Paiwan Every Day 54: sepi // namisepi

Dream big. It may be impossible to make millions by oneself. Nevertheless, dream heartily and sincerely. You will attract people with the same dream. Together you will pull in that much or even more resource to realize a common dream.

Therefore, dream big. For true sevadars.

namisepi aken tu makaya aken a miperper. 

In English: 
I dreamed that I can fly.

Paiwan Every Day 53: rengec // rukarengec

Though teasing does help the 💑👫 relationship, it takes widsom to keep the balance. 私はあまり上手じゃない。まだまだです。

marivu aravac a rukarengec a maresudju. 

In English:
Jealousy couples fight a lot.

Paiwan Every Day 52: supil // masupil

This is why I like language class: I get to read authors expressing views in their own languages.

Today we read a sociologist 清水幾太郎 (しみず いくたろう , 1907-1988) talking about "boredom". He said often people who get bored are considered inferior (かとう下等 ), and people who persevere are considered superior (じょうとう上等).  Nevertheless, he thinks feeling fed up is actually the sign of spiritual growth rather than acting childish. 面白いじゃない。

masupil aken a singlit tjanusun. 

In English: 
I am tired of missing you.

Paiwan Every Day 51: aljak

Pastor Ljumeg now serves as the Resident Pastor of Tava Tavan Kiukai. A winner of multiple literary awards, she speaks and writes excellent Paiwan, which she also shares in her eponymous blog “Ljumeg”.

When I was working at ILRDC, I invited her to work on the translation of Little Prince and President Tsai Ying-Wen’s “Apology to Indigenous Peoples in Taiwan”. It was in Talai Tawan Kiukai last Sunday that I finally had the chance to listen to her speaking our language Paiwan. She sounds even more powerful than on paper.

namaya amen tjai timuti a maqacuvucuvung,

kedri a kinljangan.

ljakua, su papungadan ni amen tu su aljak.

In English:

Like Timothy, we are young and ignorant. But you call us your children.

Paiwan Every Day 50: nguaq // namanguaq

Today at Talai Tawan Kiukai, a Korean professor from Yu-Shan Theological College was invited to speak; his sermon was translated into Paiwan.

Although it was difficult for the interpreter to grasp three monastery practices since the Middle Ages—theology, labor, and mendicancy—the fact that she could finish the entire sermon is thrilling. It proves the language is alive. I will follow this calling. 

Nu semupusupu titjen tua kai nua Cemas, azua namanguaq titjen.

In English:

If we read the word of God, we are blessed.

Paiwan Every Day 49: ciqaw

I watched a second 宮崎駿みやざきはやお animation "崖の上のポニョ" or Ponyo.  A Japanese mermaid falling in love with a boy at the same age of five. Very precocious. I like the boy's mother リサ better: independent, happy, postive, and strong. そうようになりたいね。

I don't know how to say mermaid in Paiwan, but I know fish. 😄😄

tjalja tjengelaian aken a keman ta ciqaw. 

In English:
I like to eat fish the most.

Paiwan Every Day 48: huing (ほいいん)

Like likisi (れきし 歴史), 'law' and 'court' in Paiwan are also borrowed from Japanese ほうりつ 法律and ほういん 法院ほ. As for three different levels of court - regional, high, supreme - , new Paiwan terms are made for them by ILRDC:

• Regional Court: cihu huing 
• High Court: kutu huing
• Supreme Court:tjaljavavavan a huing

Interestingly, while the first two new terms are pure borrowing, the third one is a combination of Paiwan vocabulary and borrowing. What are the guidlines for making new terms in indigenous languages? 

navaik aken a sema kutu huing tucu a qadaw. 

In English: 

I went to the High Court today. 

Paiwan Every Day 47: zangal // namasanpazangal

Interesting! Today I heard a conversation about using kanji (漢字かんじ). When naming a child with kanji, the woman thought it is better to keep the original characters, so people will not forget how to read these words, while the man preferred to change the characters, so people can better remember how to read them.

