Thao language (original) (raw)

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Austronesian language of Taiwan

Thao
Sao
Thau a lalawa
Native to	Taiwan
Ethnicity	820 Thao (2020)[1]
Native speakers	4 (2021)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Western Plains FormosanThao
Dialects	Brawbaw Shtafari
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ssf
Glottolog	thao1240
ELP	Thao
Map of Formosan languages
Thao is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.

Thao (; endonym: Thau a lalawa), also known as Sao,[2] is an Austronesian language.[3] It is the nearly extinct language of the Thao people,[4] an indigenous people of Taiwan from the Sun Moon Lake region in central Taiwan. It is a Formosan language of the Austronesian family;[5] Barawbaw and Shtafari are dialects.[_citation needed_]

The name Thao literally means "person", from Proto-Austronesian *Cau. It is therefore cognate with the name of the Tsou.

Speaking Thao was criminalised under Japanese rule of Taiwan and later the Kuomintang regime, contributing to its critically endangered status today.[6]

A Thao-English dictionary by Robert A. Blust was published in 2003 by Academia Sinica's Institute of Linguistics.[7]

In 2014, there were four L1 speakers and a fluent L2 speaker living in Ita Thaw (伊達邵, Yi Dashao) village (traditionally called Barawbaw), all but one of whom were over the age of sixty.[_citation needed_] Two elderly native speakers died in December of that year, including chief Tarma (袁明智, Yuan Mingzhi), age 75.[_citation needed_] Four elderly L1 speakers and some semi-speakers were reported in 2021.[1]

Consonant inventory | | Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Post- Alveolar | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | | | | | | | | | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------ | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | | Plosive | p | b | | | t | d | | | k | | q | | ʔ ⟨ʼ⟩ | | | Fricative | f | | θ | ð | s | | ʃ | | | | | | h | | | Lateral Fricative | | | | | ɬ ⟨lh⟩ | | | | | | | | | | | Tap or Flap | | | | | | ɾ | | | | | | | | | | Nasal | | m | | | | n | | | | ŋ | | | | | | Approximant | | w | | | | l | | j | | | | | | |

Orthographic notes:

• /θ ð ʃ/ are written ⟨th z sh⟩. However, /θ/ is written ⟨c⟩ in Blust's dictionary.
• /ŋ/ is written ⟨ng⟩. However, /ŋ/ is written ⟨g⟩ in Blust's dictionary (as in Fijian).

Notes:

• The glides /j w/ are derived from the underlying vowels /i u/ to meet the requirements that syllables must have onset consonants and to indicate stress placement accurately.
• /w/ realise as [v] intervocalically.

Vowel inventory

| | Front | Central | Back | | | --------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------- | | High | i | | u | | Low | | a | |

Notes:

• Stress is penultimate, otherwise can be written ⟨á í ú⟩ as in "dadú", but doubling ⟨aa ii uu⟩ is also frequently used, as in "daduu".
• [e] and [o] occur as allophones of /i/ and /u/, respectively, when preceded or followed either by /q/ or /r/.

Thao has two or arguably three patterns of reduplication: Ca-reduplication, full reduplication, and rightward reduplication (which is sometimes considered to be a form of full reduplication).

Thao verbs have the following types of focus (Blust 2003:239).

1. Actor: -um- (present), ma- (future)
2. Patient: -in, -in-
3. Locative: -an

Thao word order can be both SVO and VSO, although the former is derived from Taiwanese Hokkien (Blust 2003:228).

The Thao personal marker is "ti" (Blust 2003:228). Negatives include "ani" and "antu"; "ata tu" is used in "don't" constructions. The perfect is marked by "iza", the past by an infix just after the primary onset consonant "-in-" and the future by the prefix "a-". Imperatives are marked by "-í" and softer imperatives or requests roughly translated as "please" by "-uan" sometimes spelled "-wan" which can co-occur with "-í".

The Thao personal pronouns below are from Blust (2003:207). Note that there is only 1 form each for "we (exclusive)," "you (plural)" and "they."

Thao Personal Pronouns

Other pronouns include:

• minmihu - for you
• panmihu - as for you
• panihun - because of you
• shanaihun - up to you
• shaunatazihun - go to your place
• shmunaihun - bring to you
• nakin - for me
• panyakin - as for me
• pashiyakin - leave me
• shanayayakin - up to me
• shmunayakin - bring me

The following affixes are sourced from Blust (2003:92-188) and adjusted to the modern spelling.

