vusam: Saviki / Betelnut

"Articles Written in Indigenous Languages for Reading Competition: Southern Paiwan"  by Ministry of Education Taiwan.


Saviki 

ta sicuayan(misspelling; lack punctuation) izua ti satjukutjuku(capital T),(wrong punctuation) na mapu(misspelling: na is a prefix) tua dripupun(?)  atua(misspelling) aluvetjuljatan, sa vaik a sema tjatjan(misspelling: sema is a prefix).

vusam: Pronouns (II-Two Texts)

Indigenous Language Textbook in Nine Levels: Southern Paiwan published by Council of Indigenous Peoples in Taiwan and uploaded by Digital Center of Taiwan Formosan Languages Production on the website of klokah.

Level 1-Lesson 1

nanguanguaq sun, sinsi?
uii(misspelling), nanguanguaq a en(misspelling), a tism(misspelling).(wrong punctuation) 
nanguanguaq a en(misspelling) uta,(wrong punctuation) masalu. 

Problems: Misspell pronouns a’en and tisun. 

vusam: Pronouns (I-Rule)

Collecting and collating pronouns used by Southern Paiwan speakers in Chunre, Shizi, and Mudan townships, at the same time borrowing from Linguist Chang, Hsiou-Chuan's study of Tjinalja’avusan Paiwan of Laiyi Township, the township of Central Paiwan just to the north of Chunre, I made the following table of Pronouns: 

Pronouns (Southern Paiwan)			Normative	Genitive	Oblique	Neutral
Singular	1st Person		aken a’en -en	niaken nia’en ku ’u	tjanua’en	tiaken tia’en
	2nd Person		sun	nisun su	tjanusun	tisun
	3rd Person		timadju	nimadju	tjaimadju	timadju
Plural	1st Person	Inclusive	itjen -tjen titjen timitja	nimitja tja-	tjainuitjen
		Exclusive	amen -men	niamen nia nimitja	(tjanuamen)	tiamen
	2nd Person		-mun	nimun nu	tjanumun	timun
	3rd Person		tiamadju	niamadju	tjaimadju	tiamadju

Source: klokah; Table of Thousand Words in Southern Paiwan; those in brackets are from Introduction to Paiwan Grammar by Chang, Hsiou-Chuan (Taipei: CIP, 2016), pp. 52-53.

Here are some examples from klokah (pronouns are underlined):

1. su sinsi timadju? -- Is he your teacher?  

2.  mapida mun a taqumaqanan? -- How many people do you have in the family?

3. izua u zidinsiya. -- I have a bike.  

4. timitja a se paiwan... --we, the people of Paiwan...
5. palayulayuin a keman ta kudamunu, metarivak a tja lingalingaw. --Eat fruit often, so our body will become healthy. 

vusam: Theorize Writing Good Paiwan

(Source: Sinkan Manuscript)

Indigenous societies are known as societies without a writing tradition, hence indigenous peoples, the peoples without a history since history bases itself on the study of written sources.

Nevertheless, for centuries across the globe there have been many efforts of creating literacy for oral-based communities.

In Formosa Taiwan, the earliest record of such efforts was found in the 1630s when Dutch predikants introduced Roman letters and taught their Formosan students (of Siraya and Favorlang peoples at least) to spell out their verbal communication in words. Thus, for the first time the world saw Formosan languages in a written form.

Gateway: Three Rukai Villages in Maolin, Kaohsiung

Gateway project completed 11.26% (84 out of 746).

726 is the number of indigenous villages officially ratified by Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP) from 2010 until 2015. Entrances is a personal project to visit every village on the list.

Maolin District of Kaohsiung City borders Sandimen Township / Wutai Township of Pingtung County in the south, Yanping Township of Taitung County in the east, Taoyuan District of the same Kaohsiung City in the north, and Liouguei District in the west.  Surrounded by Paiwan and Bunun villages are a piece of Rukai Arcadia spread along Kaohsiung City Highway 132: (from west to east) Teldreka, 'Oponoho, and Kungadavane.

Gateway: Six Paiwan Villages in Chunre, Pingtung

Gateway project completed 10.86 % (81 out of 746).

