Proto-Siraya phonology: A reconstruction

Abstract

In this paper I make a phonological comparison of Siraya dialects and reconstruct Proto-Siraya phonology applying the comparative method. Siraya is a dormant language with various dialects once spoken in Southwest Taiwan. The present reconstruction is largely based on 17th century liturgical texts and a wordlist, and to a lesser extent on wordlists of various dialects collected at the turn of the 20th century. An unexpected outcome of this comparison is that Proto-Siraya still had distinct reflexes of Proto-Austronesian *R and *S, although they subsequently merged in a palatal fricative in the individual dialects of Siraya © 2014 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.