Yami language
Yami, also known as Tao, is a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by the Yami people of Orchid Island, 46 kilometers southeast of Taiwan. It is a member of the Ivatan dialect continuum.
Yami is known as ciriciring no Tao 'human speech' by its native speakers.
Classification
Yami is the only native language of Taiwanese aborigines that is not a member of the Formosan grouping of Austronesian; it is one of the Batanic languages found in the northern Philippines.Phonology
Yami has 20 consonants and 4 vowels:Vowels
Iraralay Yami, spoken on the north coast, distinguishes between geminative consonants.Consonants
Grammar
Pronouns
The following set of pronouns are the pronouns found in the Yami language.| Nominative free | Nominative bound | Genitive free | Genitive bound | Locative | |
| 1st person singular | yaken | ko | niaken | ko | jiaken |
| 2nd person singular | imo | ka | nimo | mo | jimo |
| 3rd person singular | iya | ya | nia | na | jia |
| 1st person plural inclusive | yaten | ta, tamo, takamo | niaten | ta | jiaten |
| 1st person plural exclusive | yamen | namen | niamen | namen | jiamen |
| 2nd person plural | inio | kamo, kanio | ninio | nio | jinio |
| 3rd person plural | sira | sia | nira | da | jira |
Verbs
The following list of Yami verbal inflections is from Rau.;Dynamic intransitive
- -om-/om-
- mi-
- ma-
- maN-
- maka-
- maci-/masi-/macika-/macipa-
- ma-
- ka-... -an
- pi-
- pa-
- paN-
- paka-
- paci-
- -en
- -an
- i-
- ma-
- ka-... -an
Affixes
- icia- 'fellows such and such who share the same features or fate'
- ikeyka- 'even more so'
- ika- 'feel such and such because...'
- ika- 'ordinal number'
- ipi- 'multiple number'
- ji a- 'negation or emphatic'
- ka- 'company, as... as, abstract noun'
- ka- 'and then, just now, only'
- ka- 'stative verb prefix reappearing in forming transitive verbs'
- ka- 'very'
- ka- 'animals named after certain features'
- ka-... -an 'common noun'
- ma-... -en 'love to do such and such'
- mapaka- 'pretend to be such and such'
- mapi- 'do such and such as an occupation'
- mi-/mala- 'kinship relationships in a group of two or three'
- mika-/mapika-/ipika- 'all, gradually, one by one'
- mala- 'taste or look like...'
- mipa- 'getting more and more...'
- mipipa- 'even more...'
- mapi-/mapa-/pa-... -en/ipa- 'causative verb affixes'
- ni- 'perfective'
- ni-... na 'superlative'
- noka- 'past'
- noma- 'future '
- sicia- 'present'
- sima- 'future '
- tey- 'direction'
- tey- 'very, too'
- tey- 'amount allocated to each unit
Vocabulary