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The Qauqaut (Chinese: 猴猴族; pinyin: Hóuhóu Zú) was a Taiwanese aboriginal people who lived primarily in the town of Su-ao in Yilan County. They spoke the Basay language, which is a Kavalanic language. According to Japanese anthropologist Inō Kanori, the Qauqaut people had been assimilated by the Kavalan people by early 20th century. The Qauqaut people are not recognised by the government of Taiwan.[1]
According to oral tradition from various Atayal villages, the Qauqaut originally settled in the middle portion of the Takiri River (Chinese pinyin: Liwuhsi). In the mid-1700s, following pressure from Atayals, they moved to the east coast down the Takiri. Later, some moved north to Langsu in Nan'ao County.[2]
Early modern Chinese documents on the Kavalan territories reported that the Qauqaut were linguistically and culturally distinct from the other Formosan ethnic groups and that they did not intermarry with the other communities.[3]
Taiwanese linguist Paul Jen-kuei Li hypothesised that, in about 200 BCE, the Qauqaut migrated from Southeast Asia to the Marshall Islands and the Caroline Islands and in around 1000 AD arrived on the east coast of Taiwan, based on his linguistic comparison with the nearby Taroko (Seediq) language of Taiwan, which he said varies greatly from the Qauqaut.[4] This contrasts with the rest of the Taiwanese aborigines, who are said to have arrived on the island much earlier.[5]
The Qauqaut bury the dead in a sitting position, like those of neighbouring villages in southern Kavalan territory.[6]
See also
References
- ^ Miller, Bruce Granville (2003-01-01). Invisible Indigenes: The Politics of Nonrecognition. U of Nebraska Press. p. 189. ISBN 0803232322.
- ^ Language and linguistics. 中央硏究院語言硏究所籌備處. 2001-01-01. p. 276.
- ^ 李壬癸 (2004-01-01). 台灣南島語言論文選集. 中央研究院語言學研究所. p. 967. ISBN 9789570184136.
- ^ Dodd, John; 陳政三 (2007-11-01). 泡茶走西仔反: 清法戰爭台灣外記 (in Chinese). 台灣五南圖書出版股份有限公司. p. 83. ISBN 9789866764158.
- ^ Paz, Victor; Solheim, Wilhelm G. (2004-01-01). Southeast Asian Archaeology: Wilhelm G. Solheim II Festschrift. University of the Philippines Press. p. 58. ISBN 9789715424516.
- ^ Proceedings. National Research Council of the Philippines. 1953-01-01. p. 322.