Linguistic Structures and Naming Patterns

　 In the following section we will discuss each ethnic group’s language structure

and their naming patterns in turn.

4.1. 1 The Dutch

We have mentioned that “Hong-mao Jing” (紅毛井) and “Wang Tien” (王田) were

related to the Dutch, but were actually given by Han people. Although the Dutch did not leave any Dutch place names themselves in central Taiwan, they contributed a lot in keeping Pingpu groups’s village names on record. Because Pingpu languages did not have any writing systems of their own, we have to rely on other groups’

recordings and try to reconstruct them. According to the study on cognates, Austronesian languages have the following linguistic characteristics:

(1) Phonologically speaking, they are polysyllabic languages without tonal differences.

(2) Morphologically speaking, they have a rich affix system and multiple morphological changes are allowed.

(3) Syntactically speaking, they have a topic system. One sentence can be expressed in different ways according to its topicality.

Dutch belongs to the Germanic language family, using Roman characters for phonetic transcription, and is also polysyllabic and rich in affix system. These structural advantages made it a better transcribing tool for Austronesian languages than Han Chinese and Japanese, which will be illustrated later.

4.1. 2 Austronesian

　 Most Pingpu languages of central Taiwan have been dead for many years. Only

Pazah and Favorlang (a dialect of Babuza) have a certain amount of data left. We have mentioned earlier that Austronesian is a polysyllabic language which has a rich affix system. Take Pazah morphology as an example, there are five common suffixes, “-i”,

“-aw”, “-ay”, “-en” and “-an”, and “-an” is a locative suffix (Lin, 2000, p.78). In the village list of Pazah in section one there are Daiyadaran (岸東社, An-Dong Village) and Rahotodaran (岸西社, An-Xi Village) which ended in “-an”, for the morpheme

“daran” means “stronghold”. “Patakan” (大馬遴社) and “Auran” (烏牛欄社) also

have the “-an” locative suffix, referring to “places where bamboo grows” and “places where tomatoes grow” correspondingly.

Favorlang also uses “-an” as a locative-focus suffix. In English-Favorlang

Vocabulary (Ogawa, 2003) we have examples such as “aroroan” (a place of assembly, p.23), “raro asan” (a bank, p.26), “ba-bodd-an” (birth-place, p.33), “tirrach-an” (the place where it leaks, p. 40), etc. In the village list of Babuza we do not find any one of them ending in “-an”. But if we check historical documents from the Ching Dynasty, we see quite a few place names ending with “lan” (蘭), “an” (岸), “man”

(蠻), “dan” (丹) and “quan” (泉). We should therefore consider the possibility that

they might be the transliteration of Pingpu village names, because the final syllable of these words are also “-an”. There are place names containing “lan” (蘭) in central Taiwan, e.g. “Zhuo-lan” (卓蘭) in Miao-li County. During the Ching Dynasty there were aboriginal tribes called “Dou-wei-long-an” (斗偉龍岸), “Xia-li-chan-man-man Village” (狎裏蟬蠻蠻社) and “Shui-sha-lien-si-ma-dan Village” (水沙蓮思麻丹社).

As for the word “quan” (泉) there was a place called “A-ba-quan” (阿拔泉) in today’s Chu-shan Township (竹山鎮), Nan-tou County.

Because we only have limited knowledge of Pingpu languages, it is really difficult

to understand the original meanings of these place names. Because of the living environment now, we can infer that most Austronesian places were named after

natural geographical features, such as mountains, rivers, and special animals and plants of the area: “Babuza” (貓霧揀) means “human beings”, “Auran” (烏牛欄) means “place where tomatoes grow”, “Poaly” (樸仔籬) means, a kind of edible seed,) etc. According to Pan Da-ho (潘大和), a descendant of the Pazah, there were three

periods of Pazah naming patterns:

First period: they were named after the origin of Pazah people and their roles. In the village list, which was kept by the Dutch, there were only four villages in 1647-1656: “Abouan Tarranogan”, “Abouan Auran”, “Abouan Balis” and

“Abouan Poaly”. “Abouan” means “the founder, the originator”.