746 is the number of indigenous villages officially ratified by Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP) from 2010 until 2015. Gateway is a personal project for me to visit every village on the list.

Chunre is the last piece of puzzle to the completion of my visit to the nine indigenous townships in Pingtung.

Gateway: Ten Paiwan Villages in Laiyi, Pingtung

Gateway project completed 10.05% (75 out of 746).

746 is the number of indigenous villages officially ratified by Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP) from 2010 until 2015. Gateway is a personal project, a reason to take me every village on the list.

Laiyi Township is quintessentially Paiwan due to its geography and population. It sits in the center of the nine indigenous townships of Pingtung County; its Paiwan population is 7,643 strong with five villages claiming over 1,000 residents. In total, there are ten Paiwan villages under seven tsuns (state administration unit). The artery linking these villages is the Pingtung County Highway 185.

Gateway: Nine Paiwan Villages in Taiwu, Pingtung

Gateway project completed 8.71% (65 out of 746).

746 is the number of indigenous villages officially ratified by Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP) from 2010 until 2015. Entrances is a personal project that allows me to visit every village on the list.

In Taiwu Township, there are nine Paiwan villages under six tsuns (state administration unit). All of them can be reached by Pingtung County Highway 185 (aka Highway Along the Foothills); only Puljetji deep in the mountains needs another connection with Pingtung County Highway 106. The current Paiwan population in Taiwu is 5,654 according to the CIP ratification list.

Gateway: Twelve Paiwan Villages in Sandimen, Pingtung

Gateway project completed 7.51% (56 out of 746).

746 refers to the number of indigenous villages officially ratified by Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP) from 2010 until 2015. Entrances is a personal project for me to visit every village on the list.

There are eight indigenous townships in Pingtung County. Sandimen sits at the northernmost corner bordering Maolin District Kaohsiung City. In Sandimen, twelve indigenous villages under ten tsuns (state administration unit) are ratified; ten of them are Paiwan with a  number of  6,875 residents and two are predominantly Rukai with a number of 860 residents. Most villages are reachable via Pingtung County Highway 185 (better known as Highway Along the Foothills), but those closer to the offshoots of Central Mount Range require a route combination of Provincial Highway 24 (also known as Wutai Highway) and Pingtung County Highway 31.

Gateway: Ten Paiwan Villages in Majia, Pingtung

Gateway project completed 5.9% (44 out of 746).

746 is the number of indigenous villages officially ratified by Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP) from 2010 until 2015. Entrances is a personal project which brings me to every village on the ratification list.

On the map, Majia Township is  the smallest among the eight indigenous townships in Pingtung Taiwan. Yet, it is home to big state projects including Taiwan Indigenous Culture Park and Rinari Permanent Housing Program as well as a large Paiwan population at the number of 7,138 residents living in ten Paiwan villages under six tsuns (administration unit). 

Gateway: Eight Rukai Villages in Wutai, Pingtung

Gateway project completed 4.56% (34 out of 746).

746 is the number of indigenous villages officially ratified by Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP) from 2010 unil 2015. Entrances is a personal project by which I hope to visit every village on the ratification list. 

Wutai is the only non-Paiwan dominant township in Pingtung Taiwan. The eight indigenous villages under six tsuns (administration unit) are home to Rukai, a group that was once considered a sub-tribe of Paiwan in the 19th century. According to CIP ratification list, there are totally 1,046 Rukai families and 3,448 residents in these villages, equivalent to roughly 26% of the total Rukai population (13,340) on the island. 

Edward H. House’s Formosans in 1874

(Source: Stone Gate in Mudan Township Pingtung Taiwan)

"The Formosa enterprise", says Edward Howard House (1836-1901), a journalist covering Japan for New York Tribune in the 1870s,  "was prompted by a fine impulse of humanity, and was carried through with unvarying resolution, spirit, and, at the proper moment, calm discretion".

And the world owes thanks to the young nation Japan for demonstrating "excellent qualities of diplomatic capacity and statesmanship", and for "performing a signal service to the community of nations...[by ridding] the Pacific Ocean of a scourge which threatened the safety of mariners" (The Expedition to Formosa, 224 &212; my italics).

What is this Formosa enterprise? What is the scourge to be chastised and rid off by Japan?