Rukai language


Rukai is a Formosan language spoken by the Rukai people in Taiwan. It is a member of the Austronesian language family. The Rukai language comprises six dialects, which are Budai, Labuan, Maga, Mantauran, Tanan and Tona. The number of speakers of the six Rukai dialects is estimated to be about 10,000. Some of them are monolingual. There are varying degrees of mutual intelligibility among the Rukai dialects. Rukai is notable for its distinct grammatical voice system among the Formosan languages.

Classification

considers Rukai to be the first language to have split from the Proto-Austronesian language. Below are the estimated divergence dates of various Formosan languages from Li.
  1. Proto-Austronesian: 4,500 BCE
  2. Rukai: 3,000 BCE
  3. Tsouic: 2,500 BCE
  4. Most other splits: 2,000 to 0 BCE
  5. Western Plains: 1,000 CE
Classifications by various scholars repeatedly find that Rukai is one of the, and often the, most divergent of the Austronesian languages. It is therefore prime evidence for reconstructing Proto-Austronesian. Ross notes that to date, reconstructions had not taken Rukai into account, and therefore cannot be considered valid for the entire family.

Dialects

Rukai is unique for being the only Formosan language without a focus system.
Tanan Rukai is also the Formosan language with the largest consonant inventory, with 23 consonants and 4 vowels having length contrast. Tanan Rukai also makes an animate/inanimate instead of a personal/non-personal one as most other Formosan languages do.
Mantauran is one of the most divergent dialects. Li classifies them as follows:
According to Zeitoun, there are a total of 6 Rukai dialects spoken in 12 different villages.
DialectAutonymVillageTownship
TananTaromakTunghsin 東興Peinan Township, Taitung County
LabuanLaboaTawu 大武Wutai Township, Pingtung County
LabuanTalamakaoChinyeWutai Township, Pingtung County
BudaiVedraiWutai 霧臺Wutai Township, Pingtung County
BudaiKucapunganHaocha 好茶Wutai Township, Pingtung County
BudaiAdiriAli 阿禮Wutai Township, Pingtung County
BudaiKalramomodhesaeChiamu 佳暮Wutai Township, Pingtung County
BudaiKinulanChulu 吉露Wutai Township, Pingtung County
MagaTeldrɨkaMaolin 茂林Maolin Township, Kaohsiung County
TonaKongadavaneTona 多納Maolin Township, Kaohsiung County
Mantauran'oponohoWanshan 萬山Maolin Township, Kaohsiung County
Mantauran---

Together, Maga, Tona, and Mantauran are also known as the "Lower Three Villages." Rukai have also recently in Sandimen Township and southern Sanhe Village, Majia Township, where there are many Paiwan. Sanhe Village is also where the Budai Rukai originally lived in before they relocated to Wutai Township in the mid-1900s.

Phonology

Most Rukai dialects have four vowels and retroflex and interdental consonants.
Budai Rukai has four vowels,. is not a schwa but a full vowel. Words ending phonemically in a consonant add an echo vowel, one of, which unlike morphophonemic vowels is often lost in derivation. is used when the last vowel of the stem is.
Due to influence from Paiwan and Chinese, younger speakers sometimes pronounce as, and in Tanan Rukai, younger speakers may merge into.
In Mantauran Rukai, the voiced stops have spirantized: *b to, *d and *ɖ to, and *g to.
The following table displays the consonant inventory of Mantauran Rukai, with written representations that differ from their IPA representations given in angle brackets :
LabialDentalAlveolarRetroflexVelarGlottal
Nasal
Stop
Affricate
Fricative
Trill
Approximant

Morphology

Basic Mantauran Rukai syllables take on a basic V structure, with words usually ranging from 2 to 4 syllables long. There are four morphological processes.
  1. Affixation
  2. Stem modification
  3. Reduplication
  4. Compounding
The following reduplication patterns occur in Budai Rukai.
;Reduplication of the noun stem
;Reduplication of the verb stem
In Budai Rukai, reduplication of a bound stem can also be used to create certain basic nouns and verbs, such as 'thunder,' 'mountain,' and 'to scrape'.
Based on an analysis of the Budai dialect, Rukai is said to be unusual among Formosan languages for having a dichotomous active-passive voice system, which may include voices such agent, patient, locative, or instrumental focus. Stan Starosta considers this to be an indication that Rukai is the first offshoot of the Austronesian language family. However, this dichotomy has been challenged.
Unlike most other Formosan languages, Rukai has an accusative case-marking system instead of an ergative one typical of Austronesian-aligned languages. There are two types of clauses in Mantauran Rukai:
  1. Nominal
  2. Verbal
Complementalization can take on four strategies.
  1. Zero strategy
  2. Verb serialization
  3. Nominalization
  4. Causativization
Definite objects can be topicalized in both active and passive sentences.

Function words

Below are some Mantauran Rukai function words from Zeitoun.
Zeitoun distinguishes eleven word classes in Mantauran Rukai:.
  1. Nouns
  2. Verbs
  3. Pronouns
  4. Demonstratives
  5. Numerals
  6. Adverbs
  7. Phrasal elements
  8. Clausal elements
  9. Interclausal elements
  10. Exclamations
  11. Interjections

    Verbs

Below are some Mantauran Rukai verb affixes from Zeitoun.
Below are Rukai pronouns from Zeitoun. Note that Mantauran Rukai pronouns are usually bound.
Type of
Pronoun		TopicNominativeObliqueGenitive
1s.iɭaə-ɭao, nao--i-a-ə-li
2s.imiaʔə-moʔoi-miaʔ-ə-ʔo
3s. ana–-i-n-ə-i
3s. ðona–-i-ð-ə-ða
1p. imitə, ita-mita, -ta-i-mit-ə-ta
1p. inamə-nai-i-nam-ə-nai
2p.inomə-nomi-i-nom-ə-nomi
3p. ana-lo–-i-l-i-n-ə-l-i-ni
3p. ðona-lo–-i-l-i-ð-ə-l-i-ða

Type of
Pronoun		TopicNominativeObliqueGenitive
1s.kunaku-aku, naw-nakuanə-li
2s.kusu-sumusuanə-su
3s. kuini–inianə-ini
3s. kuiɖa–––
1p. kuta-tamitaanə-ta
1p. kunai-nainaianə-nai
2p.kunumi-numi, -nunumianə-numi
3p. kuini–inianə-ini
3p. kuiɖa–––

Type of
Pronoun		TopicNominativeObliqueGenitive
1s.i kɨkɨku-, kɨkɨŋkua-li
2s.i mususu-, mususua-su
3s. i kinikininia-ini
3s. i kiɖikiɖiɖia-ɖa
1p. i mitita-, mitimitia-ta
1p. i knamɨnamɨ-, knamɨnmaa-namɨ
2p.i mumumu-, mumumua-mu
3p. i kinikininia-ini
3p. i kiɖikiɖiɖia-ɖa

Affixes

Budai Rukai

The list of Budai Rukai affixes below is sourced from Chen.
Prefixes
Suffixes
Infixes
Circumfixes
Compound Affixes
The following list of Mantauran Rukai affixes is sourced from Zeitoun.
The following list of Budai Rukai affixes is sourced from the Comparative Austronesian Dictionary.
;Nominal affixes
;Verbal affixes