Formosan Languages

Formosan languages are the languages spoken by the indigenous peoples of Taiwan. They belong to the Austronesian language family and are believed to show the greatest diversity in the family. Research on Formosan languages at the Department of English, NTNU, covers a fairly wide range, from the theoretical fields such as phonology, morphology, syntax, and syntax-semantics interface to the applied areas such as language revitalization. The following are the researchers of Formosan languages in the department.

Prof. Hui-shan Lin is specialized in phonology and Optimality Theory. Her research on Formosan languages has focused on the process of reduplication in the language group. Over the years, she has examined the issue in a variety of languages (including Amis, Atayal, Bunun, Kavalan, Pazeh, Tsou, and Truku) and tried to find out the universal grammar of reduplication in the language group. Prof. Hsiao-hung Iris Wu's research interests include syntactic theory, syntax-semantics interface and comparative syntax from both macro- and micro- parametric perspectives. Over the years, she has explored a variety of syntactic issues in Isbukun Bunun (including existentials, V-initial phenomenon, restructuring, ellipsis, correlatives) and tried to make these issues to relate to the entire field by identifying the theoretical challenges they pose. Prof. Jing-lan Joy Wu specializes in functional syntax and linguistic typology. She has been working on Amis since early 1990s and has published two grammars based on different Amis dialects. She has also been actively engaged in various projects related to the revitalization of Formosan languages.

Instructor(s):

• Dr. LIN, Hui-shan
• Dr. Wu, Hsiao-hung Iris
• Dr. Wu, Jing-lan Joy

Related Course(s) Provided:

• ENC2012 Formosan Syntax
• ENC2050 Studies in Comparative Syntax
• ENC2034 Linguistic Fieldwork
• END2026 Topics in Field Methods