The result of years of hard work documenting and recording Aboriginal languages, an Aboriginal e-dictionary will be published online next month as part of the first phase of a language database project, the Council of Indigenous Peoples said.
The e-dictionary will cover seven of Taiwan’s Aboriginal languages: Bunun, Saisiyat, Tsou (of the Alishan region), Truku, Thao, Kanakanavu and Tao (also known as Yami, from Orchid Island [Lanyu, 蘭嶼]), said Chen Kun-sheng (陳坤昇), head of the Education and Cultural Affairs section at the council.
“It took us seven years to get to this stage. Compiling a database of Aboriginal words and phrases has involved the efforts of more than 1,000 tribal elders, Aboriginal-language speakers and linguistic researchers working to record and document words and phrase,” he said.
Chen said that each Aboriginal group was allotted about NT$3 million (US$100,250) for the first two years of the project.
“We relied on the help of Aborigines to complete a large part of the project, many of whom see the work as a personal mission because they feel a responsibility to preserve their language,” he said.
The online dictionary can be accessed at http://e-dictionary.apc.gov.tw. The site enables people to listen to or learn Aboriginal languages in classrooms or at home.
Chen said the database, which is to be made available next month, contains about 350,000 Aboriginal phrases. The project’s goal is to document all 14 council-recognized Aboriginal languages and put 16 e-dictionaries online by 2015, he added.
There are three living languages of the Lowland Plains Indigenous Peoples (also known as Pingpu Aborigine groups, 平埔族群) that are still spoken in Taiwan: Pazeh, Kaxabu and Siraya.
The Pingpu groups are not officially recognized by the council, but they are recognized by the international community and by UN-related Aborigine forums.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
RSS