Sakizaya
Language · official in 1 country
For more than a century Sakizaya was filed as a dialect of Amis. After the Takobowan incident of 1878 the Sakizaya people hid among the Nataoran Amis, and scholars took their speech for Amis until 2002, when National Chengchi University's Center of Aboriginal Studies corrected the error in indigenous language textbooks.
The language on record
- Own name
- Sakizaya
- ISO 639-3
- SZY
- Script
- Latin
- Family
- Formosan
- Official in
- 1 country
Where Sakizaya is official
Taiwan is the only listing. Its government recognised the Sakizaya as a distinct people in 2007, ten years before the Formosan languages became official.
Official beside Sakizaya
About Sakizaya
When Taiwan recognised the Sakizaya
The 2002 textbooks classed Sakizaya as a sublanguage of both Chilai and Amis. On 17 January 2007 the Sakizaya became the thirteenth indigenous group recognised by the Taiwanese government, and they are one of the sixteen recognised today. They live mainly in the Takubuwan, Sakur, Maifor and Kaluluwan communities on the east coast. Thousands of Sakizaya are still registered as Amis under the old classification.
How its sounds differ from Amis
Sakizaya contrasts a voiced /z/ with a voiceless /s/, a pair Central Amis lacks, and it is not mutually intelligible with Northern Amis. Several sounds vary between speakers. /b/ may be heard as [f], /l/ as [r] at the end of a word, and /d/ as [r] between vowels. Before /i/ and /j/, the sounds /ts, s, z/ are palatalised. /ɡ/ occurs, but rarely.
Common questions
Questions about Sakizaya
Is Sakizaya a dialect of Amis?
No, although it was classed as one until 2002. Scholars had heard it among the Nataoran Amis, where the Sakizaya took refuge after 1878.
When were the Sakizaya recognised as a people?
On 17 January 2007.