Thursday, July 23, 2015

kai na kacalysiyan: Report on the Current Situation of Indigenous Languages in Taiwan

Presented at Satellite Event of 13 International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics (July 23, 2015, Academia SINICA, Taipei Taiwan).

I prepared the talk in English (with a brief introduction in my mother tongue Paiwan) for my target audience - Austronesian linguists from all over the world - and I intended to take them on a time journey from the 17th century onward, so they may see the language shift on the island.

Generally speaking, indigenous languages in Taiwan are now in the hospital. Policies, including those supporting ILRDC, are the medicines. Treatments have so far been given for two decades.

After the report, Ethnologue showed excitement that it has found a new source of information with which they could revise their website, and they would be happy to keep in contact. Personally, I also think it is time to reevaluate the vitality of Taiwan's indigenous languages. UNESCO Interactive Atlas isn't really accurate in the case of Taiwan; Global Language Hotspots can also use some new data.

But such revision isn't an ode to the success of previous revitalization efforts. Though encouragement intended, the purpose here is, instead, rather to know where kai na kacalysiyan (indigenous peoples' language) truly are, so as to come up with really good plans, feasible and effective, that will keep the languages alive.






































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