アタヤル語の「サトウキビ」に起きた特異な形態変化

北海道大学大学院文学研究院北方研究教育センター

北方人文研究

This paper discusses that bilus “sugarcane” in Atayal (Atayalic, Austronesian) is a reflex of Proto-Austronesian *Cəbus “sugarcane.” The Atayal form is common in one of its dialect, Squliq Atayal. This form is also seen in another dialect, Cʼuliʼ dialect, however a few villages belonging to Cʼuliʼ dialect have different forms. The relationship between bilus and *Cəbus is obscured because the Atayal form underwent an aberrant sound change. An infix of unknown function is inserted in the middle of a word. There are similar types of infixation which attaches to a word initial position or a word final position. These types of infixes are called fossilized infixes. They are characteristics of the Atayalic languages including Atayal and Seediq. The infixation to the middle of the word is referred to as fossilized middle infix in this paper. A clue to solve the origin of bilus was provided by a cognate form sabilus reported only in Takonan village (belonging to Cʼuliʼ dialect) in the 1930s. The earlier form inferred from sabilus is *səbilus. This form suggests that bilus, the form commonly used across Atayal villages had a segment s word-initially. Tentatively reconstructed form *səbilus and the Proto-Austroensian * Cebus show sound correspondences except for the segments il in the middle of *səbilus. This paper proposes that this il is the fossilized middle infix, which is attached right after the middle consonant. That is, the original form is səbus, and the infix is inserted after b, resulting in səb〈il〉us. In Takonan village, the schwa changed into a, resulting in sabilus. In other Atayal villages, the antepenultimate syllable se dropped. In Pyahaw village of Cʼuliʼ dialect, the form cubus is reported as “sugarcane.” This form has no infixation. Based on the inferred form səbus and the observed form cubus, a Proto-Atayal form is reconstructed as *cəbus.