Academics and government officials worked with indigenous people to release the Dictionary of Nanshih Amis Language (南勢阿美辭典) on Saturday last week, a four-decade work by Catholic priest Father Kucia Putal, who ministers to parishioners in Hualien County’s rural townships.
Putal, whose Chinese name is Tseng Chun-yuan (曾俊源), said he has long felt the need to study the language spoken by the Amis people in northern Hualien and compile a dictionary for it.
“Most Taiwanese indigenous groups have their own dictionary, but Nanshih Amis did not have one yet. So I spent about 40 years researching, recording and compiling its language for this book launch today,” Putal said.
Photo: CNA
The Amis people in Taiwan’s eastern region are the most populous among the nation’s 16 officially recognized indigenous groups and the most widely distributed, from lowland plains (east of the Central Mountain Range) to coastal areas (south of the Liwu River, 立霧溪), according to information from the Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP).
They are categorized into three major groups — north (Nanshih), central and south, and each have their own culture and linguistic differences, he said.
Nanshih Amis people mainly live in Hualien’s northern regions, such as Hualien City, and the townships of Sincheng (新城), Jian (吉安), Shoufong (壽豐) and Fonglin (鳳林), Putal said, adding that their language is considered a regional dialect of the main Amis language.
“While serving parishioners in Hualien, I found they have language books and dictionaries for Amis and its language families, but it was lacking for the Nanshih Amis people,” he said.
“I felt the need to study it. I started by translating the Bible, religious hymns and the Psalms into the Nanshih language,” Putal said.
“Once I started, the mission of preserving the language fell on my shoulders. It took four decades of persistent effort to complete this work. Today, we are officially launching this dictionary, after receiving support from family members and government officials,” he said.
“Spoken and written language is the bridge linking us to our ancestors. This dictionary is the result of decades of field work and engaging with Amis people,” Putal said.
“We hope this dictionary would make it easier for Nanshih Amis to learn their mother tongue, encourage them to use and speak Amis languages and help them return to the roots of their culture,” he said.
The dictionary has more than 1,000 pages and contains Nanshih Amis vocabulary, sentence structures and grammar rules. It also has words and sentences translated into Mandarin Chinese, and examples of how to use them in daily life.
Amis linguist and teacher Lahok Valah (林震東) was its main editor.
“Language is a fundamental part of culture and should be passed on to the next generation. We very much appreciate the many decades of diligent work by Father Kucia Putal for his dedication in recording, compiling and researching this Amis language,” Hualien Mayor Wei Chia-yen (魏嘉彥) said.
“Through his efforts, he enabled this mother tongue, which was at risk of erosion and loss, to have a chance to be revived and taught in school,” he added.
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