{"id":941,"date":"2026-08-29T13:24:52","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T13:24:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webmediamall.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/29\/unicorn778-siraya-language-deemed-extinct-over-a-century-ago-finds-its-voice-again-in-taiwan-peluang-terburuk-saat-bermain-slot-online\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T13:24:52","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T13:24:52","slug":"unicorn778-siraya-language-deemed-extinct-over-a-century-ago-finds-its-voice-again-in-taiwan-peluang-terburuk-saat-bermain-slot-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webmediamall.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/29\/unicorn778-siraya-language-deemed-extinct-over-a-century-ago-finds-its-voice-again-in-taiwan-peluang-terburuk-saat-bermain-slot-online\/","title":{"rendered":"UNICORN778 Siraya language, deemed \u2018extinct\u2019 over a century ago, finds its voice again in Taiwan Peluang Terburuk Saat Bermain Slot Online"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"post-327805\">&#13;<\/p>\n<div class=\"bulletpoints-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"bulletpoints\">\n<ul>\n<li><em>A family of Siraya activists in Taiwan is a major driving force behind the revival of their ancestral language \u2014 more than a hundred years after it was last spoken.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>The work to revitalize the Siraya language, which began more than 20 years ago, helped secure the community\u2019s legal recognition as Taiwan\u2019s 17th Indigenous group.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>The story of the Siraya language\u2019s revitalization began as a love story between Siraya activist Uma Talavan and Filipino musician Edgar Macapili.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>While she could not understand a Dutch missionary\u2019s Siraya translation of the Gospel of Matthew, her husband recognized similarities between the Siraya language and his mother tongue, Bisaya, both of which belong to the Austronesian language family.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><button class=\"content-expander\"><span>See All Key Ideas<\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">TAINAN, Taiwan <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2014<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Since she was old enough to understand it, Uma Talavan has known she belongs to the Indigenous Siraya people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">She knew almost nothing of her ethnicity, however, the identity of which was dissolved by centuries of forced assimilation, save for a handful of words her parents used to speak. In search of \u201cwho she is,\u201d as she puts it, the Siraya activist decided to bring her language back to life nearly 200 years after it died out.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cLanguage is an extremely important part of a people\u2019s soul,\u201d she says. \u201cIt lets us know the past and connect it to the present.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Her work to revitalize the Siraya language, which began more than 20 years ago, helped secure the community\u2019s legal recognition as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/news.mongabay.com\/2026\/08\/siraya-gain-recognition-as-taiwans-17th-official-indigenous-group\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Taiwan\u2019s 17th Indigenous group<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Uma Talavan, her activist father Wan Cheng-hsiung, also known as Cheng-hiong Talavan, and other members of the community traveled from Tainan to Taipei to attend a ceremony announcing the recognition on July 30.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_327807\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-327807\" src=\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/08\/28154418\/image00001-768x512.jpeg\" alt=\"Siraya activist Uma Talavan at Koupi Experimental Elementary School, the first school where learning Siraya is mandatory, in Sinhua district, Tainan, Taiwan, on Aug. 21, 2026.\" width=\"768\" height=\"512\" srcset=\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/08\/28154418\/image00001-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/08\/28154418\/image00001-1200x800.jpeg 1200w, https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/08\/28154418\/image00001-350x233.jpeg 350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Siraya activist Uma Talavan at Koupi Experimental Elementary School, the first school where learning Siraya is mandatory, in Sinhua district, Tainan, Taiwan, on Aug. 21, 2026. Image by Aylin Ho for Mongabay.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Siraya, one of Taiwan\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.elalliance.org\/projects\/austronesian\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Austronesian-speaking<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Indigenous peoples, are the largest of the Pingpu groups, the peoples who have traditionally inhabited the island\u2019s lowland plains and coastal areas. When the Dutch <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.taiwannews.com.tw\/news\/5900640\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">arrived<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in southern Taiwan in the 17th century, the Siraya were the first people they came into contact with.