Seediq language

Seediq, also known as Sediq and Truku (previously transcribed as Taroko), is an Atayalic language spoken in the mountains of Northern Taiwan by the Seediq and Taroko people.

Subdivisions Seediq consists of three main dialects (Tsukida 2005). Members of each dialect group refer to themselves by the name of their dialect, while the Amis people call them "Taroko". Truku (Truku) – 20,000 members including non-speakers. Transcribed 德路固 () in Chinese. Toda (Tuuda) – 2,500 members including non-speakers. Tgdaya (Tkdaya, Paran) – 2,500 members including non-speakers.

Phonology In Seediq there are 19 consonant phonemes and 4 vowel phonemes. Among these, there are two velar fricatives, one voiceless and the other voiced, and a uvular stop. In both labial and alveolar plosive series, voice opposition is contrastive; velar and uvular series, however, only display voiceless sounds. The alveolar affricate has a marginal phonological status and is found in some interjections (such as teʼcu! "what a mess!"), loanwords and non-finite verbal forms with the gerund prefix cese- (Tsukida 2005: 292, 297).

+Consonants in Seediq (Truku dialect).. Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal Nasal Plosive ( ) Fricative Affricate ( ) Tap Glide

With the graphemes c and j the practical orthography indicates the palatal allophones of t and d respectively after i and y.

The vowels are the following:

+Vowels in Seediq (Truku dialect) Front Central Back Close Mid Open

Seediq also has three diphthongs, mainly ay [ai̯], aw [au̯] and uy [ui̯].

Seediq syllables have C, CV, or CVC structures, except for some interjections which have CVCC structures (e.g., saws, which is uttered when offering food to ancestors, and sawp, which is the sound of an object blown by the wind). Disyllabic words can take on the following structures:

CVCV, CVCVC CVCCV, CVCCVC

Vowels in antepenultimate syllables are often /e/. The stressed syllable is usually the penultimate one, and is pronounced with a high pitch. In the Truku dialect stress is on the final syllable resulting in loss of first vowel in CVCCV and CVCCVC structures, for example compare: qduriq > pqdriqun, lqlaqi > lqlqian. In Taroko, up to six onset consonants are possible (similar to Georgian): CCCCCVC(VC), for example: tnʼghngkawas, mptrqdug, pngkrbkan, dmptbrinah.

Morphology As other Austronesian languages, Seediq uses reduplication to convey grammatical functions, such as pluralization and reciprocal verb form derivation. There are two kinds of reduplication: one which involves only the first syllable of the stem, with structure Cə-CV(C), and one which involves the last pair of syllables of the stem excluding codas, having structure CəCə-CV(C)CV(C). Examples are:

Along with reduplication, there are also numerous prefixes and suffixes in Seediq that intervene to alter the meaning of words in derivational and inflectional processes. Affixes include: -an: oblique case ne-: something possessed by the prefixed noun

Clitics, unlike affixes, do not cause phonological alterations on their roots to which they are attached.

Verbs Seediq verbs have three types of voices, which are in turn inflected for mood or aspect (Tsukida 2005:313). Nouns, however, do not inflect for voice. Agent voice – marked by -em- or its allomorphs me or Ø Goal voice Conveyance voice

There are four basic aspect/mood categories: Neutral – same as non-future/imperfective Perfect – marked by -en- Non-finite – bare stem Hortative (i.e., when advising someone) – marked by -a(y/nay)

The future is marked by me-, mpe-, mpe-ke-.

There are a total of five different verb classes (conjugation paradigms). Other verb forms include causatives, reciprocals, and reflexives. Serial verb constructions are also allowed.

Word classes Truku Seediq has 11 word classes (Tsukida 2005:295).

Open classes Nouns Verbs Adjectives

Closed classes Numerals Personal pronouns Deictics Adverbs Conjunctives Prepositions Interjections Sentence final particles

Like many other Formosan and Philippine languages, Seediq nouns and verbs behave similarly. Adjectives can be considered as a subcategory of verbs.

