A community-based documentation of Paiwan language and oral history

Language	Paiwan
Depositor	Megan Gilmore
Affiliation	Graduate Institute of Linguistics, National Taiwan University
Location	Taiwan
Collection ID	0861
Grant ID	SG1205
Funding Body	ELDP
Collection Status	Forthcoming
Landing Page Handle	http://hdl.handle.net/2196/46474690-6ec6-42da-8459-94a8ea058d16

Summary of the collection

English: This deposit is the result of a documentation project of Paiwan language and oral history, funded by ELDP between 2026-2027. It is a collaboration between a linguist with personal ties to the community and a team of community members in two related Paiwan villages.

The collection includes video recordings of narrations, interviews, conversations, procedurals, and walking tours. Written transcriptions, translations into English and Taiwanese Mandarin, and BOLD transcriptions are provided for all recordings, and a subset are additionally given detailed linguistic glossing in English and Taiwanese Mandarin.

本語料庫概要

中文：本資料集源自一項關於排灣族語與口述歷史的紀錄計畫，該計畫由 ELDP 於 2026 至 2027 年間資助。此計畫由一位與排灣族人有姻親關係的外籍語言學家，以及來自兩個不同區域的排灣族部落成員團隊共同合作完成。

本資料庫收錄了敘述、訪談、對話、流程示範及導覽行程的影片紀錄。所有錄音皆附有文字轉錄本、英文譯本及台灣國語譯本，並採用 BOLD 轉錄格式；部分錄音更附有詳盡的英文及台灣國語言註解。

Group represented

English: The Paiwan people are an Austronesian indigenous group in Taiwan. As of 2024, there are 112,466 people recognized by the Taiwanese government as members of the Paiwan tribe (Council of Indigenous Peoples, 2025).

Paiwan people live in Pingtung County and Taitung County on both sides of Tawu Mountain, which, according to Paiwan legends, is where the Paiwan people originated (Chang, 2006). Many of these mountain villages were forcibly relocated by the occupying Japanese forces to more accessible locations in the 1940s.

In particular, the documentation project was carried out in two “new” tribal villages in Eastern Taiwan whose inhabitants trace their orgin to the same mountain area.

所代表的族群

中文：排灣族是臺灣南島語系的原住民族之一。截至2024年，經臺灣政府認定排灣族人口共有112,466人（原住民族委員會，2025）。

排灣族人主要居住於大武山兩側的屏東縣與臺東縣。根據排灣族傳說，大武山為排灣族的發源地（Chang，2006）。許多原本位於山區的部落，於1940年代遭到日本殖民政府強制遷移至交通較為便利的地區。

本計畫主要於臺灣東部進行，對象為兩個由大武山遷移而來的部落。

Language information

English: Paiwan belongs to the Formosan branch of the Austronesian language family and is spoken in southern Taiwan in the counties of Taitung and Pingtung. Nearly all speakers of Paiwan also speak Taiwanese Mandarin

The Taiwanese government recognizes four distinct dialects (Northern, Central, Southern, and Eastern Paiwan), though there is significant language variation within each official dialect as well. This collection focuses on a small region of Eastern Paiwan in Taitung.

Ferrell (1982) estimated 55,000 speakers over forty years ago; while there is not a clear estimate of the current speaker population, the language has certainly experienced considerable decline in the past few decades. The Taiwanese government keeps detailed census data on ethnic populations, including ages, but none on speaker populations or language fluency. The ethnic population over 60 (18,373 in 2024) is provided as an estimate of the actual number of fluent speakers across all four dialects (Council of Indigenous Peoples, 2025).

語言相關資訊

中文：排灣語屬於南島語系中的臺灣南島語族，主要分布於臺灣南部的臺東縣與屏東縣。幾乎所有排灣語使用者同時也會使用臺灣華語。

臺灣政府將排灣語劃分為四種主要方言（北部、中部、南部與東部排灣語），但在各官方方言內部仍存在顯著的語言差異。這個資料庫主要聚焦於臺東地區東部排灣語的一個小範圍社群。

Ferrell（1982）在四十多年前估計排灣語使用者約有55,000人；雖然目前尚無清楚的使用人口統計，但該語言在過去數十年間確實經歷了相當程度的衰退。臺灣政府對族群人口（包括年齡分布）有詳細的普查資料，但並未統計語言使用者或語言流利度。60歲以下的排灣族人中，能夠流利使用族語者已相當有限；即使在60歲以上的族群中，也並非人人皆具備流利的族語能力。因此，本研究以60歲以上之族群人口（2024年為18,373人）作為流利使用者數量的（仍屬寬鬆的）估計基準，該估計涵蓋四種方言的所有使用者（原住民族委員會，2025）。

References

English: Chang, A. (2006). A reference grammar of Paiwan (Doctoral dissertation, Australian National University).
Council of Indigenous Peoples. (2025, October 11). Statistics Charts. https://www.cip.gov.tw/zh-tw/chart/data-list/601B56907E55F510/index.html?cumid=D0636733C6861689&pid=5C16BC4E228AAC83.
Ferrell, R. (1982). Paiwan dictionary (Pacific Linguistics, Series C, No. 73). Canberra: Department of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University.

參考文獻

中文：原住民族委員會。（2025年10月11日）。《統計圖表》。https://www.cip.gov.tw/zh-tw/chart/data-list/601B56907E55F510/index.html?cumid=D0636733C6861689&pid=5C16BC4E228AAC83
Chang, A. (2006). A reference grammar of Paiwan [排灣語參考語法] (Doctoral dissertation, Australian National University).
Ferrell, R. (1982). Paiwan dictionary [排灣語詞典] (Pacific Linguistics, Series C, No. 73). Canberra: Department of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University.

Acknowledgement and citation

English: As a “Paiwan daughter-in-law,” I am immensely greatful for the warm welcome I have received from my Paiwan in-laws, neighbors, and collaborators and for their support, assistance, and patience during the documentation project. We are also very grateful for the support of ELDP for making the project possible.

To refer to any data from the collection, please cite as follows:

Gilmore, Megan. 2026. A community-based documentation of Paiwan language and oral history. Endangered Languages Archive. Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/2196/195a49dc-6c93-457d-8d22-8b93f500a313. Accessed on [insert date here].

致謝與引用

中文：作為一名排灣族媳婦，本人深摯感謝排灣族家人、部落族人及所有合作夥伴給予我的溫暖及支持，更由衷感謝大家在本次記錄計畫期間，所展現的包容、耐心與鼎力相助。同時，亦誠摯感謝「瀕危語言紀錄計畫（ELDP）」的資助與支持，使本計畫得以順利推動並圓滿落幕。

如欲引用本專集之任何資料，請以下列格式標註出處：