Sakizaya is an East Formosan language spoken mainly in the north of Hualien County on the east coast of Taiwan, particularly in the Takubuwan, Sakur, Maifor and Kaluluwan communities near Hualien City. In 2020 there were 997 people in Taiwan who registered as Sakizaya, and 590 of them speak the Sakizaya language. The majority of speakers are over 55 years old, and younger people are shifting to Mandarin Chinese.
Many more Sakizya people are registered as belonging to the Amis tribe, and it used to be thought that Sakizaya was a dialect of Nataoran Amis The Sakizaya people were officially recognised by the Taiwan government as a distinct indigenous ethnic group in 2007.
Sakizaya is also known as Kizaya, Qilai, Sakezhaye, Sakidaya, Sakiray, Sakiraya, Sukizaya. The native name of the language is Sakizaya, and the people who speak it call themselves Sakuzaya ("real man") It is quite closely related to Amis.
Sakizaya is written with the Latin alphabet, and is used on the radio and TV.
Download an alphabet chart for Sakizaya (Excel)
Information about Sakizaya | Numbers
Information about Sakizaya
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakizaya_language
https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/撒奇萊雅語
https://www.ethnologue.com/language/szy
Sakizaya or Amis? -- A Hidden Ethnic Group in Taiwan? (PDF)
https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/saki1247
Amis, Atayal, Bunun, Kanakanavu, Kavalan, Paiwan, Pazeh, Puyuma, Rukai, Saaroa, Saisiyat, Sakizaya, Seediq, Tsou
Languages written with the Latin alphabet
Page created: 07.06.22. Last modified: 25.10.24
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