論魯凱語的親屬關係

The linguistic position of Rukai among Formosan languages

臺灣南島語言的比較研究當中，有一個重要的課題，就是魯凱語（Rukai）應為排灣群（Paiwanic）中的一支，抑或當屬鄒群（Tsouic）？我（何1976）在六年前曾經研讀過鄒語（Tsou），近年來追隨師長參與南島語研究計劃，對排灣語（Paiwan）及排灣群、泰雅群（Atayalic）和鄒語群的其他語言，亦粗有涉獵。

Based on lexicostatistical materials, many scholars consider Rukai to be one of the Paiwanic languages. Since speakers of Rukai and Tsouic languages are close to each other, Rukai also shares some phonological as well as lexical properties with these languages. The fact that Rukai and Tsouic languages have some similarities has caused other scholars to hold the opinion that these two are genetically closer to each other than to other languages. The present paper examines phonological evidence and finds that the justification based on shared innovations of the two languages are insufficient to prove that the two are genetically related. Furthermore, the paper shows that Rukai and Paiwanic languages share more phonological, syntactic and lexical properties than are shared by Rukai and Tsouic languages. It can be concluded from this paper that Rukai is genetically a Paiwanic language rather than a Tsouic one.