Taiwan aborigines: a ceremonial Rukai knife

Nonoy Tan · 14th June 2011, 12:20 PM

Thanks, Yuanzhumin. Any information regarding the etymological basis of rinadrug?

yuanzhumin · 15th June 2011, 04:10 AM

Thank you all for your nice comments.

Nonoy, all what I can bring is this link:

http://www2.hawaii.edu/~reid/Combine...%20Grammar.pdf

Here is the introduction to the book:

Elizabeth Zeitoun. 2007. A grammar of Mantauran (Rukai). Taipei:
Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica. Language and
Linguistics Monograph Series A4-2. xviii + 551 pp. ISBN 978-
986-01-1219-1. $50.00, hardcover.

Mantauran is one of the six dialects of the Formosan language Rukai, spoken in the southcentral region of Taiwan. It is spoken by only 250–300 people and is highly endangered, with only a few elderly speakers still fluent. This alone is reason enough to document the language that in a generation or so will probably no longer be spoken. But Rukai is unique in that it apparently exhibits an accusative case-marking system, while most other
Formosan languages are arguably ergative, and it does not exhibit the widespread “focus” system characteristic of the so-called “Philippine-type” languages of Taiwan, such as Amis, Kavalan, Bunun, Thao, and Atayal. While a substantial grammar exists of one of the other dialects, Tanan Rukai (Li 1973), until Elizabeth Zeitoun (henceforth EZ) began her research on the language, there was very little information available about the morphosyntax
of this dialect. With this grammar, we now have extensive coverage of two
considerably different dialects of Rukai. EZ’s goals in writing the grammar in effect.

My additional comment: Elizabeth Zeitoun is a world wide expert of Rukai languages. She is a French researcher and works at the Acadamia Sinica, in Taipei (if I remember well, she is a member of this prestigious institution).

About the 14 Formosan languages:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formosan_languages

About the Austronesian languages:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/media/65326/
http://www.digparty.com/wiki/Austronesian_languages
http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.ph...sian_languages

If any of you has some more infos, please, share with us.

Not many people know about the Taiwan aborigenes, and even less about their different ethnic groups, their culture and their languages despite the fact that they are the craddle of the whole Austronesian world. Close to 300 millions people speak Austronesian languages all around the Pacific Rim and in The Indian Ocean. Polynesian people (Hawaii, Tahiti, Easter Island, Maori in New Zealand...) can trace their ancestry to Taiwan 6000 years ago, through genetics.

yuanzhumin · 15th June 2011, 04:14 AM

One more word just to show how much the Taiwan aborigenes culture is not well known: even the specialists from the Imperial Auctions, from which I bought this sword 2 months ago, mislabeled it and presented it as a Mainland Chinese minority knife.

Atlantia · 15th June 2011, 04:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yuanzhumin

One more word just to show how much the Taiwan aborigenes culture is not well known: even the specialists from the Imperial Auctions, from which I bought this sword 2 months ago, mislabeled it and presented it as a Mainland Chinese minority knife.

Well they got part right, amongst 'knives' beauties like that certainly are but a tiny minority!

14th June 2011, 12:20 PM	#1
Nonoy Tan Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 293	Thanks, Yuanzhumin. Any information regarding the etymological basis of rinadrug?

15th June 2011, 04:10 AM	#2
yuanzhumin Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Ex-Taipei, Taiwan, now in Shanghai, China Posts: 180	Thank you all for your nice comments. Nonoy, all what I can bring is this link: http://www2.hawaii.edu/~reid/Combine...%20Grammar.pdf Here is the introduction to the book: Elizabeth Zeitoun. 2007. A grammar of Mantauran (Rukai). Taipei: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica. Language and Linguistics Monograph Series A4-2. xviii + 551 pp. ISBN 978- 986-01-1219-1. $50.00, hardcover. Mantauran is one of the six dialects of the Formosan language Rukai, spoken in the southcentral region of Taiwan. It is spoken by only 250–300 people and is highly endangered, with only a few elderly speakers still fluent. This alone is reason enough to document the language that in a generation or so will probably no longer be spoken. But Rukai is unique in that it apparently exhibits an accusative case-marking system, while most other Formosan languages are arguably ergative, and it does not exhibit the widespread “focus” system characteristic of the so-called “Philippine-type” languages of Taiwan, such as Amis, Kavalan, Bunun, Thao, and Atayal. While a substantial grammar exists of one of the other dialects, Tanan Rukai (Li 1973), until Elizabeth Zeitoun (henceforth EZ) began her research on the language, there was very little information available about the morphosyntax of this dialect. With this grammar, we now have extensive coverage of two considerably different dialects of Rukai. EZ’s goals in writing the grammar in effect. My additional comment: Elizabeth Zeitoun is a world wide expert of Rukai languages. She is a French researcher and works at the Acadamia Sinica, in Taipei (if I remember well, she is a member of this prestigious institution). About the 14 Formosan languages: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formosan_languages About the Austronesian languages: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/media/65326/ http://www.digparty.com/wiki/Austronesian_languages http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.ph...sian_languages If any of you has some more infos, please, share with us. Not many people know about the Taiwan aborigenes, and even less about their different ethnic groups, their culture and their languages despite the fact that they are the craddle of the whole Austronesian world. Close to 300 millions people speak Austronesian languages all around the Pacific Rim and in The Indian Ocean. Polynesian people (Hawaii, Tahiti, Easter Island, Maori in New Zealand...) can trace their ancestry to Taiwan 6000 years ago, through genetics.

15th June 2011, 04:14 AM	#3
yuanzhumin Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Ex-Taipei, Taiwan, now in Shanghai, China Posts: 180	One more word just to show how much the Taiwan aborigenes culture is not well known: even the specialists from the Imperial Auctions, from which I bought this sword 2 months ago, mislabeled it and presented it as a Mainland Chinese minority knife.