Second period: they were named after the local products of those villages, e.g.

“Barlaton” (place where sorgos grow), “Poaly” (place where

“poa-po-a-ji” 破布子 grows), “Auran” (place where tomatoes grow)

and “Patakan”, “Varrut” (place where bamboo grows).

Third period: the location of a village or the elderly who lived there. (Pan, 2002) This information can give us some ideas when judging the meaning of Austronesian place names.

4.1. 3 Han Chinese

Unlike Austronesian languages, Semitic Languages are monosyllabic and poor in morphological variation. In the naming pattern, place names of Han Chinese also

differ between Hoklo and Hakka groups. In the previous sections we have discussed relative place names in organization, defense and steles, the measure of area and tax collecting bureau, irrigation, implements and storehouse, and workshop. In the following we will compare different place naming patterns between the Hoklo and Hakka in central Taiwan, and try to reconstruct the distribution of ethnic groups at the time of development.

　 Han Chinese place names consist of two parts: general and specific. General parts

are normally nouns referring to the basic referent, such as mountain (山), lake (湖), village (村), community (社) etc. Specific parts are often adjectives or adjectival nouns to modify the character of the referent, e.g. “Da” (大, big) in “Da-pu” (大埔, a big piece of land), “wei” (尾, end) in “Tien-wei” (田尾, the end of a field). In terms of

type, Han Chinese place names can also be divided into nature and human ones. There are several pairs which show significant differences between Hoklo and Hakka:

(1) “pu” (埔)/ “ba” (壩、埧):

In Hoklo “pu” refers to “a large piece of wild land”. Hakka people also use “pu”,

but they have another Hakka-only usage, which uses “ba” to refer to an area of the

same feature. Da-ya Township (大雅鄉) of Taichung County originally was a wild

wetland. At that time it was called “Ba-a” (壩仔) which had the same meaning with

“Bo-a” (埔仔) in Hoklo because the first immigrants were mainly Hakka people who

came from Da-pu (大埔) in Canton Province. Another place containing the word “ba”

is “Xi-ba Village” (溪壩村) in Wu-ri Township (烏日鄉), Taichung County. It was

called “Xi-xin Ba” (溪心壩), because “Wu-Xi” (烏溪) flowed through this place, and

the earliest dwellers built their houses in the wild land, which was located among the

streams.

(2) “xi” (溪)/ “ho” (河):

In Hoklo most rivers are called “xi” (溪) whatever the sizes. Only very few ones, which are navigable, are called “ho” (河), like Dan-shui Ho (淡水河) and Kee-long Ho (基隆河). The major rivers in central Taiwan such as Da-an Xi, Da-jia Xi, Da-du Xi and Zhuo-shui Xi are called “xi” instead of “ho”, because ships can not go up these

rivers. On the other hand, Hakka people call rivers “ho” no matter whether big or

small, long or short. For example San-yi Township (三義鄉) of Miao-li County (苗栗 縣) as called “San-cha Ho” 三叉河), because there was a three-forked river;

Hou-long Xi has three sources in Kong-guan Township (公館鄉) called “Nan Ho” 南 河, south river), “Dong Ho” (東河, east river ) and “Bei-Ho” 北河, north river)

which meet in San-yi. As a matter of fact, the majority of Miao-li County is hill area,

and its rivers are by no means navigable. The fact that rivers here are named “ho” can

be safely attributed to the language practice of Hakka inhabitants.

(3) “hu” (湖)/ “wo” (窩):

in Hoklo a place which is shaped like a tub is often called “hu” (湖, lake) even though there is no water inside. For example “Nei Hu” (內湖) in Taipei City. In central Taiwan there is a place called “Tsao Hu” (草湖), which is famous for “O-a Bing” (芋仔冰, taro ice-cream). Again it received this name because there is a

tub-shaped basin with a lot of grass inside. Hakka uses another term for this landform

“wo” (窩, nest). There are many place names in Miao-li County containing this word

“wo”, e.g. “Jiu-tseng Wo” (九層窩, nine-layer wo), “Shan-yang Wo” (山羊窩, goat wo), “Niu-tsao Wo” (牛槽窩, barn wo), “fan zai Wo” (番仔窩, aborigine wo), “Tao-zi Wo” (桃子窩, peach wo), etc.

