Paiwan Every Day 516: amis

liaw a amis nua azua vurasi. 

Free translation: 

That sweet potato contains a lot of fibers. 

Word gloss: 

1. liaw: many
2. a: subejct case marker
3. amis: fiber or hair-root (of plant) or rough hemp cord in Ferrell (p. 57). Interesting! This is the first time that I know amis has a different meaning. Before I only knew amis refers to the Amis people, which in Paiwan we say amis or amis zuku, borrowing zuku from Japanese 族 ぞく. More interestingly, we often say the Amis people are grass eaters. They can eat every green leaf that grows on the side way. Is this somehow related? Fiber and the people? 😆😆Haha. 
4. nua: of, GEN
5. a-zua: that
6. virasi or vurati: sweet potato 

Voice file: 

From Raleigh Ferrell's Paiwan Dictionary (1982) and ILRDF Online Paiwan Dictionary amis.