Ch12-1.
FORMOSAN LANGUAGES
AND CULTURES
授課老師：蘇以文
I-wen Su
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MUSIC OF THE FORMOSAN
Music of the Bunun

Bunun‘s Fascinating Harmony: (Eightpart polyphony) 八部合音
Bunun‘s Eight-part polyphony
The ancient Bunun tribe tradition of
polyphonic choral singing: a song without
words.
 8 man form a tight circle, each one adding
a sound based on nature, e.g. the buzzing
of insects or the sound of leaves blowing
in the wind, to create a unique harmony
 This tradition is one of the oldest and
most primal kinds of musical expression
still existing on Earth.

Songs by different tribes

太巴朗民謠 Tai-ba-lang Folksong

1996 年奧運大會的主題曲 Main theme of Olympic
－－老人飲酒歌 Elders Drinking Song

Trailer of Seediq Bale:
Seediq Bale 賽德克‧巴萊 5 mins promo reel

七百個月亮_勇士歌(阿美族)
Seven hundred moons – Song of Warrior (Amis)

七百個月亮_可愛的情人(泰雅族)
Seven hundred moons – Lovely Lover (Atayal)
A Seediq Bale: A hero of the Tribe
After the 1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki that ceded the
island of Taiwan (aka Formosa) to Japan, there was
immediate tension between the islanders and their new
colonial masters. In spite of the many small rebellions,
the brutal suppression of the Taiwanese Revolt in 1916
brought an uneasy peace.
 The aboriginal tribes of Taiwan were then deprived of
their lands and their weapons, along with their
traditions of head-hunting and face tattooing. The
tattooing was an integral part of tribal cultures: in the
Seediq tribes, when a young man was given his facetattoo it signified that he had passed from boyhood to
manhood and become a 'hero of the tribe' -- a Seediq
Bale.

Formosan Languages:
Introduction
Introduction

Formosan languages:
◦ languages of the indigenous peoples of Taiwan

Taiwanese aborigines
◦ about 2% of the island's population
◦ Far fewer of the 2% can speak their ancestral
language, after centuries of language shift

Of the approximately 26 languages of the
Taiwanese aborigines, at least ten are extinct,
another four (perhaps five) are moribund,
and several others are to some degree
endangered.
Language Shift

language transfer/replacement
◦ the process whereby a speech community of a
language shifts to speaking another language
◦ most often across generations within a linguistic
community.
The process whereby a community of
speakers of one language becomes bilingual
in another language, and gradually shifts to
the second language is called assimilation.
 When a linguistic community ceases to use
their original language, language death is
said to occur

Extinct Languages
a language that no longer has any speakers,
or that is no longer in current use.
 Extinct languages are sometimes contrasted
with dead languages, which are still known
and used in special contexts in written form,
but not as ordinary spoken languages for
everyday communication.
 Language extinction and language death are
often equated.

Moribund Languages

A languages is
◦ safe if children will probably be speaking
them in 100 years, endangered if children will
probably not be speaking them in 100 years
◦ "moribund" if children are not speaking them
now

15-30% (or 900-1,800) of languages are
estimated to become moribund (Krauss)
Krauss, Michael E. (2007). "Keynote-Mass Language Extinction and
Documentation: The Race Against Time".
Endangered Languages
a language that is at risk of falling out of
use
 If it loses all its native speakers, it
becomes a dead language.
 If eventually no one speaks the language
at all it becomes an "extinct language".

Significance of Formosan Languages



Taiwan may be the place of origin of the
entire Austronesian language family
Formosan languages form 9 of the 10
principal branches of the Austronesian
language family (Robert Blust), while the one
remaining principal branch contains nearly
1,200 Malayo-Polynesian languages found
outside of Taiwan.
a broad consensus has coalesced:
◦ the Austronesian langs originated in Taiwan
◦ a theory strengthened by recent studies in
human population genetics
Blust, Robert (1999). "Subgrouping, circularity and extinction: some
issues in Austronesian comparative".
The current linguistic situation
All Formosan languages are slowly being
replaced by the culturally dominant
Standard Chinese.
 The Republic of China government started
recently an aboriginal re-appreciation
program that included the reintroduction
of Formosan first language in Taiwanese
schools.
 The results of this initiative have been
disappointing, though.

