| Saaroa | |
|---|---|
| Lhaʼalua | |
| Native to | Taiwan |
| Region | west central Mountains of Taiwan, south and southeast of Minchuan, along the Laonung River |
| Ethnicity | 400 (2012)[1] |
Native speakers | 10 (2012)[2] a speaker died in 2013[1] |
Austronesian
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | sxr |
| Glottolog | saar1237 |
| ELP | Saaroa |
Saaroa or Lhaʼalua is a Southern Tsouic language spoken by the Saaroa (Hla'alua) people, an indigenous people of Taiwan. It is a Formosan language of the Austronesian family.
The Saaroa live in the two villages of Taoyuan and Kaochung in Taoyuan District (Taoyuan Township), Kaohsiung City, Taiwan (Zeitoun & Teng 2014).[3]
With fewer than 10 native speakers and an ethnic population of 400 people, Saaroa is considered critically endangered. Even among native speakers of the language, they use primarily Mandarin or Bunun in their daily lives. There is no longer an active speech community for Saaroa.[1]
- ^ a b c "Saaroa". EndangeredLanguages.com.
- ^ Saaroa at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Zeitoun, Elizabeth; Teng, Stacy F. (2014). The Position of Kanakanavu and Saaroa Within the Formosan Languages Revisited (PDF). The 14th International Symposium on Chinese Languages and Linguistics (IsCLL-14) June 4–6, Taipei: Academia Sinica. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-06-06. Retrieved 2015-07-16.