(4) “qian” (墘) / “chun” (唇):

the brink of a landform, especially one relating to water, is called “qian” (墘) in Hoklo. For example Tan-zi Township (潭子鄉) in Taichung County was called

“Tan-zi qian” (潭子墘, the brink of a pond) in the past. “Go-zi qian” (溝子墘, the

brink of a ditch) is also a very common place name in central Taiwan, Feng-yuan City of Taichung County (台中縣豐原市), Nan-tun District of Taichung City (台中市南屯 區) and Fang-yuan Township of Chang-hwa County (彰化縣芳苑鄉) all have such

old place names. For this landform the usage of Hakka is “chun” (唇, lips), e.g. near Zhong-gang Xi (中港溪) in Tou-fen Township (頭份鎮) there is place called “Ho

Chun” (河唇, river lip).

(5) “keng” (坑) / “li” (壢):

Yang-mei Township (楊梅鎮) in Tao-yuan County was called “Yang-mei li” (楊梅 壢), meaning a valley which is full of plum trees. There are places with similar natural

features in Dan-shui Township (淡水鎮) and Shunag-xi Township (雙溪鄉) in Taipei County, but they were called “Shu-mei Keng” (樹梅坑). This is because Hakka

people call this landform “li” but Hoklo people call it “keng”. There are similar examples in central Taiwan, e.g. “Da keng” (大坑) which is a famous scenic spot in the suburb of Taichung City and “Feng Keng” (楓坑), which is known for the production of rice noodles, while Tou-wu Township (頭屋鄉) and Tou-fen Township ( 頭 份 鎮 ) in Miao-li County have places called “Zhong-ai li” ( 中 隘 壢 ) and

“Shui-liu-dong-li” (水流東壢).

Beside the above Hoklo / Hakka pairs, the Hakka have more special and finer terms

for the category of “mountain” because they came from an area which was full of hills and mountains. In the border of Taichung City and Hsin-she Township (新社鄉) there are mountains called “Tou-ke Shan” (頭嵙山), “Er-ke Shan” (二嵙山) and “Shi-shui ke” (食水嵙), In Dong-xi (東勢) there is “Zhong Ke” (中嵙). According to the Hakka

usage, “ke” refers to the mountain shape which is like a helmet. In addition, in Miao-li there are many place names containing the word “Dong” (崠), e.g. “Ba-jiao

dong” (八角崠, octagonal dong), “Shi-fen dong” (十份崠 , ten portion dong),

“Zong-shu Dong” (榕樹崠, banyan dong) and “Kuo-zi dong”(鍋仔崠, pot dong), because in Hakka “dong” (崠) refers to the top of a mountain. However, since these

words are not frequently used and they look strange to people who do not understand Hakka, they are often replaced by other characters which are close in pronunciation.

“頭嵙山” becomes “ 頭棵山”, “崠頂” wu-long tea (崠頂烏龍茶) becomes “凍頂”

wu-long tea(凍頂烏龍茶), “八角崠” becomes “八角棟”. The original meanings were

lost during this process, which is really a pity.

In some place names there are Hoklo / Hakka pairs as well:

(1) “tsu” (厝) / “wu” (屋):

In Hoklo, relatives or kin from the same family often formed a village called

“tsuo” (厝). For example, an old place was named “Liu-tsuo” (劉厝) in Nan-tun District (南屯區) of Taichung City, because there were many people whose family name was Liu. On the other hand, Hakka people use the word “wu” (屋) to refer to the same community. In She-tou Township (社頭鄉) of Chang-hwa County there is a place called “Liu Wu” (劉屋), which used to be a typical Hakka village.