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The story of the Siraya language\u2019s revival begins as a love story. In 1992, Uma Talavan met her future husband, Edgar Macapili, during a stay in the Philippines. Both musicians, they grew close playing music together at a local church. After settling in Taiwan, Macapili wanted to help his wife reclaim her lost identity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Uma Talavan and her father got hold of a copy of the Gospel of Matthew translated into Siraya by a Dutch missionary during the Dutch colonial period from 1624 to 1662.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">When she showed it to her husband, they had a breakthrough: He recognized similarities between the Siraya language and his mother tongue, Bisaya, an Austronesian language spoken in the central and southern Philippines.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cWe felt like we were witnessing a miracle,\u201d Uma Talavan, 62, tells Mongabay in a classroom at Koupi Experimental Elementary School, the first school where learning Siraya is mandatory, in Tainan, a city in southern Taiwan.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Her 63-year-old husband nods in agreement.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cWe deciphered every word of the religious text one by one and translated them into English, then we published the first Siraya dictionary in 2008,\u201d Macapili says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_327811\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-327811\" src=\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/08\/28154833\/image00008-768x512.jpeg\" alt=\"Philippine-born Siraya activist and musician Edgar Macapili plays a piano in a classroom at Koupi Experimental Elementary School in Sinhua district, Tainan, Aug. 21, 2026. Image by Aylin Ho for Mongabay.\" width=\"768\" height=\"512\" srcset=\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/08\/28154833\/image00008-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/08\/28154833\/image00008-1200x800.jpeg 1200w, https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/08\/28154833\/image00008-350x233.jpeg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Philippine-born Siraya activist and musician Edgar Macapili plays a piano in a classroom at Koupi Experimental Elementary School on Aug. 21, 2026. Image by Aylin Ho for Mongabay.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cAs a composer, I took the Siraya texts and set them to music. Children learned Siraya that way, by singing. We wrote songs to teach counting, for instance, and we scaled up that teaching method.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to Uma Talavan, 45 teachers, all trained by her and her husband, currently teach Siraya at 26 schools across Taiwan. Activists hope the legal recognition will help them access more state support to develop the language.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For the pioneering family, the recognition of the Siraya and the revival of its language is a story of generational transmission.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cIt\u2019s a very young language, and for now it\u2019s mostly spoken by children; it isn\u2019t yet used in daily life,\u201d says Lici Talavan, the couple\u2019s younger daughter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The 28-year-old has become a Siraya-language teacher, a job she juggles alongside her anthropology studies at Tsing Hua University in Taipei.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lici Talavan says that her elder sister, Euphony Talavan, has spoken to her children in Siraya since they were babies. \u201cThey speak it better than I do now,\u201d the proud aunt adds, noting that \u201cthey are the first generation to speak revitalized Siraya\u201d from birth.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_327812\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-327812\" src=\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/08\/28154849\/image00009-768x512.jpeg\" alt=\"Lici Talavan, a Siraya-language teacher, in a classroom at Koupi Experimental Elementary School Aug. 21, 2026. Image by Aylin Ho for Mongabay.\" width=\"768\" height=\"512\" srcset=\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/08\/28154849\/image00009-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/08\/28154849\/image00009-1200x800.jpeg 1200w, https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/08\/28154849\/image00009-350x233.jpeg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lici Talavan, a Siraya-language teacher, at Koupi Experimental Elementary School in Tainan on Aug. 21, 2026. Image by Aylin Ho for Mongabay.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Beyond academia<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The study of Siraya used to be confined only to academic research. \u201cResearchers weren\u2019t interested in revitalizing the language,\u201d Lici Talavan says. \u201cThat was a path our family chose to take, becoming Siraya people who speak Siraya.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Karl Alexander Sander Adelaar, a linguist specializing in Austronesian languages, concurs. \u201cThere was criticism from Taiwanese academia,\u201d says Adelaar, who is an honorary principal fellow at the University of Melbourne\u2019s Asia Institute. \u201cResearchers saw the revitalization of Siraya as a big joke.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">He was involved in reviving the language after he received an email from Macapili in the 2000s, asking for his help. Although convinced the Indigenous language was doomed to be forgotten, he says, the Dutch linguist traveled to Taiwan.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cI knew Siraya people had once lived around Tainan, but I thought they\u2019d all become Chinese, and that anyone who remembered having Siraya ancestors probably wouldn\u2019t want to talk about it,\u201d Adelaar tells Mongabay.