Kanakanavu language explained
Kanakanavu (also spelled Kanakanabu) is a Southern Tsouic language spoken by the Kanakanavu people, an indigenous people of Taiwan (see Taiwanese aborigines). It is a Formosan language of the Austronesian family.
The Kanakanavu live in the two villages of Manga and Takanua in Namasia District (formerly Sanmin Township), Kaohsiung.[1]
The language is moribund, with only 4 speakers (2012 census).[2]
History
The native Kanakanavu speakers were Taiwanese aboriginals living on the islands. Following the Dutch Colonial Period in the 17th century, Han-Chinese immigration began to dominate the islands population. The village of Takanua is a village assembled by Japanese rulers to relocate various aboriginal groups in order to establish easier dominion over these groups.[3]
Phonology
There are 14 different consonant phonemes, containing only voiceless plosives within Kanakanavu. Adequate descriptions of liquid consonants become a challenge within Kanakanavu. It also contains 6 vowels plus diphthongs and triphthongs. Vowel length is often not clear if distinctive or not, as well as speakers pronouncing vowel phonemes with variance. As most Austronesian and Formosan languages, Kanakanavu has a CV syllable structure (where C = consonant, V = vowel). Very few, even simple words, contain less than three to four syllables.[4]
Consonants
| | | | Glottal |
| Nasal | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | | pronounced as /ink/ (ng) | |
|---|
| Plosive | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ (') |
|---|
| Affricate | | pronounced as /ink/ (c) | | | |
|---|
| Fricative | | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | | | pronounced as /ink/ |
|---|
| pronounced as /ink/ | | | | |
|---|
| Rhotic | | pronounced as /ink/ (r) | | | |
|---|
| Approximant | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ (y) | | | |
|---|
Sounds /ts, s/ are heard as [tʃ, ʃ] when preceding /i/.
[5] Vowels
| Front | Central | Back |
|---|
| Close | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /link/~pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ |
|---|
| Mid | pronounced as /ink/ | (pronounced as /ink/) | pronounced as /ink/ |
|---|
| Open | | pronounced as /ink/ | | |
|---|
Orthography
Kanakanavu is usually written with the Latin script. The following are often used to represent sounds in the language: A, C, E, I, K, L, M, N, Ng, O, P, R, S, T, U, Ʉ, V, ' /ʔ.
C represents the phoneme /c/.
L represents the phonemes /ɗ/ and /ɽ/.
P represents both /ɓ/ and /p/.
/ɫ/ is spelled as hl.
Further reading
- Book: Austronesian Historical Linguistics and Culture History: A Festschrift for Robert Blust . 2009 . Pacific Linguistics . 978-0-85883-601-3 . Adelaar . Alexander . Pacific Linguistics 601 . Canberra . en . 1885/34582 . Pawley . Andrew . free.
- Dyen . Isidore . 2005 . Some Notes on the Proto-Austronesian Words for 'Water' . Oceanic Linguistics . en . 44 . 1 . 1–11 . 10.1353/ol.2005.0019 . 3623228. 144863141 .
- Book: Li, Paul Jen-Kuei . Selected Papers on Formosan Languages . 2004 . Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica . 9789570184136 . Taipei . en,zh . Basic Vocabulary for Formosan Languages and Dialects.
- Pejros . I. . 1994 . Some Problems of Austronesian Accent and *T ~ *C (Notes of an Outsider) . Oceanic Linguistics . en . 33 . 1 . 105–127 . 10.2307/3623002 . 3623002.
- Ross . M. . 2012 . In Defense of Nuclear Austronesian (and Against Tsouic) . dead . Language and Linguistics . en . 13 . 6 . 1253–1330 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191214200532/http://www.ling.sinica.edu.tw/Files/LL/Docments/Journals/13.6/j2012_6_06_1278.pdf . 2019-12-14.
- Book: Song, Limei 宋麗梅 . Kǎnàkǎnàfùyǔ yǔfǎ gàilùn . 2018 . Yuanzhu minzu weiyuanhui . 978-986-05-5697-1 . Xinbei Shi . zh . zh:卡那卡那富語 語法概論 . Introduction to Kanakanavu Grammar . alilin.apc.gov.tw.
- Teng . Stacy F. . Zeitoun . Elizabeth . 2016 . The Noun-Verb Distinction in Kanakanavu and Saaroa: Evidence from Pronouns . Oceanic Linguistics . en . 55 . 1 . 134–161 . 10.1353/ol.2016.0015 . 147806280 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210504133943/http://www.ling.sinica.edu.tw/eip/FILES/publish/2019.02.23.907961.970270.pdf . 2021-05-04 . www.ling.sinica.edu.tw.
- Tsuchida . Shigeru . 1975 . Reconstruction of Proto-Tsouic Phonology . Yale University . Doctoral dissertation . en.
- Book: Tsuchida, Shigeru . Reconstruction of Proto-Tsouic Phonology . 1976 . Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa . Studies of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa: Monograph Series, 5 . Tokyo.
- Tsuchida . Shigeru . Kanakanavu Texts (Austronesian Formosan) . 2003 . ELPR . Endangered Languages of the Pacific Rim Publications Series, A3-014 . Osaka . 10108/77962 . free . en.
- Wild . Ilka . Voice and Transitivity in Kanakanavu . 2018 . PhD . Universität Erfurt . en . .
External links
Notes and References
- Zeitoun . Elizabeth . Teng . Stacy F. . 2016 . Reassessing the Position of Kanakanavu and Saaroa among the Formosan Languages . Oceanic Linguistics . en . 55 . 1 . 162–198 . 10.1353/ol.2016.0001 . 148368774 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210504132905/http://www.ling.sinica.edu.tw/eip/FILES/publish/2019.02.23.460207.813531.pdf . 2021-05-04 . www.ling.sinica.edu.tw.
- Web site: Did You Know Kanakanabu is Critically Endangered? . April 15, 2016 . endangeredlanguages.com . en.
- Web site: Ethnographic Setting . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160920061449/https://www2.uni-erfurt.de/sprachwissenschaft/Vgl_SW/kanakanavu/language-description/setting-of-language/ethnographic-situation.html . 2016-09-20 . 2016-09-15 . Kanakanavu: An Aboriginal Language on Taiwan . en.
- Web site: Phonology . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20161005150901/https://www2.uni-erfurt.de/sprachwissenschaft/Vgl_SW/kanakanavu/language-description/system-of-language/distinctive-system-2/phonology.html . 2016-10-05 . 2016-09-26 . Kanakanavu: An Aboriginal Language on Taiwan . en.
- Book: Wild, Ilka . Voice and Transitivity in Kanakanavu . Universität Erfurt . 2018.
