Robert A. Blust, a professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Hawaii, has argued that Austronesian languages can be divided into 10 main branches, nine of which exist only in Taiwan. In other words, more diversity can be found within the 26 or so Austronesian idioms known to have been spoken in Taiwan than there is among the approximately 1,240 languages that together form the Malayo-Polynesian branch and are spoken by over 350 million people.
In 2003, Academia Sinica's Institute of Linguistics published Blust's Thao-English dictionary. Unlike the Siraya, the Thao are recognized as an indigenous ethnic group by the government. Most of the tribe's approximately 600 members live near Sun Moon Lake in central Taiwan. Fewer than a dozen, however, still speak the Thao language.
In his introduction to the dictionary Blust wrote, "The present situation of the Thao can be described as one of terminal assimilation. All but one of the known speakers was born in 1937 or earlier. Some younger Thao profess an interest in learning their own language, but have little idea on how to proceed. ... The future of the Thao language seems all but sealed."
While praising the dictionary as "impressively large," Peter K. Austin, author of "1,000 Languages: The Worldwide History of Living and Lost Tongues," took issue with Blust's pessimism. Writing in June 2007, just after a field trip to Sun Moon Lake, Austin described a group of "anthropologists, ecologists and others who are at the forefront of involvement in the current grassroots language and cultural revitalization efforts."
Nevertheless Austin, the director of the Endangered Languages Academic Program at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies, designated Thao as one of the world's "top 10 endangered languages" in an August 2008 article published in The Guardian, a British daily newspaper.
Another academic who traveled with Austin has also written about efforts to save the Thao language. "It was inspiring to see the materials and activities which have been produced for the revitalization programs by untrained and highly motivated people," Margaret Florey wrote in her introduction to "Documenting and Revitalizing Austronesian Languages," a book published last year by the University of Hawaii Press.
According to Florey, a senior lecturer in the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics at Monash University in Australia, Thao activists are demonstrating the growth of language activism worldwide by following four principles: "Never ask permission, never beg to save the language. Don't debate the issues. Be very action-oriented; just act. Show, don't tell."
Please write to Taiwan Journal at mailto: tj@mail.gio.gov.tw