With Dr Chin-An (Khin-huann) Li (National Taiwan Normal University)
Series: Regional Comparison: Taiwan and Ireland in Comparative Perspective
Date: Thursday 11 December 2008, 6pm-8pm
Venue: Seligman Library (Room A607), Old Building, London School of Economics (LSE)
Chair: Mr Stuart Thompson (Taiwan Research Programme)
Abstract
The movement to promote Taiwanese language has been in existence for many years, but despite this the language is still struggling for survival. Taiwanese literature is still almost invisible in Taiwan, and although Taiwanese language education was introduced seven years ago it has not so far succeeded in revitalizing the language. By contrast, the Irish Gaelic language revitalization movement has proved a success. This paper considers what the Taiwanese language revitalization movement can learn from the Irish, by comparing the political contexts in each location, the native literature movements, the language policies, and the language movements.
About the Speaker
Dr Chin-An (Khin-huann) Li has a PhD in linguistics from the University of Hawaii. Since he graduated in 2000, he has taught at Harvard University and at the National Dong Hua University, and he is currently Chair of the Graduate Institute of Taiwan Culture, Languages & Literature at the National Taiwan Normal University. He is also Chair of the Taiwanese Language section of the National Languages Committee of Taiwan's Ministry of Education.