Seediq

How the three groups name themselves

Tsukida in 2005 divided Seediq into three dialects. Truku, transcribed 德路固 in Chinese, is the one also written Taroko. Toda is also spelled Tuuda, and Tgdaya goes by Tkdaya or Paran. Taiwan's record lists Truku as a language apart from Seediq, and this catalogue follows the record with a separate Truku page. The linguistic description here treats Truku as one of the three Seediq dialects.

What a Seediq clause puts last

The subject, the argument in absolutive case, normally ends the clause, though a topicalised ergative argument may follow it. A voice morpheme on the verb shows which participant is subject. Seediq has three voices: agent voice, marked with -em-, goal voice and conveyance voice. Modifiers follow their head, and unlike Tagalog there are no linkers between them. A place such as 'on the mountain' needs no preposition; it simply follows the verb.

Which words extend the predicate

A large set of words placed before the verb shifts its meaning, and each demands a particular verb form. Wada marks the past and meha the near future with neutral forms. ʼIni negates a bare stem, and ʼadi takes future or perfect forms. Others need no special form: dima, 'already', hana, 'at last', and pida, 'exactly'.

How Seediq counts

The numbers run kingal, deha, teru, sepat, rima, mataru, mpitu, maspat, mengari and maxal. Counting people and things takes different words, taxa for one person and ʼuwin for one object. The tens are built with ma- and -l: m-pusa-l is twenty, me-teru-l thirty.