• a- : only found in /kan/ 'eat'
• -ak : '1st person singular (I)'
• ak- ... -in : 'morning, noon, evening meals'
• an- : uncertain function
• -an : Verbal uses can be indicative, imperative, or adversative.
• i- : prefix or clitic particle marking location
• -i : imperative
• -ik : patient focus (1st person singular)
• -in- : perfective or completive aspect
• -in : patient focus
• ish- : found most with intransitive verbs (uncommon prefix)
• ka- : 'to make an X', 'two times' (with reduplication)
• ka- ... -an : meaning unclear
• kal- : 'X told'
• kalh- : 'to pile, spread'
• kash- : 'intensity, repetition'
• kashi- : meaning uncertain
• kashi- ... -an : 'pull by the X'
• kashun- : derives verbs referring to positions of the human body, or sometimes objects such as boats
• kat- : 'gradually become X'
• ki- : 'stand, stay'; other possible meanings as well
• ki- ... -an : 'be affected with pain in the X'
• kilh- : 'search for, seek'
• kin- : 'to pick or gather X'
• kit- ... -in : 'infested with X'
• ku- : 'to perform an action with X' (when used with tools or weapons); less specific in other contexts
• kun- : 'sudden or abrupt action', 'to eat the X meal', 'to do X times'; meaning unclear sometimes
• la- : usually found in expressions of quantity of degree
• lhin- : causative sense
• lhun- : swelling-related meanings, etc.
• m- : marks the genitive in 'you (2s)' and 'we (incl.)'
• ma- : marks stative verbs, occasionally nouns derived from stative verbs
• ma- : active verb prefix
• ma- : prefix marking the future in actor focus verbs
• ma- : 'tens' (used with numbers)
• mak- : intransitive verbs
• maka- : 'to resemble X' (people), 'produce X' (plant or animal parts), 'from/in/to X' (deictic/directional expressions)
• makin- : intransitive verbs; 'Xth from the bottom' (with numerals)
• makit- : 'happen gradually', 'perform X gradually'
• maku- : directional sense, and is followed by /na/- (though it does not follow not in non-locative expressions)
• malhi- : 'give birth to an X'
• man- : generally used with dynamic, intransitive verbs
• mana- : generally found with directional verbs
• mapa- : 'reciprocal', 'collective action'
• mash- : 'to speak X' (language), 'walk with an X' (positions or conditions of the leg)
• masha- : relates to body positions, or may have a directional meaning
• mashi- : comparatives (with stative bases of measurement); often synonymous with /ma/- (stative verb marker)
• mat- : derives intransitive or stative verbs
• mati- : locative expressions
• matin- + full reduplication : 'X-ish' or 'spotted with X' (colors)
• mi- : derives intransitive verbs, often with some form of base reduplication
• mi- + Ca reduplication : 'do with a group of X'
• mya- : used to derive various verbs
• min- : derives inchoative verbs (Bunun loan?); 'become an X' or 'become like an X' (with kinship terms)
• mu- : most frequently derives verbs of motion; 'go into X; enter X' (with concrete nouns that refer to structures or places capable of being entered); 'search for X' (with names of useful plants); 'do X times' (numeral bases and expressions of quantity)
• mun- : intransitive verbs
• -n : derives accusative pronouns from nominative bases
• na- : most commonly with verbs indicating change of location; 'it's up to X'
• pa- : causative of dynamic verbs (verbs with -/um/-); 'make X do Y' or 'let X do Y'; active transitive (or intransitive) verb with no causative argument/sense
• pak- : 'exude X' (body fluids, other natural fluids/substances); intransitive verb prefix
• pan- : 'perform X in a downward direction'
• pan- ... -an : used with terms for lineal consanguines to derive the corresponding collateral terms of the same generation (e.g., 'father' > 'uncle', 'grandparent' > 'grandparental sibling')
• pash- ... -an : 'place in which X is kept'
• pashi- : generally causative sense (often with Ca-reduplication); 'let X do it' or 'let X have it' (with the accusative forms of personal pronouns)
• pashi- ... -an : 'put X on' or 'wear X'
• pat- : generally causative sense
• pi- : causative verbs of location (can be paired with /i/- 'at, in, on'); may also form non-locative verbs
• pya- : forms causative verbs (usually have stative counterparts with /ma/-; note that /pa/- and -/um/- are also counterparts.); simulative verb
• pik- : generally causative sense
• pin- : generally forms causative verbs or deverbal nouns
• pish- : 'play X' (musical instruments); inchoative sense (sometimes with an implied element of suddenness); causative sense
• pu- : causative or transitive counterpart of the movement prefix /mu/-, which is intransitive; 'use an X' or 'put in an X' (with names of some tools); 'send out an X' (with names of plant parts)
• pu- ... -an : to wear X' (body ornaments)
• pun- : 'to catch X' (animals used for food)
• qata- : bodily movement, observation, and the like
• sha- : directional sense ('facing', etc.)
• shan-na-Ca- ... : 'it's up to X' (often with pronouns)
• shau- : 'go to X' or 'arrive at X' (with bases that have an inherently locative sense or temporal sense)
• shi- : appears to mark past tense (as opposed to the perfective aspect marker -/in/-)
• shi- : sometimes appears with commands
• shi-X-X : 'X-ish, somewhat X'
• shi-X-iz: 'X times'
• shu- : 'bring X' or 'take X' (with pronominal and deictic bases)
• tana- : generally directional sense (from Bunun /tana/- 'prefix of direction')
• tau- : 'to carry X' (with concrete nouns); 'to turn to X' (with bases having a directional meaning)
• tish- : forms both transitive and intransitive verbs; often refers to results of non-deliberate actions
• tu-Ca- ... : 'the odor of X'
• -um- : actor focus infix
• un- ... -an : 'undesirable bodily conditions or afflictions'; 'figurative extension of a physical affliction'
• -un : equivalent of -/in/ 'patient focus' (borrowed from Bunun)
• -wak : 1st person singular actor (apparently distinct from -/ak/)
• -wan : 'X's turn (to do something)'
• ya- : only comes after /mapa/- 'reciprocal or collective action'
• -zan : 'X paces' (used with numerals)

