阿美語五大方言的分群

Subclassification of Amis Dialects

本文根據土田滋在1980年調查阿美語五大方言，從二十個地點所記錄的593個詞彙資料，仔細進行比較研究，整理出方言分化的過程及其親疏遠近的關係，都以詞彙差異和特殊音韻演變為證據。阿美語有可能先分化為北部和南部兩大方言群，再進一步分化。另外一個可能是撒奇萊雅最先分化出來，再進一步分化為北部和南部兩大方言群。各種證據顯示，花蓮北部地區的方言最分歧，因此最有可能是阿美語的發源地。

This study presents a subclassification of Amis dialects, based on 593 lexical items collected from twenty Amis locations in Hualien and Taitung. The Amis dialects are divided into five groups: Sakizaya, the Northern, Tavalong-Vata'an, the Central, and the Southern, based on both lexical and phonological evidence. No regular phonological innovation has been attested in any Amis dialect group different from the others. Amis dialects can be classified by lexical forms and sporadic phonological innovations, but not lexicostatistics alone. Linguistically modern Sakizaya is definitely a dialect of Amis, but not a separate language from Amis, even though it has some peculiar features not found in any other Amis dialects and it has been officially recognized as a separate ethnic group by the Council of Indigenous Peoples in Taiwan. Amis dialects in the north are far more diverse than the central and southern dialects, so it is most likely Amis originated in the north. Proto-Amis may have first split into the North and South dialect groups, or alternatively Sakizaya may have been the very first offshoot, and then further split into the North and South dialect groups.