One of the large family of Austronesian languages, it is spoken by the Sakizaya people, who are concentrated on the eastern Pacific coast of Taiwan.

Since 2007 they have been recognized by the Taiwan government as one of the sixteen distinct indigenous groups on the island.

After the Takobowan incident [zh] of 1878, the Sakizaya people hid among the Nataoran Amis.

In 2002, the Center of Aboriginal Studies of National Chengchi University in Taiwan corrected this error when they edited the indigenous language textbooks.

[2] On 17 January 2007, the Sakizaya community became the thirteenth distinct indigenous ethnic group recognised by the Taiwanese government.