Syntax The word order of Seediq is verb–object–subject (VOS), where S corresponds to the argument marked with absolutive case. This argument ordinarily occurs clause-finally, but may be followed by a topicalized ergative argument. Like many of its other Austronesian relatives, Seediq contains voice morphemes marked on the verb which indicate which of the verb's arguments (agent, patient, etc.) is treated as the subject and thus marked with absolutive case. In noun phrases, modifiers follow the head (Tsukida 2005:304). Unlike Tagalog and many other Philippine languages, there are no linkers connecting the heads and modifiers.

Clauses There are three types of Seediq clauses (Tsukida 2005): Interjection clauses Basic clauses Existential/possessive clauses

Basic clauses have predicates (usually initial and consisting of single verbs, adjectives, or noun phrases), subjects, and optionally non-subject arguments and adjuncts.

Subjects can be recognized via (Tsukida 2005): Voice affix Clitic pronoun Quantifier floating Relativization Possessum demotion

Function words Some function words are given below: ni – "and" (conjunction) deni – "and then" (conjunction) ʼu, duʼu, ga, dega – all meaning "in case that" (conjunction) nasi – "if" ʼana – "even" ka – subordinating conjunction, case marker, linker ʼini – negator ʼadi – negates noun phrase predicates, future/perfect verb forms wada – past naʼa – "had better, could have done..." dima – "already" hana – "just" yaʼasa – "because" niqan – existential predicate (like Tagalog "may") ʼungat – negative existential predicate (like Tagalog "wala")

Deictics include (Tsukida 2009:132-133): Demonstratives: niyi – this, this one ga/gaga – that, that one kiya/ki – that, that one (referring to things previously referenced or mutually understood) Deictic adverbials: hini – here hi/hiya – there

There are a total of six prepositions (Tsukida 2005:303): quri – toward, about, in the direction of paʼah – from bitaq – until, up to saw – like ʼasaw – because of mawxay – for the sake of

Stative locatives (e.g., "on the mountain") do not take on any prepositions, but are rather placed directly after the verb without any additional marking.

Predicate extenders Preverbal elements such as adverbs, demonstratives, and prepositions can be used to extend predicates. Below is a partial list of predicate extenders from Tsukida (2008:308).

Extenders that require neutral verb forms wada – past ga(ga) – distal progressive niyi – proximal progressive gisu – progressive, state meha – future, "is going to do" (me-)teduwa – "be able to do" nasi – "if" naʼa – "could have done something but did not Extenders that require non-finite verb forms ʼasi ~ kasi – "at once, suddenly" pasi – "at once" kani – "one did not have to do something but did it" ʼini – negative ʼiya – negative imperative Extenders that require future forms saw – "is/was about to do" rubang – "was about to do" Extenders that require future/perfect forms of verbs/nouns ʼadi – negative Extenders that are combined with adjectives/nouns maʼa – "become" Extenders without specific requirements pekelug – "just" dima – "already" hana – "at last" ʼida – "surely" yaʼa – uncertainty wana – only ʼana – "even" ma – "why" ʼalung ~ ʼalaw ~ ʼarang – "as is expected" pida – exactly lengu – "planned to do..." binaw – confirmation ʼatih – "at the last moment," "nearly" seperang – "purposefully, on purpose"

Pronouns +Truku Seediq personal pronouns Type ofpronoun Direct Oblique Independent possessive Subject Genitive 1s. yaku kenan (ne-)naku =ku =mu 2s. isu sunan (ne-)nisu =su =su 3s. hiya hiyaan ne-hiya – =na 1p. (incl.) ʼita tenan (ne-)nita =ta =ta 1p. (excl.) yami menani (ne-)nami =nami =nami 2p. yamu munan (ne-)namu =namu =namu 3p. dehiya dehiyaan ne-dehiya- =deha

Numerals The cardinal numbers are: kingal deha teru sepat rima mataru mpitu maspat mengari maxal

Other numerals and numeral-related affixes (Tsukida 2005:297): taxa: used for humans – one person ʼuwin: used for objects – one object ma- -(u)l: used to form words for 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 ma-xa-l: 10 m-pusa-l: 20 me-teru-l: 30 me-sepat-ul: 40 me-rima-l: 50

References

Seediq language

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