A Study of TSM Loanwords in Sixteen Indigenous Languages in Taiwan

Presented at The 7th International Conference on Taiwanese Romanization (May 22 2015) at National Cheng Kung University.

That experience was itself quite interesting; Mandarin was nowhere allowed in the conference. Everyone else was speaking TSM, reminding each other of the evil of a state-imposed national language, while I (probably the only indigenous speaker) presented in English and conversed in TSM, which seems to be surprisingly sufficient. TSM has the largest speaker-population in Taiwan but Mandarin became the national language in the 1950s.

To be frank, indigenous peoples and Holo-lang (or Hoklo Taiwanese that speak TSM) aren't always at peace. The studies I read as well as the fieldwork I did also tell me despite of their increase, TSM loanwords are the least popular with indigenous peoples, in comparison, who also tend to deny their existence. This certainly is a point to elaborate for the publication of the same topic. Maybe in September.

I Baw (Paiwan)

（排灣族女作家伊苞和她的《老鷹再見》）

miperepereper i     kalevelevan  aza  aris
   soaring          in         sky          the  eagle
   (Verb           +        Place       +   Subject)

Translation: The eagle is soaring in the sky.

This syntax is typical for Austronesian languages such as Paiwan. Verbs are essential and always in the first place, whose meanings are determined by the focus system.

In this sentence, the unconjugated verb is 'perepere' or 'perper' (to fly) in Raleigh Ferrell's 1982 Paiwan Dictionary.  'mi' is an agent marker that attributes the movement to the subject (the eagle); therefore, 'mi-perepere' or 'mi-perper' means fly or flies. and to duplicate the verb stem by a single syllable (perepere becomes 'perepereper') makes the verb a present participle or V-ing; so, 'mi-perepere-per' means flying.

That is probably the farthermost into linguistics I can go about my mother language at the moment. Thanks to my days spent at the Indigenous Languages Research and Development Center.

But the book is actually not about Paiwan language. It is about a Paiwan woman's journey to West Tibet that seems to bring her so far away from home, yet in fact even closer to where she originally came from. It is, as I like to see myself as well, returning by leaving, settling while moving.