A Survey of Yami Nasal Substitution and its Subgrouping

Abstract

This paper discusses linguistics features including word order, voice system, pronominal system, and the nasal substitution after affixation of actor voice maN- that Yami has exhibited and compares them with the Austronesian languages (also known as Formosan languages) spoken in Taiwan. Yami and Formosan languages share similarities in the word order, voice system, and pronominal system, but the nasal substitution is only observed in Yami. This phonological change is widely observed in some of the Austronesian languages spoken in southeastern Asia including Malagasy, Chamorro, Palauan, and the languages spoken in Philippines and western Indonesia [BLUST, 2004]. This feature - nasal substitution has implied that Yami is more closely related to the Austronesian languages spoken in southeastern Asia than to Formosan languages. Yami, the aboriginal language spoken on Orchid Island that geographically and politically belongs to Taiwan is more closely related to the Malayo-Polynesian (extra-Formosan) language family.

雅美語（又稱達悟語）是蘭嶼島上原住民的母語，蘭嶼島位於台灣本島東南海域 。雅美語與台灣本島的原住民語都屬於南島語系（Austronesian language family）。在政治和地理位置上，蘭嶼島屬於台灣，但在語言上，蘭嶼島上所使用的語言與東南亞的南島語更為密切，本文探討雅美語中的語言結構與特徵，並與台灣本島的原住民語做比較，雅美語的語序、焦點系統與人稱代名詞跟台灣本島的原住民語非常相似，但鼻音替代規律（nasal substitution）卻是雅美語獨有的，鼻音替代規律是指主事者動詞詞綴maN-加上詞根或詞幹後所產生的語音變化，此一變化包含了同化現象（assimilation）與詞根或詞幹開頭的輔音刪除現象（deletion）。台灣島上的其他原住民語並無此語音規律。然而，鼻音替代規律在東南亞的南島語中，卻非常的普遍。此一語音特點意味著雅美語雖與台灣本島的原住民語同屬南島語系，但雅美語與東南亞的南島語的關係更為緊密。