Amis language

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Amis
Spoken in:	Taiwan
Total speakers:	137,651(by Council of Indigenous Peoples of Executive Yuan, Taiwan, in 2002)
Language family:	Austronesian  Formosan   Amis
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	none
ISO 639-2:	—
ISO 639-3:	ami
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

Amis is the language of the Amis or Ami, a tribe of indigenous people on Taiwan (see Taiwanese aborigines). It is a Formosan language of the Austronesian family. The public spaces of the counties where many Amis people live in Taiwan, like Hualien Train Station, Taitung Train Station, and Jhihben Train Station, broadcast in Amis Language also.

Contents 1 Dialects 2 Phonology 3 Example of words 4 Grammar 4.1 "General" Word Order Sentence I : Verb-Subject 4.1.1 Example 4.2 "General" Word Order Sentence II : Verb Subject Object 4.2.1 Example 5 External links

Dialects

There are some dialects of Amis language: Sakizaya language (regarded as a language independent to Amis language sometimes), Northern Amis dialect, Middle Amis dialect, Seashore Amis dialect, Malan Amis dialect and Hengchun Amis dialect.

Phonology

Consonants

	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Velar	Uvular	Palatal	Epiglottal	Glottal
Plosive	p		t		k	q		'	^
Fricative		f	d	s (z)	x			h
Affricate				c
Nasal	m		n		ng
Trill				r
Lateral Approximant				l
Approximant	w						y

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Closed	i		u
Mid		e	o
Open		a

• "z" is only occurred in Sakizaya language. except the /s/(represented by "s") and /z/(represented by "z") in Sakizaya language, every dialect of Amis language doesn't distinguish the voiceless consonants and voiced consonants.
• "f" and "d" have Allophones, "f" can be pronounced as /b/、/f/ or /v/, and "d" can be pronounced as /d/ or /ð/.

Example of words

lotong: Monkey/Ape fafoy: Pig wacu: Dog pusi: Cat kudiwis: Hare

cecay: One tosa: Two tolo: Three sepat: Four lima: Five

enem: Six pito: Seven falo: Eight siwa: Nine polo: Ten

Grammar

There are some inflections of verbs exist in Amis language, like Existential clause, Active voice, Passive voice, disposal sentence, Imperative mood, Optative mood, Prohibitive mood, and etc. There are two Word Orders in Amis language, called "General" Word Order and "Special" Word Order. Below are some examples of Amis sentence:

"General" Word Order Sentence I : Verb-Subject

Verb	Subject
Verb, Adjective, etc.	ko (Preposition for Subjects)+Nouns

Example

• Maomahay ko wama.(The father is working at the farmfield.)
  • mimaomahay: Work(at farmfield)
  • wama: Father
• Misaholoay ko wina.(The mother is cooking rice.)
  • misaholoay: Cook(rice)
  • ina/wina: Mother

"General" Word Order Sentence II : Verb Subject Object

Verb	Subject	Object
Verb, Adjective, etc.	ko (Preposition for Subjects)+Nouns	to (Preposition for Objects)+Nouns

Example

• Mifaca' ko kaying to riko'.(The young woman is washing cloth.)
• Mifaca' koya kaying to riko'.(The young woman is washing cloth.)
  • mifaca': wash(clothes)
  • kaying: young woman
  • riko'/fudoy: cloth

External links

• Sample Ami text
• Central Amis Wordlist at the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database