Title

The Impact of Japanese on the Phonology of Plngawan and Klesan Atayal

Author

Andre Goderich

Genre

Article  

Pages

653-681

Download

PDF

Language

English

Key words

Formosan languages, Atayal, language contact, loan phonology

Abstract

Japanese rule in Taiwan (1895–1945) has left a lasting mark on all of Taiwan’s languages, the most obvious of which are the many Japanese lexical borrowings in both Formosan and Sinitic languages of Taiwan. This article looks at a deeper aspect of the impact of Japanese: its influence on the phonological systems of two Atayal dialects—Plngawan and Klesan. In both dialects, Japanese loanwords not only brought with them loan phonemes, but also ushered in changes to phonological constraints. In Klesan, Japanese loans violated constraints on possible syllable structures. In Plngawan, Japanese affected the distribution of its coronal fricatives and affricates, and may have contributed to a phonemic split. The lingering influence of Japanese has loosened phonological restrictions in both dialects, which have also been eroded by loans from other languages, such as Taiwanese Southern Min or Taiwan Mandarin.