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    Amis Language Brief Summary

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    玄同緒雲
    The document provides information on the Amis language spoken by the Amis people in Taiwan. It discusses the dialects of Amis, including phonology and examples of consonants and vowels. It also provides a basic overview of Amis grammar, including the case marking system and examples of common sentence structures like verb-subject and verb-subject-object word order. Government services in Amis communities broadcast in both Amis and Mandarin, though few young Amis now speak the language fluently.

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    Amis Language Brief Summary

    Uploaded by

    玄同緒雲
    222 views6 pages
    The document provides information on the Amis language spoken by the Amis people in Taiwan. It discusses the dialects of Amis, including phonology and examples of consonants and vowels. It also provides a basic overview of Amis grammar, including the case marking system and examples of common sentence structures like verb-subject and verb-subject-object word order. Government services in Amis communities broadcast in both Amis and Mandarin, though few young Amis now speak the language fluently.

    Original Description:

    Short summary about the Amis language

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    The document provides information on the Amis language spoken by the Amis people in Taiwan. It discusses the dialects of Amis, including phonology and examples of consonants and vowels. It also provides a basic overview of Amis grammar, including the case marking system and examples of common sentence structures like verb-subject and verb-subject-object word order. Government services in Amis communities broadcast in both Amis and Mandarin, though few young Amis now speak the language fluently.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    222 views6 pages

    Amis Language Brief Summary

    Uploaded by

    玄同緒雲
    The document provides information on the Amis language spoken by the Amis people in Taiwan. It discusses the dialects of Amis, including phonology and examples of consonants and vowels. It also provides a basic overview of Amis grammar, including the case marking system and examples of common sentence structures like verb-subject and verb-subject-object word order. Government services in Amis communities broadcast in both Amis and Mandarin, though few young Amis now speak the language fluently.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    At a glance
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    The passage provides an overview of the Amis language, including its dialects, phonology, vowels, and examples of words.

    Amis has consonants and vowels that are described in detail on page 1. It has features such as consonant clusters and a voiceless epenthetic schwa.

    Examples of Amis words provided on pages 2-3 include animals (lotong, fafoy, wacu), colors (pusi) and verbs for activities (ma olah kako to tayal no loma).

    Amis language

    Amis is the Formosan language of the Amis AKA Ami, an indigenous tribal people living along the east coast
    of Taiwan (see Taiwanese aborigines). It is spoken from Hualien in the north to Taitung in the south, with
    another population near the southern end of the island, though the northern varieties are sometimes considered a
    separate language.
    Government services in counties where many Amis people live in Taiwan, such as the Hualien and Taitung train
    stations, broadcast in Amis alongside Mandarin. However, few Amis under the age of 20 in 1995 spoke the
    language, and it is not known how many of the 138,000 ethnic Amis are speakers.

    Dialects
    Amis is a dialect cluster. The northern varieties, Sakizaya and Nataoran, are divergent enough to be classified as
    separate languages. Within Amis proper, there are Tavalong-Vata'an, Middle, and Southern dialects, the latter
    including Malan and Hengchun Amis.

    Phonology
    The following discussion covers the central dialect of Amis (Maddieson & Wright).

    Consonants
    Nasals
    Plosives and
    affricate
    Fricatives
    Trill
    Lateral flap
    Approximants

    Labial
    m

    Dental
    nn

    Alveolar

    tn

    n ~ n

    Palatal

    Velar

    Epiglottal

    Glottal

    tts

    s
    r

    ()

    The voiceless plosives /p t k / and the affricate /tts/ are released in clusters, so that ccay "one" is pronounced
    [ttsttsaj]; as is /s/: spat "four" is [spat]. The glottal stop is an exception, frequently having no audible release
    in final position. The voiced fricatives, /v / (the latter found only in loanwords) are devoiced to [f x] in
    utterance-final and sometimes initial position. // may be interdental or post-dental. The sibilants, /tts s/, are
    optionally palatalized ([tt ]) before /i/. /j/ does not occur in word-initial position. // is often post-alveolar, and
    in final position it is released: [uu] "fog".
    // shows dramatic dialectical variation. In Fengbin, a town in the center of Amis territory, it is pronounced as a
    central dental fricative, [n], whereas in the town of Kangko, only 15 km away, it is a lateral [n]. In northern
    Amis, it is a plosive [dn ], which may be laxed to [n] intervocalically. The epiglottals are also reported to have
    different pronunciations in the north, but the descriptions are contradictory. In Central Amis, // is always
    voiceless, and // is often accompanied by vibrations that suggest it involves an epiglottal trill, sometimes
    transcribed "". Edmondson and Elsing report that these are true epiglottals initially and medially, but in
    utterance-final position they are epiglottopharyngeal.
    Sakizaya, sometimes considered a northern dialect of Amis, contrasts a voiced /z/ with voiceless /s/.

