Yami
Language · official in 1 country
Yami, which its speakers call ciriciring no Tao, 'human speech', is the one indigenous language of Taiwan outside the Formosan grouping. Spoken by the Tao people of Orchid Island, 46 km south-east of Taiwan, it belongs to the Batanic languages of the northern Philippines and to the Ivatan dialect continuum.
The language on record
- Own name
- ciriciring no Tao
- ISO 639-3
- TAO
- Script
- Latin
- Family
- Batanic (Malayo-Polynesian)
- Official in
- 1 country
Where Yami is official
Taiwan is the only country on record, although Yami's closest relatives are spoken in Batanes province of the northern Philippines.
Official beside Yami
About Yami
Why Yami is grouped with the Philippines
Every other native language of Taiwan's indigenous peoples is Formosan. Yami is one of the Batanic languages also found in Batanes province, and so belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian branch of Austronesian.
Its vocabulary has cognates with Philippine languages, alongside loanwords from Japanese and Chinese.
How Iraralay Yami doubles its consonants
Yami has 20 consonants and 4 vowels, and /o/ can sound as [ʊ] after a labial stop. Iraralay Yami, spoken on the north coast, distinguishes geminate consonants from single ones: opa is 'thigh', oppa 'hen'. Several consonants shift before /i/, where /n/, /l/ and /ʂ/ sound as [ɲ], [ɮ] and [ʃ]. Between two /a/ vowels, /k/ can sound as [q].
What the verb forms pair up
Yami verbs come in sets that pair an ordinary form with a subjunctive one. The dynamic intransitive infix -om- has a subjunctive N-; the transitive suffix -en becomes -a, and -an becomes -i. Stative verbs in ma- take a- in the subjunctive.
Common questions
Questions about Yami
Is Yami a Formosan language?
No. It is a Batanic language of the Malayo-Polynesian branch, related to the languages of Batanes in the northern Philippines.
Which name do its speakers prefer?
Some prefer Tao, the people's own name. In Chinese the two names are 雅美語 and 達悟語.