Indigenous languages in Taiwan are at a point where their survival is in danger. However, there is one kuia who has devoted her life to ensuring her the survival of her reo through teaching, song and dance.
Eighty-seven-year-old ‘Mumu’ Akawyan Pakawyan has dedicated her life to teaching the language of her tribe, the Puyuma, in southeast Taiwan.
Akawyan Pakawyan has been teaching since she was a child in school, taking other kids from her class for extra lessons in the language of her ancestors and she believes that’s where her people need to start.
“If the children are able to follow their elders, then our culture, our music and dance will be passed on,” she says.
‘Mumu’ as she is commonly referred to among her people, has established different resource methods to help teach and promote the language, as well as teaching after-school lessons and establishing a language nest, similar to kōhanga reo in New Zealand, and many more.
“I established the High Mountain Dance Troupe in 1992 and I use this to teach our young people the music and dance of our people. I use this as a way for our culture to continue on.”
Her fight for the survival of her language hasn’t been easy, however, with many external factors pushing against her work.
‘Struggles of trying to keep a language alive’
She said government funding had been hard to attain over the years, resulting in her having to re-mortgage her home, an accident resulting in the paralysing of her brother, who was also a fluent Puyuma speaker, as well as the on-going issues caused by colonisation.
Foreign powers have successively seized power in Taiwan, including the Dutch, Spanish, Chinese and Japanese. In 1949 the fleeing Kumontang government from mainland China took over, running it as a single-party state for 40 years before democratic reform in the 1980s.
‘Mumu’ says this has had a lasting effect on generations following her own.
“In my generation we were still living with our families and we learned and spoke our own language. Although there was colonial influence, for example I had to learn Japanese when I was young. But at home we still spoke Puyuma. But generations after that a lot do not speak the language anymore.”
‘Teaching is a labour of love’
Following her retirement Akawyan Pakawyan continued to teach as a ‘labour of love’ across many schools across the Taitung district, noting that she has taught at every school across the city.
However, her biggest concern is that her language may become extinct, if the next generation ceases to speak their ancestral language,
“I am very worried because our younger generations don’t speak the language and I’m worried that in my lifetime I will see this language disappear. When the language disappears, then our people as a group will disappear.”
She may be the embodiment of the Māori saying ‘Ko tōku reo tōku ohooho, ko tōku reo tōku māpihi maurea.’
‘My language is my awakening, my most sacred treasure.’
This story was made with the help from Asia New Zealand Foundation
