- 'household' sa-ka-uanə; the whole' sa-ka-si-... l-anə the ... generation ta-ra- for a period of time ta-ra- be good at t-in-uanə personal relation
Mantauran Rukai
The following list of Mantauran Rukai affixes is sourced from Zeitoun (2007).
a- 'when' a- (action/state nominalization) a- 'plural' -a 'beyond (in time or space)' -a 'irrealis' -a 'imperative' -ae (state nominalization) aae; allomorph: ... -ae (objective nominalization; negative imperative) amo- 'will' -ane (meaning unknown; used on verbs to insult someone) -a-nga 'imperative' (mild requests) apaa- 'reciprocal causative' (dynamic verbs) apano- 'like to, prone to, have a tendency to' apa'a 'reciprocal causative' (stative verbs) apa'ohi- 'split (causative form)' -ci 'snivel' dh- 'invisible' i- 'at' -i 'irrealis' -ie (marking of the oblique case on personal and impersonal pronouns) -ka 'predicative negation' ka- 'in fact, indeed, actually' kaae 'genuine, real, original' kalaae 'temporal nominalization' kapa ~ kama- 'continuously' kapa ...-nga 'all, every' ki- 'modal negation' kiae 'whose' kaae 'more and more' la- 'plural' la-ma'a- 'reciprocal' -lo 'plural' (demonstrative pronouns) m- (dynamic (finite and subjunctive) verbs; alternates with k-, p-, or Ø in its non-finite form) ma- (stative (finite and subjunctive) verbs; alternates with ka- in its non-finite form) male (forms 'tens') ma-Ca- 'reciprocity' (dynamic (finite and subjunctive) verbs; alternates with pa-Ca; Ca refers to the reduplication of the first consonant) maa- 'reciprocity' (dynamic (finite and subjunctive) verbs; alternates with paa) maae (~ paae; maa- (dual reciprocal) + -e (meaning unknown)) 'each/both' maatalile/lo '(a number of) floors' maka- 'finish' makale/lo (~ pakale/lo) 'up to N-/for N- days/months/years' maka'an- (attaches only to aleve 'below' and lrahalre 'above') (~ 'all' Mali- (~ pali) 'along' ma'ohi (~ pa'ohi) 'split' m-o- (~ o-) 'holds X's ritual (where X = household name)' (attaches to household names to form dynamic verbs) m-o- (~ o-) 'toward' mo- 'anti-causative' m-ore (~ ore-) 'perform' mota'a- (~ ota'a-) 'raise' n- 'visible' -na 'still' naa- 'continuously' -nae 'place where' -nae 'time when' -nga 'already' -nga 'superlative' ni- 'counterfactuality (irrealis)' nia 'concessive' o- 'dynamic / finite / realis / active' oe 'dress well' (derives verbs from nouns) o-ara- 'only' (attached to verbs) o-ka'ale/lo (~ ko'ale/lo) 'a number of recipients' om- (~ m- / ~ Ø) 'dynamic / finite / realis / active' o-tali (~ tali- / ~ toli) 'wrap up, pack up' o-tali (~ tali-) 'made of' o-tara- (~ tara-) 'a number of months / years' taro- (doublet form: tao-) 'group of persons in movement' o-ta'i- (~ ta'i-) 'precede' o-'ara- (~ 'ara-) 'early' pa- 'causative'