{"id":61613,"date":"2023-12-10T10:25:29","date_gmt":"2023-12-10T15:25:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=61613"},"modified":"2023-12-10T10:25:29","modified_gmt":"2023-12-10T15:25:29","slug":"writing-indigenous-names-in-taiwan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=61613","title":{"rendered":"Writing indigenous names in Taiwan"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Taiwan, a woman from the Bunun tribe<\/a> is pushing to have her name given just in the Roman alphabet, not in combination with or substituted by Chinese characters presenting a Mandarinized form.\u00a0 (Bunun language here<\/a>.)<\/p>\r\n

\u2018My Bunun name is \u2026<\/a>\u2019<\/p>\r\n

Pinyin News (11\/27\/23)<\/p>\r\n

—–<\/p>\r\n

A candidate for the Indigenous constituency in Taiwan\u2019s Legislature has, in protest over government policies mandating the use of Chinese characters, changed her name to \u201c\u674e\u6211\u8981\u55ae\u5217\u65cf\u540d\u6211\u7684\u5e03\u8fb2\u65cf\u540d\u5b57\u662f Savungaz Valincinan,\u201d which translates as \u201cLi I want to list my tribal name separately; my Bunun name is Savungaz Valincinan.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n

The anti-character, pro-alphabet movement is gaining traction and visibility among Taiwan's indigenous people for a variety of reasons, such as those described in this excellent LA Times article:<\/p>\r\n

\"Some Indigenous people in Taiwan want to drop their Chinese names: \u2018That history has nothing to do with mine\u2019<\/a>\"<\/p>\r\n

Stephanie Yang and David Shen (5\/2\/23)<\/p>\r\n

—–<\/p>\r\n

TAIPEI, Taiwan\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The name on his government ID when he was growing up \u2014 and how his classmates, teachers and baseball teammates knew him \u2014 was Chu Li-jen.<\/p>\r\n

At home, however, he was always Giljegiljaw Kungkuan, or \u201cGiyaw\u201d for short, the Indigenous name bestowed on him by his grandmother.<\/p>\r\n

By the time he was a teenager, he wanted to go by his Indigenous name all the time, as a matter of pride. But his parents worried that abandoning his Chinese name would only cause him trouble in a Chinese-dominated society.<\/p>\r\n

In 2019, he finally made it his legal name with the Taiwanese government after Cleveland\u2019s MLB franchise \u2014 grappling with its own name issues \u2014 invited him to spring training. He wanted to ensure that come the next season, the letters emblazoned on his jersey would read: \u201cGILJEGILJAW.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cHonestly I didn\u2019t think too much about it,\u201d said Giljegiljaw, 29. \u201cI just had the simple notion that I wanted to carry my name on my back, on my jersey.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

The LA Times article goes on to give case histories of individuals from other groups who use their indigenous names.\u00a0 It explains that there are four ways to do this on their identity cards:<\/p>\r\n

1. Han (characters) and indigenous (Romanization)<\/p>\r\n

2.\u00a0Transcription of indigenous name in characters and indigenous name in Romanization<\/p>\r\n

3. Transcription of indigenous name in characters only<\/p>\r\n

4. Indigenous name in Romanization only<\/p>\r\n

Considering the generally favorable government support for minority and topolectal languages in Taiwan, in contrast to the situation in China, I think we will see more people switching to the alphabet in the former, with little chance for that to happen in the latter.<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

Selected readings<\/b><\/p>\r\n