近數年來東河賽夏語語音、詞彙、構詞和句法變化

Recent phonological, lexical and morphosyntactic changes in Saisiyat

賽夏語為臺灣南島語言之一，其分布於臺灣西北的新竹五峰鄉的大隘方言和苗栗南庄鄉及獅潭鄉的東河方言。本研究所使用的語料即來自東河方言。
依據聯合國教科文組織UNESCO於2010年出版的第3版《世界瀕危語言地圖》，賽夏語列為「嚴重瀕危」，伴隨社會變遷以及語言、文化接觸影響甚鉅，許多家庭已不再使用賽夏語進行日常溝通。
我們曾針對賽夏語書寫系統提出具有統一性、規範性與標準化的規則。在這項研究的基礎上，本文主要探討這幾年來所觀察的語音、詞彙、構詞和句法變化。此研究依據豐富的語料，包括與30至40歲以及50至60歲賽夏族語使用者的田野訪談，以及網路資源。這些變化呈現出多樣且廣泛的特徵：語音變化在年輕族語者的語言使用中最為明顯，而詞彙、構詞與句法變化則跨世代皆可以觀察。
我們發現，過去二十幾年（甚至更久），有四種因素產生這些變化，包括：一、語言喪失；二、華語的主導與影響以及賽夏語在日常生活中的式微；三、書寫標準化；四、話語權。

Saisiyat is a Formosan language spoken in northwest Taiwan. It includes two dialects, Taai, spoken (now only sporadically) in Wufeng Township, Hsinchu County and Tungho, in Nanzhuang (and to some extent Shihtan) Townships, Miaoli County, on which our data are drawn. The third edition of the Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger (2010) mentions that Saisiyat is now critically endangered. Indeed, many families no longer use Saisiyat as a communicative language.
In a previous paper, we proposed a more consistent, systematized and standardized orthographic system for Saisiyat that account for discrepancies found across existing literature. As a follow up of this research, this article examines phonological lexical, morphological and syntactic changes in Tungho Saisiyat, drawing on a substantial corpus collected through fieldwork with a range of Saisiyat people ranging from 30-40 and 50-60 as well as online resources. These changes are varied and extensive. Phonological changes are found more prominently in the speech younger speakers while lexical morphological and syntactic changes are observed across all generations.
Our findings suggest that four main factors have contributed to these changes over the past two (or more) decades: (i) the gradual loss of the language, (ii) the predominance of Mandarin Chinese and the decline of Tungho Saisiyat in everyday life, (iii) writing standardization and (iv) power dynamics driving language innovation and transformation.