By application of principal component analysis using four somatometric parameters-head length, head breadth, bizygomatic breadth and morphological facial height-14 ethnic groups in Taiwan (544 males and: 546 females) consisting of 10 aborigine tribes-the Atayal, Saisiyat, Bunun, Tsou, Rukai, Paiwan, Puyuma, Ami, Yami, and Thao-two Pepo tribes or sinicized peoples-the Taivoan and Pazeh-and two stocks of Chinese-the Hoklo and Hakka-which are distinguishable from one another by cultural, social and historical differences (Table 1), were clearly classified into the five following groups:
Group 1: Yami, Atayal
Group 2: Saisiyat
Group 3: Paiwan, Rukai, (Hoklo)
Group 4: Bunun, Tsou
Group 5: Ami, Thao, Puyuma, Taivoan, Pazeh, Hakka
This classification for the peoples of Taiwan was made by comparing the patterns of scatter diagrams drawn by the scores of the first and second principal component for the individuals with regard to their respective ethnic group and sex, as shown in Figs. 1-5.
The first (Z
l) and second (Z
2) principal components are given as the solutions to the following quadranomial equations (Table 4):
Z
1=0.366x
1'+0.566x
2'+0.630x
3'+0.400x
4'
Z
2=0.617x
1'-0.494x
2'-0.271x
3'+0.549x
4' for males,
Z
1=0.318x
1'+0.554x
2'+0.615x
3'+0.462x
4'
Z
2=0.770x
1'-0.479x
2'-0.231x
3'+0.352x
4' for females.
The symbols x
1, x
2, x
3, x
4, and x
1'-x
4' indicate the head length, head breadth, bizygomatic breadth, morphological facial height and the normalized values for the variables, respectively. The four coefficients of these equations have similar sizes and the same signs between Z
l and Z
2 in both sexes, Thus, both males and females have similar patterns in their scatter diagrams in each of the 14 ethnic groups, as shown in the figures.
The new summarized variables-Z
1 (horizontal axis) and Z
2 (vertical axis) are recognized as the factors showing the size and the shape of the sample, respectively, and the cumulative contribution rate is 74.6% in males and 75.2% in females up to the second principal component.
The pattern of the Hoklo is similar to those of the Paiwan and Rukai in Group 3. It seems, however, that this is a result of the small number of parameters used in the principal component analysis and that, therefore, some additional parameters, such as the stature, nose height and breadth, Mongolian fold, etc., should be used.
The classification presented above contains too many groups for the aborigine minority in Taiwan with a population of only two lakh or so, and it is believed that such "polymorphism" seen in these groups is due to the racial mixture between the aborigines (protoMalays), the former occupants of Taiwan, and the Chinese, i, e., the Hoklo and Hakka, who migrated later from the south of the Chinese mainland to Formosa.
The Ami, Thao and Puyuma in Group 5 of the above classification show morphological similarities in their physical traits to the Peipo tribes and the Hakka. Furthermore, the Saisiyat (Group 2) also have morphological affinities to Group 5 in their half population. The non-sinicized morphological traits of the Taiwan aborigines, the proto-Malays distributing over the most northerly area of south Asia, are seen clearly in those of the Yami and Atayal (Group 1) and the Paiwan and Rukai (Group 3).
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