For example, 正人is read as “まさと”(ma-sa-to). The correlation between character and sound is weak, so you literally need to learn and memorize the pronunciation. If using 魔裟斗 (also read as ma-sa-to), it becomes easier to remember because the three characters give away their sound. Therefore, the man will choose魔裟斗instead of 正人as the name for his child.

Now in Taiwan indigenous peoples are allowed to give traditional indigenous names to their children, although kanji (Chinese characters) must be used since the official language of Taiwan is Chinese. In this case, transliteration becomes a playground where we fight to be the most creative with Chinese. Many unfamiliar or too-familiar kanji are chosen; they immediately strike an impression and bring people to laugh:

* Namoh (an Amis name) is 那麼好, which means ‘so good’ in Chinese. 

* Landuun (a Bunun name) becomes 倫敦, which is London in Chinese.

I have not yet found the kanji for my Yedda Palemeq, but some friends jokingly call me 阿達, which is like moron in Chinese. 本当にひどいね. Haha. 

namasanpazangal aravac a kakudan nua papungadan. 

In English:

Naming is a custom of significance. 

Paiwan Every Day 46: likisi (れきし歴史)

Though in Paiwan the Japanese れきし歴史 is borrowed to refer to history as a subject of study and reserach, it does not mean 'history' as the idea of 'past' is new to Paiwan. On the contrary, past is remembered by Paiwan people in many ways.  

aicu a likisi tjasikeljangan tua patjara pinacalivatan nua tja sevalitan, nua tja qinaljan, katua tja nasi a caucau.

In English: 

History makes us know better about the past of our ancestors, our village, and our human life. 

Paiwan Every Day 45: titjen

Today in class we read an article about the original self (ありのままの自分) and the social self (社会的な自己). The author argues we living in a society cannot disregard relationship and role. The social self prevails. 

It makes me wonder how Paiwan consider ‘self’, and I have two cases that show tiamen (first person plural exclusive) and timitja / titjen (first person plural inclusive) are more welcome than tiaken (first person singular):

•      Paiwan people will not say ku qinaljan (my village), but nia qinaljan (our village).

•      Paiwan people will not say mamazangiljan tiaken (I am the chief), but mamazangiljan [ti]amen (we are from the chief family).

In fact, the only ‘self’ one can find in the dictionary is macidji, meaning alone or by oneself, which has nothing to do with the assertion of individuality. Raleigh Ferrell did not have an entry for ‘individual’ in his Paiwan Dictionary, but there are many words for coming together.

sa titjen a se paiwan nadjemaljun tua 102,931 a caucau.

In English:

And we Paiwan have reached a population of 102,391.

Paiwan Every Day 44: sudju // kisudju

From Raleigh Ferrell's Paiwan Dictionary (1982), three undergradate students in the Philippines found a number of interesting terms Paiwan people use for relationship, such as

• makadju: begin courting
• kisudju: to find a sweetheart
• maretsekel: husband and wife
• tjaumalj: the second spouse or stepmother / stepfather
• tjautatekaz: newlywed couple who have not yet been given seeds to plant by chief, not yet blessed
• kiraqa: to cheat on

It is interesting to learn about indigenous peoples through the languages they speak. Often this tells more. 

nu uri kisudju sun, nakuya kicakaw. 

In English:

If you want to fall in love, it is not good to hide. 

Paiwan Every Day 43: samulja // kisamulja

I went to Tava Tavan Kiukai today to listen to a sermon in Paiwan. Like many places in the world as well as like in the past, the preservation of indigenous languages owes its greatest to the cohort of evangelical clergy. "Next to a classroom, the church is the best place to learn the language," so my teacher said.

