台灣南島語及語言類型

Formosan Languages and Linguistic Typology

長久以來，許多學者在描寫台灣南島語時，慣於使用菲律賓南島語學者發展出來的理論框架及慣用語。例如，這些學者們談論動詞性結構的「焦點系統」(focus system) 或是子句的「主題」(topic)。用這些慣用語來描述菲律賓及台灣南島語常造成其他語言學者理解上的困難，因為這些慣用語（一） 對非研究台灣或菲律賓南島語的學者而言是不熟悉的；（二）在某些方面並不完備，例如，無法清楚界定所謂「主題」(topic) 的功能為何。本文試著用語言類型學者或者其他非研究台灣南島語學者較為熟悉的用語及理論框架，來重新描述台灣南島語的某些構詞及句法特徵。其中，我們會重新檢視所謂「主題」(topic) 的概念，也會以語言類型學者William Croft的理論架構重新描述所謂的「焦點系統」(focus system)。這種重新的描述可帶來兩個優點：增加各個台灣南島語研究作品的可理解度，並且凸顯各語言的相異度。

There is quite a longstanding convention whereby Formosan languages (the Austronesian languages of Taiwan) are described using a framework and terminology developed by linguists working on the Austronesian languages of the Philippines. Linguists using this terminology talk, for example, about the ‘focus system’ of verbal constructions and about the ‘topic’ of the clause. Because this terminology is (i) unfamiliar to linguists working outside Taiwan and the Philippines and (ii) deficient in certain respects (it is often unclear, for example, what the function of the ‘topic’ is), descriptions of Formosan and Philippine languages using this terminology are sometimes somewhat opaque and rather difficult for other linguists to read. In this paper we attempt to re-frame the description of certain aspects of the morphosyntax of Formosan languages in terms more familiar to typologists and to linguists working in other parts of the world. Among other things, the notion of ‘topic’ is re-examined, and the ‘focus system’ is reformulated in a framework derived from the work of the typologist William Croft. A re-framing of this kind should lead to two main benefits: increased comprehensibility and increased differentiation among the descriptions of Formosan languages (which are sometimes treated as being more similar to each other than they appear to be).