Mandarin and Taiwan Southern Min have largely supplanted five aboriginal languages in daily use, according to a survey released by the ROC Council of Indigenous Peoples Dec. 18.
Thao, Kavalan, Tsou, Kanakanavu and Saaroa are used less than 40 percent of the time in most conversational situations, the report said, and contexts for use of the mother tongue are seriously lacking. Literacy skills are also not as good as speaking and listening abilities.
The CIP began the first stage of a three-year study of indigenous Austronesian languages in February, spending 10 months investigating these five languages.
In the course of the research 2,112 individuals were interviewed, out of the total population of 8,494 for these five groups, including 691 of all 722 Thao. The survey covered language use, attitudes and abilities, assessing the listening, speaking, reading and writing skills of each person interviewed. This thorough approach yielded results closely reflecting the actual language situation, giving them important reference value, the CIP said.
The study found a direct relationship between age and linguistic proficiency, with people over 60 being the most skilled, followed by those between 40 and 59. For tribespeople under 40, the situation is particularly worrisome, the council noted.
The CIP will examine 11 more indigenous languages over the next two years. The first stage report will be made available to all government agencies and local government representatives in aboriginal areas, as well as used to review and adjust language revival programs in each tribe.
Taiwan has 14 officially recognized indigenous groups with a population of 512,700. (THN)