(2) “Niu-chou” (牛稠) / “Niu-lan” (牛欄):

Barns where cows are kept are called “niu-chou” in Hoklo. In the border of

Taichung City and Tan-zi Township (潭子鄉), Taichung County there is a river called

“Niu-chou Xi” (牛稠溪). In Hou-li Township (后里鄉) there is a place called

“Niu-chou Keng” (牛稠坑). Hakka people call barns “Niu-lan”(牛欄). In Miao-li County, a typical Hakka area, there are place names such as “Niu-lan du” (牛欄肚) in Tou-fen Township (頭份鎮), “Niu-lan hu” (牛欄湖) in Zao-qiao Township (造橋鄉) and “Niu-lan ti” (牛欄堤) in Kong-guan Township (公館鄉). Besides these place names, which were named after barns, “Wu-niu lan” (烏牛欄) in Feng-yuan (豐原) is

an exception. Basically there are only two types of cows in Taiwan: buffalos which have gray skin and yellow cows which are yellow. There are no cows which are black, thus this “wu-niu” (烏牛, black cows) should be the transliteration of the Pazah

village name “Auran”. Austronesian village names which ended in “-an” are often transliterated as 蘭 by Hoklo people. But here it used 欄 instead of 蘭, which

might indicate that it was first transliterated by Hakka people who were the first Han settlers in the Feng-yuan area.

(3) “Tu-di Kong” (土地公) / “Bo Kong” (伯公):

“Fu-de-zheng-shen” (福德正神) is widely worshiped by the Han people. Hoklo people call it “Tu-di Kong” (土地公, lord of the land) and Hakka people call it “Bo Kong” (伯公, uncle lord). Place names containing the term “Tu-di Kong” are all over Taiwan. For example “Tu-di Kong chi” (土地公崎) in Ming-jian Township (名間鄉)

of Nan-tou County, means “a steep slope where a Tu-di Kong temple is located”. In

Tong-luo Township (銅鑼鄉) of Miao-li County there is also a slope with such a temple on it, but it is called “Bo Kong chi” (伯公崎) by Hakka people. In Dong-xi Township (東勢鎮) there is another place called “Hsin Bo Kong” (新伯公), which was the location of Da-ma-lin Village (大馬遴社) of Pazah.

When describing relative position of upper and lower an object the words are often used. Here, the Hoklo and Hakka people also use different terms. The former use

“ding” (頂) and “ka” (腳) while the latter use “shang” (上) and “xia” (下). A typical example is “Ding-suan-ka” (頂山腳) in Da-cheng Township (大城鄉) of Chang-hwa County, which means “upper part of hill foot “. In Tou-fen Township (頭份鎮) there is a similar landform which Hakka people call “Shang-shan-xia” (上山下).

When the back part of an object is concerned, Hakka people use “bei” (背) to

describe the concept while “hou” (後) and “kuo” (過) are used in Hoklo. There is a township in Yun-lin named “Lun-bei” (崙背), because there were Hakka descendants from Zhao-an (詔安), Changzhou prefecture of Fukien province. As for Hoklo usages, there is a place called “Hou-zhuang” (後庄) in Bei-tun District of Taichung City and

“Kuo-keng-zi” (過坑仔) in Tsao-tun Township of Nan-tou County.

Hoklo people use the word “zhuo” (濁) to describe something murky, while Hakka people use “wen” (汶) to describe the same phenomenon. There is a noticeable example in Dong-shan Village (東山里), which is in Bei-tun District near Da-keng

scenic spot (大坑風景區). In the past, there was a valley with a muddy river running through it, and the early Hakka settlers named it “Wen-shui Keng” (汶水坑). Later on

there were many Hoklo people from Changzhou who moved into this area, thus gradually people started to call it “Zhuo-shui Keng” as well. Now the latter has almost completely replaced the former.

