Empirical studies on the focus system in Rukai and related languages

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This study concerns the nature of focus system in Rukai, one of the Formosan languages, and other related languages such as other Formosan languages, Philippine languages, and Indonesian languages. As a result, it has turned out that the ways the so-called Philippine-type focus systems are, which allow rich voice alternations, differ among different languages. For example, if Tagalog(Philippine language) and Paiwan(Formosan language) are considered possessing prototypical Philippine-type focus system, Rukai possesses very limited system, similar to accusative-type system. This type of limited focus system is also observed in Balinese(Indonesian). This suggests that a unified account of differences among these languages can be made in terms of the notion of attrition of the Philippine-type focus system.