Speaker
Description
The presenter aims to offer an experiential journey to ‘language endangerment in Japan’, and discuss together the future of revitalizing such languages. As a starting point, we will watch the documentary film “The Future of Miyaakufutsu (Miyakoan Language): Vanishing Voices, Emerging Voices” (47 minutes, 2019), filmed by the presenter and featuring one of the Ryukyuan languages and the people of Miyako Island. This encompasses the nuanced Japanese modernization and language policy in the Meiji Era.
Summary
This workshop is a spin-off from the Theme Featured Panel Discussion, Language Revitalization: Ainu, Southern Ryukyuans, Māori and Welsh language. On my part, I will inform the language revitalization of Southern Ryukyus: Miyakoan, Yaeyaman, and Dunan languages. To transmit these endangered languages is not necessarily the transmission of language structures but rather the cultural value of the community and identity. Since the fluent speakers are in their 80s, cultivating new speakers is the urgent mission.
| Teaching Context | College and university education |
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