Today the sermon was on fighting for faith. The Paiwan word for 'fighting' is "samulja" (effort), and the preacher used a variety of conjugated forms out of this word in her sermon. I didn't understand a whole lot yet, but I caught what the preacher wants her congregation to say to cemas tjai i vavau (God in heaven):

inika aken a napalikuz, sa inika aken a namalupi i kacauan. 

kisamulja izua kamayan. 

In English:

I have not falled behhind, nor have I become lazy in the world. I continue to fight there. 

Paiwan Every Day 42: djilung

a djilung nua paiwan izua vavayan katua uqaljay. 

In English:
The Paiwan ceramic jar has femal and male jars.

Paiwan Every Day 41: ljaceng

World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg) is where I work now. It is a nonprofit international inter-governmental organization established in 1971 by seven states and Asian Development Bank to eradicate poverty and malnutrition through vegetable research and development. I joined in December 2018. 

tjengelai sun tua ljaceng?

In English: 

Do you like vegetables?

Paiwan Every Day 40: ripung // remipungan

I just returned from my Japanese class. This language has found its way into Austronesian languages such as Paiwan in Taiwan. Besides, there are also tons of historical materials in Japanese about Taiwan's indigenous peoples, just like archives produced by the Dutch VOC. These are good reasons for me to study the language.

uri macaqu aken a remipungan a ikai. 

In English: 
I want to learn to speak Japanese.

Paiwan Every Day 39: ngadan // papungadan

Paiwan people use names to remember ancestors. Parents give children the names of grandparents, aunties, or uncles, whose virtues they admire. By this, they hope the same virtue will be inherited by the child. 

This is deeply rooted and still visible in the contemporary Paiwan society. So I need to persuade people what 'Yedda' means, since it is not by root Paiwan. Though it is not new either for Paiwan people to take foreign names, this will be another story. 

aicu a tja kakudan tua semanpazangal ta papungadan tua caucau kinasimamiling.

In English:

The custom that we take naming people seriously has a very long history.

Paiwan Every Day 38: calisi // kacalisian

izua maretimaljimalji a kacalisian imaza i taiwan.

In English:

There are many different indigenous peoples here in Taiwan.

Paiwan Every Day 37: inu // kemasinu

In her 1998 article “‘Ethnic’ Assimilates ‘Indigenous’: A Study in Intellecutal Neocolonialism”, Cree scholar Winona Stevenson describes the kind of ‘relationship-finding protocol’ used by Native Americans to distinguish an outsider from a foreigner.

Almost “unconsciously and usually”, she says, people will ask a newcomer to the community “Where are you from?”, and will not stop until a common acquaintance is found. The best passport is “a common relative through marriage” (p.39).

This is what we do in Taiwan too! In fact, I sometimes feel weird as in the Paiwan society people often attempt to relate to the chieftain family, and almost everyone becomes a chief to be, a chief’s in-law, or anyone related to a chief. Perhaps it is inevitable especially for the hierarchy in Paiwan.

kemasinu sun? 

tima sun? 

In English:

Where are you from? (polite)

Who are you? (unexpected and annoyed)

Paiwan Every Day 36: miling // milimilingan

I watched "Howl's Moving Castle" (2004) today and felt very moved by the story and its characters.

In Paiwan, there are two types of stories: milimilingan and tjaucikel. I think this animation is more of the former than the latter, although it is also didactic in a sense.

liaw a milimilingan nua paiwan. 

In English:
Paiwan people have many tales.

Paiwan Every Day 35: vililj // semanvililj

This is my response to the most heated debate after the WHO routine conference on 8 April 2020, dubbed "ThisAttackComesFromTaiwan" conference. 

aljak na kacalisian i taiwan aken.

qucengecengelj aken uta, ljakua inika aken a semanvililj tua kama tedros.

maya pasekapalak tua kacauan, ui, kama tedros.

kivalavalauanga a sema tua nia qinaljan i taiwan.

masalu.

In English:

I am a child of Paiwan in Taiwan. 

