The Atayalic languages are a group of Formosan languages

Formosan languages

The Formosan languages are the languages of the indigenous peoples of Taiwan. Taiwanese aborigines currently comprise about 2% of the island's population. However, far fewer can still speak their ancestral language, after centuries of language shift...

 spoken in northern Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

. Robert Blust

Robert Blust

Robert A. Blust is a prominent linguist in several areas, including historical linguistics, lexicography and ethnology. Blust specializes in the Austronesian languages and has made major contributions to the field of Austronesian linguistics....

 considers them to form a primary branch within the Austronesian language family

Austronesian languages

The Austronesian languages are a language family widely dispersed throughout the islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, with a few members spoken on continental Asia that are spoken by about 386 million people. It is on par with Indo-European, Niger-Congo, Afroasiatic and Uralic as one of the...

, However, Paul Jen-kuei Li

Paul Jen-kuei Li

Paul Jen-kuei Li is a research fellow at the Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan. Li is a leading specialist on Formosan languages, and has published dictionaries on the Pazih and Kavalan languages.-References:...

 groups them into the Northern Formosan branch, which includes the Northwestern Formosan languages.

Classification

Li (1981) and Li (1982) classify the Atayalic languages and dialects as follows:

• Atayalic
  • Atayal Proper
    Atayal language
    The Atayal language is spoken by the Atayal people of Taiwan. Squliq and C’uli’ are two major dialects...
    
    
    • Squliq Atayal
      • Squliq
      • Maspaziʔ
      • Pyanan
      • Lmuan
      • Habun Bazinuq
      • Syanuh
      • Kulu
      • ŋŋupa
      • Haga-Paris
      • Kubaboo
      • Rghayuŋ
    • Cʔuliʔ Atayal (also known as Ts'ole' Atayal)
      • Skikun, Mnibuʔ
      • Mnawyan
      • Mayrinax (includes female and male registers)
      • Mabatuʔan
      • Matabalay
      • Sakuxan
      • Palŋawan
      • Mkgugut
      • Pyahaw
      • Ryuhiŋ
      • Mtlaŋan
      • Knŋyan
  • Seediq
    Seediq language
    Seediq is an Atayalic language spoken in the mountains of Northern Taiwan by the Seediq and Truku people. There are 4,750 speakers out of a total of 25,000 ethnic members .-Subdivisions:Seediq consists of three main dialects...
    
    
    • Toŋan
    • Toda
    • Truwan
    • Inago

Reconstruction

The Proto-Atayalic language was reconstructed by Taiwanese linguist Paul Jen-kuei Li in 1981. Proto-Atayalic had final voiced stops, which are preserved in the Mayrinax dialect of Cʔuliʔ Atayal. These voiced stops include *-b, *-d, *-g, and *-g'. However, they are now lost in many dialects of Atayal, Seediq, and also Pazeh (Blust 2009:615).

General references

• Li, Paul Jen-kuei. 1981. "Reconstruction of Proto-Atayalic Phonology." In Li, Paul Jen-kuei. 2004. Selected Papers on Formosan Languages. Taipei, Taiwan: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica.