Puyuma

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A language of Taiwan

ISO 639-3
pyu
Alternate Names
Beinan, Kadas, Panapanayan, Pelam, Pilam, Piyuma, Pyuma, Tipun
Autonym
Pinuyumayan
User Population

1,000 (Teng 2008). Ethnic population: 14,500 (2020 CIP). About 6,800 still reside in the Taitung area (Teng 2008).

Location

Taitung county: southeast coast and inland.

Language Maps
Language Status

8a (Moribund).

Classification
Austronesian, Puyuma
Dialects

Nanwang, Katipol.

Typology

VSO; noun heads final; 3 noun classes (common, personal, locative); 3 case-marking (3 cases); syntactic ergativity; aspect; causatives; 18 consonants and 4 vowels; stress on final syllable; non-tonal; verb serialization; inclusive/exclusive pronouns; inalienable/alienable possession.

Language Use

All domains. Older adults only. Mixed attitudes. The younger people have a negative attitude towards the language, while the older people have a much more positive attitude (Huteson 2005). Most shifted to Mandarin Chinese [cmn]. Many also use Min Nan Chinese [nan] (Huteson 2005). Some also use Japanese [jpn], mostly older people (Teng 2008). Used as L2 by Rukai [dru].

Language Development

Dictionary. Grammar. Bible portions: 1990.

Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Puyuma
Writing

Han (Hanzi, Kanji, Hanja) script [Hani], no longer in use. Latin script [Latn], experimental usage.