Basay language

Basay was a Formosan language spoken around modern-day Taipei in northern Taiwan by the Basay, Qauqaut, and Trobiawan peoples. Trobiawan, Linaw, and Qauqaut were other dialects (see East Formosan languages).

Basay data is mostly available from Erin Asai's 1936 field notes, which were collected from an elderly Basay speaker in Shinshe, Taipei, as well as another one in Yilan who spoken the Trobiawan dialect. However, the Shinshe informant's speech was heavily influenced by Taiwanese, and the Trobiawan informant, named Ipai, had heavy Kavalan influence in her speech.

Li (1992) mentions four Basaic languages: Basay, Luilang, Nankan, Puting. Nankan and Puting are close to Kavalan, whereas Luilang is divergent.Tsuchida, Shigeru. 1985. Kulon: Yet another Austronesian language in Taiwan?. Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica 60. 1-59.

Syntax There are four optional case markers in Basay. a – nominative, ligature (Shinshe dialect) ta – nominative (Trobiawan dialect) li – locative (Shinshe dialect) u – oblique (Trobiawan dialect)

Some function words include: pai 'future'

Trobiawan negators include: mia 'not' (Shinshe dialect: mayu 'not (yet)') asi 'don't' (Shinshe dialect: manai 'don't') (m)upa 'not to want' (Shinshe dialect: kualau 'not exist')

Yes–no questions are marked by u ~ nu.

Morphology Basay verbs, like Kavalan verbs, distinguish between agent-focus (AF) and patient-focus (PF) verbs. The perfective prefixes na- and ni- are allomorphs.

+Basay Focus System Type of prefix Neutral Perfective Future Agentive focus (AF) -um-, m- na-mi- -um- ... -a, m- ... -a Patient focus (PF) – ni- -au Locative focus (LF) -an ni- ... -an -ai

Pronouns The Basay pronouns below are from Li (1999).

+ Basay Personal Pronouns Neutral Nominative Genitive Oblique 1st person singular yaku kaku, -ku maku-, -aku; naku, -ak yakuan, kuan, kuanan plural excl. yami -mi yami, -ami; nami, -am yamian, mian, mianan incl. mita kita, -ita mita, -ita; nita, -ta ... , ... , tianan 2nd person singular isu kisu, -su misu, -isu; nisu, -su ~ -is isuan, suan, isuanan, suanan plural imu kimu, -mu -imu; nimu, -im imuan, ... , imuanan 3rd person singular – -ia – – plural – -ia – – Revival Based in part on recordings and field notes made by in 1936, classes teaching Basay were offered in Taiwan starting in 2025.

References Notes

General references

Basay language

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