Basay language


Basay was a Formosan language spoken around modern-day Taipei in northern Taiwan by the Basay, Qauqaut, and Trobiawan peoples. Trobiawan, Linaw, and Qauqaut were other dialects.
Basay data is mostly available from Erin Asai's 1936 field notes, which were collected from an elderly Basay speaker in Shinshe, Taipei, as well as another one in Yilan who spoken the Trobiawan dialect. However, the Shinshe informant's speech was heavily influenced by Taiwanese, and the Trobiawan informant, named Ipai, had heavy Kavalan influence in her speech.

Syntax

There are four optional case markers in Basay.
Some function words include :
Trobiawan negators include :
*
Yes-no questions are marked by u ~ nu.

Morphology

Basay verbs, like Kavalan verbs, distinguish between agent-focus and patient-focus verbs. The perfective prefixes na- and ni- are allomorphs.
Type of prefixNeutralPerfectiveFuture
Agentive focus -um-, m-na-mi--um-... -a, m-... -a
Patient focus -ni--au
Locative focus -anni-... -an-ai

Pronouns

The Basay pronouns below are from Li.
Type of
Pronoun		NeutralNominativeGenitiveOblique
1s.yakukaku, -kumaku-, -aku; naku, -akyakuan, kuan, kuanan
2s.isukisu, -sumisu, -isu; nisu, -su ~ -isisuan, suan, isuanan, suanan
3s.--ia--
1p. mitakita, -itamita, -ita; nita, -ta...,..., tianan
1p. yami-miyami, -ami; nami, -amyamian, mian, mianan
2p.imukimu, -mu-imu; nimu, -imimuan,..., imuanan
3p.--ia--

General references