Taiwan Formosan Languages:
Living













Atayal (high dialect diversity)
Bunun (high dialect diversity)
Amis
Kanakanabu (moribund)
Kavalan (moribund?)
Paiwan
Saisiyat
Puyuma
Rukai (high dialect diversity)
Saaroa (moribund)
Seediq (AKA Truku)
Thao (moribund)
Tsou
Formosan
Languages:
English only
Wiki kwami
Taiwan Formosan Languages:
Extinct











Babuza
Basay
Favorlang
Hoanya
Ketagalan
Makatao
Pazeh
Papora
Taivoan
Taokas
Siraya
Formosan
Languages
(Ch & Eng)
Wiki Bstlee
Lexical evidence by Li
Cognates
 Genetic relationship
 Family tree

Cognates
•
•
words that have a common etymological
origin
Loanwords from another language are
usually not meant by the term
• e.g. the English word king is not considered a
true cognate of Dutch koning or German König.
•
Cognates within the same language are
called doublets
• shirt (< OE sċyrte) and skirt (loaned< Old Norse
skyrta) are doublets, both of which derive from
the Proto-Germanic *skurtjōn-.
Genetic Relationship
•
•
the (GENEALOGICAL) relationship, established
through use of the comparative method of linguistic
analysis, between languages that are members of the
same language family (languages that possess genetic
ties with one another)
Two languages are genetically related if one is
descended from the other or if both are descended
from a common ancestor.
• Italian, descended from Latin, is genetically related
to Latin.
• Spanish, also descended from Latin, is therefore
genetically related to Italian.
Li, Paul Jen-kuei, Classification of Formosan languages: Lexical evidence.
BIHP 61.4:813-848. (1990)
OUTFIT OF THE
FORMOSAN
Atayal
Flickr <cleverCl@i®ê>
Saisiat
Wiki CenkX
Bunun
布農族-人物 from國立臺灣史前文化博物館 Digital Museum of
Taiwan Indigenous People (2008)
布農族-人物 from國立臺灣史前文化博物館 Digital Museum of
Taiwan Indigenous People (2008)
Tsou
Wiki user: A-giâu
Flickr Max Chang
Copyright Declaration
Work
Licensing
Author/Source
Wiki kwami
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Formosan_languages.png
2011/11/30 visited
Wiki Bstlee
http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Formosan_Distribution_01.
png
2011/11/30 visited
Li, Paul Jen-kuei, Classification of Formosan languages:
Lexical evidence. BIHP 61.4:813-848. (1990)
and used subject to the fair use doctrine of the Taiwan
Copyright Act Article 50 by NTU OCW
Flickr <cleverCl@i®ê>
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cleverclaire1983/288049265/
2011/11/30 visited
28
Copyright Declaration
Work
Licensing
Author/Source
Wiki CenkX
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Saisiat_pastaai.jpg
2011/11/30 visited
布農族-人物 from 國立臺灣史前文化博物館 Digital
Museum of Taiwan Indigenous People (2008)
http://www.dmtip.gov.tw/Aborigines/Photo.aspx?CategoryID
=5&ClassID=16&TypeID=28&RaceID=3&PhotoID=792
and used subject to the fair use doctrine of the Taiwan
Copyright Act Article 50 by NTU OCW
布農族-人物 from 國立臺灣史前文化博物館 Digital
Museum of Taiwan Indigenous People (2008)
http://www.dmtip.gov.tw/Aborigines/Photo.aspx?CategoryID
=5&ClassID=16&TypeID=28&RaceID=3&PhotoID=801
and used subject to the fair use doctrine of the Taiwan
Copyright Act Article 50 by NTU OCW
29
Copyright Declaration
Work
Licensing
Author/Source
Wiki user: A-giâu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tsou_youth_of_Taiwan_%2
8pre-1945%29.jpg
2011/11/30 visited
Flickr Max Chang
http://www.flickr.com/photos/max_chang/3477291366/
2011/11/30 visited
p.11
Krauss, Michael E. (2007). "Keynote-Mass Language
Extinction and Documentation: The Race Against Time". In
Miyaoka, Osahito; Sakiyama, Osamu; Krauss, Michael E.. The
Vanishing Languages of the Pacific Rim (illustrated ed.).
Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 3–24
and used subject to the fair use doctrine of the Taiwan
Copyright Act Article 50 by NTU OCW
30
Copyright Declaration
Work
p.13
Licensing
Author/Source
Blust, Robert (1999). "Subgrouping, circularity and extinction:
some issues in Austronesian comparative". In Zeitoun, E.; Li,
P.J.K. Selected papers from the Eighth International
Conference on Austronesian Linguistics. Taipei: Academia
Sinica. pp. 31–94.
and used subject to the fair use doctrine of the Taiwan
Copyright Act Article 50 by NTU OCW
31