<Article>Seediq reciprocals and their history

Abstract

The Atayalic subgroup of the Austronesian language family includes two languages, Seediq and Atayal. This paper focuses on the Paran dialect of Seediq. The first part of this paper introduces the reciprocal constructions in Paran Seediq from a descriptive perspective. Paran Seediq has two pairs of reciprocal forms; one with the reduplication (i) mVCV-/pVCV- which has been reported in previous literature, and (ii) mVsV-/pVsV-, the meanings for which belong to a certain semantic class. The second part argues that the reciprocal prefix (ii) *mVsV-/*pVsV- can be reconstructed in Proto-Atayalic on the basis of evidence from Taroko Seediq, the other Seediq dialect and from Atayal.