My skin is dark too, but I didn't accuse Director-General Tedros [of being a nigger]. 

Please do not mislead the world, DG Tedros. 

Come to visit our village in Taiwan. 

Thank you.  

Paiwan Every Day 34: pangudralj

Although word order in a Paiwan sentence is relatively flexible, as conjugation and case markers help to locate the word's function and relationship to others in the sentence, Paiwan Every Day 33 is not so correct, let alone idiomatic. The correct one will be "tjamaku a aicu".

anema aicu? sapitj a aicu. 

anema aicu? pangudralj a aicu. 

anema aicu? dingua a aicu. 

anema aicu? pana a aicu. 

In English: 
What is this? This is a book.
What is this? This is pineapple.
What is this? This is a telephone.
What is this? This is a river.

Paiwan Every Day 33: tjamaku

aicu a tjamaku. 

In English: 
This is tabacco.

Paiwan Every Day 32: djaljalu

The answer to Paiwan Every Day 31:

anema aicu?

djaljalu aicu. 

In English:
What is this? This is plum.

Paiwan Every Day 31: anema aicu?

A most used sentence: 

anema aicu?

In English:

What is this?

Paiwan Every Day 30: qesang

COVID-19 is sad, but even sadder are cases where people kill and perish in fear of infection when the results come out negative. I am now having that fear after visiting Taiwan Highway 20 last Friday; there is phlegm in my throat.

izua a ku qesang. marekutj aken tua ljayar. 

In English:

I have phlegm. I am afraid of the flu. 

Paiwan Every Day 29: tjengelai

One time I made this sentence in class; it drove the men into laughter of disbelief. For you will never hear this from a Paiwan girl. This is so called "a culturally impossible though linguistically permissible sentence". And here it is from me, a Paiwan woman.

tjengelaiu tjanuaken. 

In English:
You must like me.

Paiwan Every Day 28: pulingaw

In Paiwan, 1 to 10 is: ita, drusa, tjelu, sepatj, lima, unem, pitju, alu, siva, puluq. When we refer to people, however, like 1 person, 2 persons, et cetera, there are different words:

• macidilj - 1 person, alone, single              
• madrusa - 2 persons
• matjelu - 3 persons
• masepatj - 4 persons
• malje lima - 5 persons
• malje unem - 6 persons
• malje pitju - 7 persons
• malje alu - 8 persons
• malje siva - 9 persons
• malje puluq - 10 persons
• malje taidai - 100 persons
• malje kudraw - 10,000 persons

These words are solely used for human, not for animal or plant or object. For these, numbers like ita, drusa... are used. 

izua malje unem a pulingaw i tjuvecekadan. 

In English: 

In tjuvecekan village, there are six priests. 

Paiwan Every Day 27: Bunun zuku

Today, Lisin, Syman, and their daughter were my travel company. We drove on Taiwan Highway 20, the so-called Southern Cross-island Highway, to visit the mountains and Bunun villages.

I enjoyed the trip. We saw peaks of Central Mount Range and gorged on barbequed pork prepared by Bunun peddlers. Bunun people are the best meat cookers we know. Delicious.

nguanguaq aravac azua a mareka gadu nia Bunun zuku. 

Translation:
The mountains of the Bunun people are very beautiful.

Paiwan Every Day 26: vusam

A simple and beautiful sentence for the day, to remind us of kindness that is needed in the world now.

vusamu tua nanguaqan. 

In English: 

Sow the seed of virtues. 

Paiwan Every Day 25: angata

Today it's only us kids. Our teacher has gone back to his village for the long weekend, and several of us who stayed in the city met for the Paiwan class.

We listened to previous presentations, attempted to identify and write down the words, phrases, sentences, and discussed among ourselves their grammar and usage. It turned out to be so enlightening besides entertaining.

maleva angata tasauni. masalu aravac a mapuljat. 

In English: 
Today was really fun. Thanks to everybody.