- Saisiyat language
language
name=Saisiyat
familycolor=Austronesian
fam2=Northwest Formosan
iso3=xsy
states=Taiwan
region=
speakers=4750 (2002)Saisiyat is the language of the Saisiyat, a tribe of
indigenous people onTaiwan (seeTaiwanese aborigines ). It is aFormosan language of the Austronesian family. It has approximately 4,750 speakers.Classification
*
Austronesian languages
**Northwest Formosan languages
*** SaisiyatLanguage 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 ).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.Dialects
* Taai
* Tungho
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