Quasi-affixes

• kan 'step, walk'
• lhqa 'live, living'
• pasaháy 'to use'
• qalha 'much, many'
• sa (usually almost impossible to translate in most environments)

1. ^ a b c Thao at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
2. ^ Zui (2021-11-20). "Languages of Taiwan — Thao (Thau a lalawa, Sao)". The Language Closet. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
3. ^ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin (eds.). "Thao". Glottolog . Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
4. ^ "Did you know Thao is critically endangered?". Endangered Languages. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
5. ^ Chang, M Laura (December 1998). "Thao Reduplication". Oceanic Linguistics. 37 (2): 277–297. doi:10.2307/3623411.
6. ^ Davidson, Helen (2021-06-09). "Healing words: Taiwan's tribes fight to save their disappearing languages". The Guardian. Retrieved 2024-04-27.
7. ^ "Thao language rouses foreign interest". Taiwan Today. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of China (Taiwan). 2008-12-04. Retrieved 2024-03-27.
8. ^ PAN *ni-ku
9. ^ PAN *ni-Su
10. ^ PAN *ni-a

• Blust, Robert (2003). Thao Dictionary (PDF). Language and Linguistics, Monograph Series A5. Taipei: Institute of Linguistics (Preparatory Office), Academia Sinica. ISBN 957-01-4785-7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 January 2022. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
• Huang, Meijin 黃美金 (2000). Shàoyǔ cānkǎo yǔfǎ 邵語參考語法 [_A Reference Grammar of Thao_] (in Chinese). Taibei Shi: Yuanliu. ISBN 957-32-3890-X.
• Jian, Shilang 簡史朗 (2018). Shàoyǔ yǔfǎ gàilùn 邵語 語法概論 [_Introduction to Thao Grammar_] (in Chinese). Xinbei Shi: Yuanzhu minzu weiyuanhui. ISBN 978-986-05-5685-8. Archived from the original on 2022-02-21. Retrieved 2021-06-09 – via alilin.apc.gov.tw.

• Robert Blust's audio recordings of Thao are archived with Kaipuleohone
• Yuánzhùmínzú yǔyán xiànshàng cídiǎn 原住民族語言線上詞典 Archived 2025-01-21 at the Wayback Machine (in Chinese) – Thao search page at the "Aboriginal language online dictionary" website of the Indigenous Languages Research and Development Foundation
• Thao teaching and leaning materials published by the Council of Indigenous Peoples of Taiwan Archived 2022-02-21 at the Wayback Machine (in Chinese)
• Thao translation of President Tsai Ing-wen's 2016 apology to indigenous people Archived 2021-06-29 at the Wayback Machine – published on the website of the presidential office