Talk:Formosan languages

Sources and materials on Favorlang and Siraya (extinct Formosan languages)
Favorlang language

The articles of Christian instruction in Favorlang-Formosan, Dutch and English, from Vertrecht's manuscript of 1650 : with Psalmanazar's dialogue between a Japanese and a Formosan, and Happart's Favorlang vocabulary (1896)

https://archive.org/details/cu31924026424675

Dictionary of the Favorlang dialect of the Formosan language, tr. by W.H. Medhurst (1840)

https://archive.org/details/dictionaryfavor00happgoog

Siraya

Sinckan Manuscript studies

http://books.google.com/books?id=5CDUYQ3S-V0C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=hlnKRaZ0f4QC&pg=PA35#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=hlnKRaZ0f4QC&pg=PA36#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=abMMAQAAMAAJ

Revival

http://lingdy.aacore.jp/doc/indonesiacurrenttrend/alexander_adelaar_p.pdf

Malay and Javanese Loanwords in Malagasy, Tagalog and Siraya

http://www.sabrizain.org/malaya/library/loanwords.pdf

A comparative vocabulary of Formosan languages and dialects

https://archive.org/details/comparativevocab19ogaw

Austronesian language course at National Tsing Hua University

http://www.ling.nthu.edu.tw/faculty/hcliao/Tsing%20Hua%20courses/Fall%202011_AN%20lg%20contact.pdf

Rajmaan (talk) 14:04, 9 March 2014 (UTC)

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External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070703012805/http://www.ecai.org/area/areateamexamples/austronesia/images/aust2.pdf to http://www.ecai.org/area/areateamexamples/austronesia/images/aust2.pdf

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Geographic grouping?
Are the Formosan languages a geographic/ethnic grouping? As far as I can tell, there is not "Formosan" genetic language family. The Verified Cactus 100% 01:29, 15 February 2018 (UTC)

No, or at the very least not entirely, as they are all Austronesian languages, but it is Paraphyletic as the grouping of "Formosan languages" includes all of the Austronesian branches/subfamilies other than the Malayo-Polynesian languages. As for it being geographic, I suppose one could to a lesser extent argue that as well, because they do all happen to be spoken on the island of Taiwan (formerly known as Formosa, hence the name). However, it is not exclusively Geographic by any means, or else it might include the other, unrelated Languages of Taiwan, whereas the more strictly paraphyletic Formosan family only includes those which have descended from Proto-Austronesian, meaning it is still a phylogenetic grouping to at least some extent.

"Several others"
"Of the approximately 26 languages of the Taiwanese aborigines, at least ten are extinct, another four (perhaps five) are moribund, and several others are to some degree endangered." Aren't all remaining Formosan languages endangered? As far as I can see, even the remaining Formosan languages are hardly spoken by younger people. Can't we just change the latter clause into "all others are to some degree endangered"? Steinbach (talk) 09:51, 3 July 2019 (UTC)
 * A reliable source is needed for any and all statements on Wikipedia.50.111.1.254 (talk) 04:06, 22 November 2019 (UTC)

Undue weight problems in the "Origins" section
Currently, the "Origins" section on this page has no content other than a summary of a manuscript by Roger Blench which rejects the existence of a "Proto-Austronesian" language. This violates Wikipedia's policies wrt Due and undue weight, because this view is in the extreme minority: I am unaware of any academic source that agrees with Blench on this claim, versus the copious sources that clearly affirm the existence of a Proto-Austronesian language. It also makes this page strangely inconsistent/contradictory with other pages on Austronesian languages and Austronesian-speaking peoples. An article that accounted for the well-attested views in the scholarship I think would sufficiently discuss the origin of the Formosan languages by simply containing a sentence noting that they are (near) universally understood to derive from a Proto-Austronesian language, and would contain a hyperlink to that page, and/or potentially a link to the page on Austronesian peoples.

Koeawila (talk) 02:15, 9 January 2020 (UTC)