# Puyuma language

The Puyuma language or Pinuyumayan (Chinese: 卑南語; pinyin: Bēinányǔ), is the language of the Puyuma, an indigenous people of Taiwan. It is a divergent Formosan language of the Austronesian family. Most speakers are older adults.
Puyuma is one of the more divergent of the Austronesian languages and falls outside reconstructions of Proto-Austronesian.

## Dialects

The internal classification of Puyuma dialects below is from Ting (1978). Nanwang Puyuma is considered to be the relatively phonologically conservative but grammatically innovative, as in it preserves proto-Puyuma voiced plosives but syncretizes the use of both oblique and genitive case.
* Proto-Puyuma
** Nanwang
** (Main branch)
*** Pinaski–Ulivelivek
**** Pinaski
**** Ulivelivek
*** Rikavung
*** Kasavakan–Katipul
**** Kasavakan
**** Katipul
Puyuma-speaking villages are:

### Puyuma cluster ('born of the bamboo')

* Puyuma (Chinese: Nanwang 南王)
* Apapulu (Chinese: Paosang 寶桑)

### Katipul cluster ('born of a stone')

* Alipai (Chinese: Pinlang 賓朗)
* Pinaski (Chinese: Hsia Pinlang 下賓朗); 2 km north of Puyuma/Nanwang, and maintains close relations with it
* Pankiu (Chinese: Pankiu 班鳩)
* Kasavakan (Chinese: Chienhe 建和)
* Katratripul (Chinese: Chihpen 知本)
* Likavung (Chinese: Lichia 利嘉)
* Tamalakaw (Chinese: Taian 泰安)
* Ulivelivek (Chinese: Chulu 初鹿)

## Phonology

Puyuma has 18 consonants and 4 vowels:
Puyuma Consonants :
| | | Bilabial | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
| Nasal | Nasal | m | n | | | ŋ ⟨ng⟩ | |
| Plosive | Voiceless | p | t | ʈ ⟨tr⟩ | | k | ʔ ⟨’⟩ |
| Plosive | Voiced | b | d | ɖ ⟨dr⟩ | | ɡ | |
| Fricative | Fricative | | s | | | | |
| Trill | Trill | | r | | | | |
| Approximant | Approximant | | l ⟨lr⟩ | ɭ ⟨l⟩ | j ⟨y⟩ | w | |
Puyuma Vowels :
| | Front | Central | Back |
| Close | i | | u |
| Mid | | ə ⟨e⟩ | |
| Open | | a | |
Note that Teng uses ⟨lr⟩ for /ɭ/ and ⟨l⟩ for /l/, unlike in official version. The official orthography is used in this article.

## Grammar
### Morphology

Puyuma verbs have four types of focus:
* Actor focus: Ø (no mark), -em-, -en- (after labials), me-, meʔ-, ma-
* Object focus: -aw
* Referent focus: -ay
* Instrumental focus: -anay
There are three verbal aspects:
* Perfect
* Imperfect
* Future
There are two modes:
* Imperative
* Hortative future
Affixes include:
* Perfect: Ø (no mark)
* Imperfect: Reduplication; -a-
* Future: Reduplication, sometimes only -a-
* Hortative future: -a-
* Imperative mode: Ø (no mark)
Verb conjugation example for trakaw "to steal" :
| | | Active | Patient | Locative | Causative |
| Realis | Unmarked | tremakaw | trakawaw | trakaway | trakawanay |
| Realis | Progressive | trematrakaw | tratrakawaw | tratrakaway | tratrakawanay |
| Realis | Durative | trematratrakaw | tratratrakawaw | tratratrakaway | tratratrakawanay |
| Irrealis | Irrealis | tratrakaw | tratrakawi | tratrakawi | tratrakawan |
| Imperative | Imperative | trakaw | trakawi | trakawu | trakawan |
| Hortative | Hortative | tremakawa | — | — | — |

### Syntax

Puyuma has a verb-initial word order.
Articles include:
* i – singular personal
* a – singular non-personal
* na – plural (personal and non-personal)

### Pronouns

The Puyuma personal pronouns are:
Puyuma Personal Pronouns (Free) :
| Type of Pronoun | Nominative | Oblique: Direct | Oblique: Indirect | Oblique: Non-Subject | Neutral |
| 1s. | nanku | kanku, kananku | draku, drananku | kanku | kuiku |
| 2s. | nanu | kanu, kananu | dranu, drananu | kanu | yuyu |
| 3s. | nantu | kantu, kanantu | dratu, dranantu | kantaw | taytaw |
| 1p. (incl.) | nanta | kanta, kananta | drata, drananta | kanta | taita |
| 1p. (excl.) | naniam | kaniam, kananiam | draniam, drananiam | kaniam | mimi |
| 2p. | nanemu | kanemu, kananemu | dranemu, drananemu | kanemu | muimu |
| 3p. | nantu | kantu, kanantu | dratu, dranantu | kantaw | – |
Puyuma Personal Pronouns (Bound) :
| Type of Pronoun | Nominative (Subject) | Nominative (Possessor of subject) | Genitive |
| 1s. | =ku | ku= | ku= |
| 2s. | =yu | nu= | nu= |
| 3s. | – | tu= | tu= |
| 1p. (incl.) | =ta | ta= | ta= |
| 1p. (excl.) | =mi | niam= | mi= |
| 2p. | =mu | mu= | mu= |
| 3p. | – | tu= | tu= |

### Affixes

The Puyuma affixes are:

#### Prefixes

* ika-: the shape of; forming; shaping
* ka-: stative marker
* kara-: collective, to do something together
* kare-: the number of times
* ki-: to get something
* kir-: to go against (voluntarily)
* kitu-: to become
* kur-: be exposed to; be together (passively)
* m-, ma-: actor voice affix/intransitive affix
* maka-: along; to face against
* mara-: comparative/superlative marker
* mar(e)-: reciprocal; plurality of relations
* mi-: to have; to use
* mu-: anticausative marker
* mutu-: to become, to transform into
* pa-/p-: causative marker
* pu-: put
* puka-: ordinal numeral marker
* piya-: to face a certain direction
* si-: to pretend to
* tara-: to use (an instrument), to speak (a language)
* tinu-: to simulate
* tua-: to make, to form
* u-: to go
* ya-: to belong to; nominalizer

#### Suffixes

* -a: perfective marker; numeral classifier
* -an: nominalizer; collective/plural marker
* -anay: conveyance voice affix/transitive affix
* -aw: patient voice affix/transitive affix
* -ay: locative voice affix/transitive affix
* -i, -u: imperative transitive marker

#### Infixes

* -in-: perfective marker
* -em-: actor voice affix/intransitive affix

#### Circumfixes

* -in-anan: the members of
* ka- -an: a period of time
* muri- -an: the way one is doing something; the way something was done
* sa- -an: people doing things together
* sa- -enan: people belonging to the same community
* si- -an: nominalizer
* Ca- -an, CVCV- -an: collectivity, plurality