Asian Geographic - April 2018

DATA SOURCES: BBC, BRITANNICA, LANGUAGES OF THE WORLD, JUNE TSAI, LANGUAGE GULPER,
FOX NEWS, ABOUT WORLD LANGUAGES, INDIGENOUS WELLNESS RESEARCH INSTITUTE

THE FORMOSAN LANGUAGES:

A SNAPSHOT

175,000

speakers (approx.)

23

languages

Over 42

dialects

taiwan timeline

ȑ Early Austronesians
live in Taiwan and nearby
south China

ȑ The Formosan

languages are spoken

widely across Taiwan

ȑ Austronesians migrate

to Southeast Asia and as

far as Polynesia

ȑ Chinese settlers arrive

and intermarry. Mandarin

displaces Formosan

ȑ Formosan languages

are officially recognised

in Taiwan, with laws to

preserve and revive them

around 50th

century bce

around 20th

century bce

around 40th

century bce

17th century 2017

The distribution of Formosan

languages in Taiwan before

Chinese colonisation as described

by Austronesian linguist Robert Blust

Austronesian

Language Groups

across Taiwan

7

vulnerable

7

endangered

9

extinct

DATA SOURCES: ROBERT BLUST (1999),

UNESCO ATLAS OF THE WORLD’S LANGUAGES IN DANGER

SIRAIYA

TAIVOAN

HOANYA

BABUZA

PAZEH

THAO TAKITUDO

TAKITUDO

RUKAI

PYUMA

ISHBUKUN

TAOKAS SAISIYAT

TAKOPULAN

KANAKANBU

SAAROA

TFUEA

DUHTU

TAPANGU

TROBIAWAN

NATAORAN

QANQANT

TS’OLE

TS’OLE

TS’OLE

TAAI

TUNGHO

TS’OLE

TS’OLE

TS’OLE

TAROKO

TAYAL

BASAY

KETANGALAN

KAVALAN

LUIYANG

PAPORA

SOUTHERN AMIS

SOUTHERN AMIS

SOUTHERN

CENTRAL

BUNUN

AMIS

TAVALONG-VATA’AN

SOUTHERN AMIS

SOUTHERN AMIS

KULUN

EXISTING LANGUAGE

EXTINCT LANGUAGE

DIALECT

LEGEND

East Formosan

Western Plains

Northern Formosan

Atayalic

Bunun

Tsouic

Rukai

Pyuma

Paiwan

Malayo-Polynesian

PAIWAN

TSOU