Taiwan's disappearing indigenous languages (fwd link)

[Phillip E Cash Cash]

Magazine digest -- Taiwan's disappearing indigenous languages

2010/08/02 19:16:41
Taiwan

The languages of Taiwan's indigenous inhabitants date back more than 6,000
years and originate from the family of Austronesian languages that still
span islands across Southeast Asia and the South Pacific.

But with government policy in the past emphasizing the use of Mandarin,
these tribal languages and dialects gradually lost their place in people's
daily lives, and they have now become one of Taiwan's endangered cultural
treasures.

Taiwan's government officially recognizes 14 aboriginal tribes, which
comprise 2 percent of the population. Each tribe has its own tribal
language, and the 14 tribes speak a total of 42 dialects.

Access full article below:
http://focustaiwan.tw/ShowNews/WebNews_Detail.aspx?ID=201008020025&Type=aMAG
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20100802/925fa712/attachment.htm>