Some place names in the area exhibit a strange combination of Hakka and Hoklo

features. Besides “Zhuo-shui Keng” and “Wen-shui Keng” mentioned above, “Ben-ji wo” (畚箕窩) in Tou-wu Township (頭屋鄉) of Miao-li County is an example of

Hoklo-Hakka compound place names. We have mentioned that “wo” is a unique term employed by the Hakka to refer to the landform of a tub-shape, but “Ben-ji” (畚箕,

dustpan) is a Hoklo usage. The appearance of this place name in Miao-li probably shows that there have been significant numbers of Hoklo people moving in, so the language has started to become mixed up. Another example is “Jiu-fang-tsu” (九房厝) in Shi-gang Township (石岡鄉) of Taichung County. Generally Hoklo people would call a nine-house village “Gao-dei-tsu” ( 九 塊 厝 ) while Hakka people call it

“Jiu-fang-wu” (九房屋), thus the name “Jiu-fang-tsu” shows a transitional structure

where there is a curious combination of the features from both ethnic groups. While there are these place names with a curious combination, there are many more which have been totally replaced. In Ching-shui Township (清水鎮) there is a place

currently called “San-kuai tsu” (三塊厝), but it should be called “san-zuo-wu” (三座 屋), indicating a change of ownership from Hakka to Hoklo. That this inference is

correct is further confirmed by the existence of a place name called “ke-zhuang” (客 庄, Hakka village) nearby.

Hakka speaking areas in central Taiwan are now restricted to Miao-li County,

Dong-xi Township (東勢鎮), Shi-gang Township (石岡鄉), Hsin-she Township (新社 鄉) and Ho-ping Township (和平鄉) which are closer to mountain areas. Although

Hakka people immigrated from mountain areas of mainland China, this is not to say that they prefer living among mountains to staying in the plains. If possible, they would not refuse to live in the area where soil is fertile, irrigation is easy and transportation is convenient. Take Feng-yuan Plain which is famous for its “Huludun Rice“ ( 葫 蘆 墩 米 ) as an example. In the beginning there were many Hakka

immigrants engaged in its development. The present-day Da-ya, Tan-zi Townships became productive fields after Chang Da-jing (張達京), who came from Da-pu county of Canton province, and the shareholders constructed “Huludun Ditch” (葫蘆 墩圳). But later on, either because there were far greater number of Hoklo people

moving in this area, or because Hakka people lost the competition, and were forced to move out to the peripheral mountain area, now the Hakka language can scarcely be heard in Feng-yuan Plain, with only a few Hakka place names left behind to witness

the history of development of the area.

4.1. 4 Japanese

Even though Japanese was a foreign language too, it exerted much greater influence on the place names of Taiwan compared with the Dutch. This is because Japan ruled Taiwan for a much longer period of time, and it also uses an adopted Han characters system. The most well known Japanese style place names in central Taiwan are “Zhui-fen” (追分), “Feng-yuan” (豐原), “Ching-shui” (清水) and “Shen-gang”

(神岡). “Zhui-fen” (Oiwake) is a pure Japanese place name, meaning the fork of a

railroad, for it is located in the meeting place of the mountain-route line and seaboard-route railroad in Da-du Township (大肚鄉) of Taichung County. Feng-yuan (豐原) used to be called “Huludun” (葫蘆墩), which was famous for its rich

production of rice. The Japanese changed the place name to Feng-yuan according to a couplet “Feng-wei-yuan-zhi-rui-suei-kuo” ( 豐 葦 原 之 瑞 穗 國 ), and “Rui-sui”

Township (瑞穗鄉) in Hua-lien County (花蓮縣) received its name for the same reason. “Ching-shui” (清水) was called “Go-ma-tou” (牛罵頭) in the past, for it was

the transliteration of “Gomach” Village of the Pingpu Papora group. The Japanese thought it was not elegant, plus there was a clear water spring nearby, and so they changed it to “Ching-shui”. As for “Shen-gang” (神岡), although the name is very

Japanese like, it actually received its name because the majority of the first group of

immigrants were from Shen-gang Village (神岡社) of Zheng-ping county (鎮平縣) in

Canton province.