Linguistic features of indigenous toponymy

Abstract This study examines the linguistic features of Tsou toponymy, with a special focus on the structural and functional distinctions between place names and locative nouns. Through a descriptive and typological analysis, a semantic and formal markedness hierarchy is established; that is, zero-marking/loanwords > specific marker -ana > reduplication > compounding ( ’oyona )/affixation ( -a, ’o-…-a ). Specifically, larger and more prominent locations exhibit minimal morphological marking, whereas smaller or more specialized locations display increasing complexity. Besides, place names exhibit phonological stress placement, integration of loanwords, and the specific marker -ana , which categorizes villages, rivers, mountains, and landmarks. In contrast, locative nouns employ derivational affixes ( -a, ’o-…-a ) and compounding ( ’oyona ) to encode spatial functions associated with institutions, transport facilities, and commerce. Reduplication further differentiates the two categories, marking either natural abundance in place names or dedicated cultivation in locative nouns. These findings demonstrate how morphological distinctions structure Tsou toponymy, and further contribute to a deeper understanding of Austronesian toponymic systems by illustrating how morphological complexity corresponds to degrees of referential specificity.