Saisiyat language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Saisiyat | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in | Taiwan | |
| Total speakers | 4750 (2002) | |
| Language family | Austronesian
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| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1 | None | |
| ISO 639-2 | – | |
| ISO 639-3 | xsy | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
Saisiyat is the language of the Saisiyat, a tribe of indigenous people on Taiwan (see Taiwanese aborigines). It is a Formosan language of the Austronesian family. It has approximately 4,750 speakers.
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[edit] Classification
[edit] Language area
The language area of Saisiyat is small, situated in the northwest of the country between the Hakka Chinese and Atayal regions in the mountains (Wufeng-hsiang, Hsinchu, Nanchuang-hsiang, Miaoli).
[edit] Usage
Today, one thousand Saisiyat people do not use the Saisiyat language. Many young people use Hakka or Atayal instead, and few children speak Saisiyat. Hakka Chinese speakers, Atayal speakers and Saisiyat speakers live more or less together. Many Saisiyat are able to speak Saisiyat, Hakka, Atayal, Mandarin, and, sometimes, Min Nan as well. Although Saisiyat has a relatively large number of speakers, the language is endangered.