    In the practical orthography, /ts/ is written <c>, /j/ <y>, // <'>, // <^>, // <d>, // <ng>, and // <x>.

    Vowels
    Closed
    Mid
    Open

    Front
    i

    Central

    Back
    u

    ( )
    a

    Amis has three common vowels, /i a u/. Despite the fact that a great deal of latitude is afforded by only needing
    to distinguish three vowels, Amis vowels stay close to their cardinal values, though there is more movement
    of /a/ and /u/ toward each other (tending to the [o] range) than there is in front-vowel space (in the [e] range).
    A voiceless epenthetic schwa optionally breaks up consonant clusters, as noted above. However, there are a
    small number of words where a short schwa (written e) may be phonemic. However, no contrast involving the
    schwa is known, and if it is also epenthetic, then Amis has words with no vowels at all. Examples of this e are
    malmes "sad", pronounced [ma m s], and nem "six", pronounced [n m] or [ n m].

    Examples of words

    lotong: monkey/ape

    fafoy: pig

    wacu: dog

    pusi: cat

    kudiwis: hare

    Compare with Tagalog baboy (pig), tatlo (3), apat (4), lima (5), anim (6), pito (7), walo (8)

    Compare with Kapampangan asu (dog), pusa (cat), atlo (3), apat (4), lima (5), anam (6), pitu/pito (7),
    walu/walo (8), siyam (9), apulu/apulo (10) and ama (father) and ima (mother)

    Compare with Ilokano baboy(pig), aso(dog), pusa(cat), maysa(1), dua(2), tallo(3), uppat(4), lima(5),
    inem(6), pito(7), walo(8), siam(9), sangapulo(10)

    ma olah kako mimali = I like to play sports.

    takaraw ko pi takod = I jump very high.

    kalamkam ko kacomikay = I run very fast.

    Ira ko tataangay a mata a ko = I have big eyes

    mamangay a ngapa = A small mouth

    takayaay a fokes = long hair

    sowalsan ko kahaccay a tamdaw makapahay kako = Everyone tells me that I am beautiful.

    ma fanaay mi asikmisawsaw to kaysingmilidong to fodoy = I can sweep the floor, wash dishes and
    clothing.

    ma olah midmak kako to tayal no loma = I love to do household chores.

    nawhani ma olah kako to lomano mako = Because I love my home.

    []

    (marker)


    [7]

    ko

    no

    to

    o/u

    ()

    ci

    ni

    ci...an

    ci

    ()

    ca

    na

    ca...an

    ca

    < +

    "ci ()+">

    Mimaomahay ci wama.()
    mimaomahay()wama/ama/mamaci(
    )

    Misaholoay ci ina.()

    misaholoayholo/hemay(hmay)ina/wina

    --(VSO)

    < +
    "ko ()+"+
    "to ()+">

    Mifaca' ko kaying to riko'.()

    Mifaca' koya kaying to riko'.()

    mifaca'()kayingriko'/fudoy

    --(VSO)

    < +
    "ko ()+/"+

    "i ()+">

    Mararid ko olah ningra i takowan.()


    ma-rarid"()"""koningra""( 3 )
    olah()i""""(ko olah ningra)(takowan)takowan""( 1 )

    Grammar
    Verbs in the Amis language have some inflections, including existential clause, active voice, passive voice,
    disposal sentence, imperative mood, optative mood, and prohibitive mood.
    There are two word orders in Amis language, called "General" Word Order and "Special" Word Order.
    Below are some examples of Amis sentence:

    "General" Word Order Sentence I : Verbsubject


    Verb
    Verb, Adjective, etc.

    Subject
    ko (Preposition for Subjects)+Nouns

    Example

    Maomahay ko wama. (The father is working at the farmfield.)


    o mimaomahay: Working (at farmfield)
    o wama: Father

    Misaholoay ko wina. (The mother is cooking rice.)


    o misaholoay: Cooking (rice)
    o ina/wina: Mother

    "General" Word Order Sentence II : Verbsubjectobject


    Verb
    Verb, Adjective, etc.

    Subject
    ko (Preposition for Subjects)+Nouns

    Object
    to (Preposition for Objects)+Nouns

    Example

    Mifaca' ko kaying to riko'. (The young woman is washing cloth.)

    Mifaca' koya kaying to riko'. (The young woman is washing cloth.)


    o mifaca': wash(clothes)
    o kaying: young woman
    o riko'/fudoy: cloth

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