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_327808\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-327808\" src=\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/08\/28154437\/image00002-768x512.jpeg\" alt=\"Koupi Experimental Elementary School, the first school where learning Siraya is mandatory, in Sinhua district, in Tainan, Aug. 21, 2026.\" width=\"768\" height=\"512\" srcset=\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/08\/28154437\/image00002-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/08\/28154437\/image00002-1200x800.jpeg 1200w, https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/08\/28154437\/image00002-350x233.jpeg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Koupi Experimental Elementary School, the first school where learning Siraya is mandatory, is located in Sinhua district, in the southern Taiwanese city of Tainan. Image by Aylin Ho for Mongabay.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Under the Qing dynasty, Japanese rule and the Kuomintang regime, Pingpu Indigenous communities, including the Siraya, were coerced and pushed to assimilate far more forcefully than their highland counterparts. Because of this, the Pingpu people were <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.taipeitimes.com\/News\/taiwan\/archives\/2009\/06\/25\/2003447064\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">considered<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> not \u201cIndigenous\u201d enough to qualify for official status.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The use of the Siraya language declined, with linguists <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/taiwaninsight.org\/2026\/03\/27\/language-revitalisation-using-historical-texts-the-case-of-siraya\/\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">considering<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> it \u201cextinct\u201d, meaning no native speakers, by the 19th century. Siraya activists, however, prefer to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/taiwantoday.tw\/print\/Society\/Top-News\/15091\/Breathing-life-into-the-Sirayan-language\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">call<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> it \u201cdormant\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Adelaar says he remembers how emotional the Siraya people were when they witnessed the fruit of their language revival.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cWhen Edgar Macapili invited me to present a 100-page Siraya grammar <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Siraya-Trends-Linguistics-Alexander-Adelaar\/dp\/3110252953\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">book<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to the community, people started crying,\u201d he says. \u201cThese were people who\u2019d had their past taken from them, and suddenly, there was a book. Suddenly, they had a history, and it had been given back its dignity. That kind of weeping is something I never expected to witness.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Because a language\u2019s phonology can\u2019t be reconstructed from written texts alone, the revitalized Siraya of the present is not the same as the Siraya of centuries past. However, the academic says he believes this isn\u2019t important.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_327809\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-327809\" src=\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/08\/28154457\/image00004-768x512.jpeg\" alt=\"A sign reading &quot;Class 6A&quot; in traditional Chinese characters and Siraya at Koupi Experimental Elementary School in Tainan, Taiwan, on Aug. 21, 2026. Image by Aylin Ho for Mongabay.\" width=\"768\" height=\"512\" srcset=\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/08\/28154457\/image00004-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/08\/28154457\/image00004-1200x800.jpeg 1200w, https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/08\/28154457\/image00004-350x233.jpeg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign reading \u201cClass 6A\u201d in traditional Chinese characters and Siraya at Koupi Experimental Elementary School in Tainan, Taiwan, on Aug. 21, 2026. Image by Aylin Ho for Mongabay.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cThe language can\u2019t be resurrected 100%, because you don\u2019t even know how it was spoken hundreds of years ago,\u201d Adelaar says. \u201cWhat matters most is the emotion, the sense of belonging, and the soul of a community rediscovered.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Teaching language to parents<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In October 2022 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2014<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> 12 years after Uma Talavan filed an administrative lawsuit <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2014<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Taiwan\u2019s Constitutional Court issued a landmark ruling, paving the way for the Siraya and other Pingpu groups to be officially recognized as Indigenous.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Among the arguments presented to the top court was the Siraya\u2019s linguistic revitalization work, which activists believed helped <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/cons.judicial.gov.tw\/docdata.aspx?fid=5248&amp;id=346962\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">convince<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> the justices to rule in their favor.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In October 2025, lawmakers finally passed the <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pingpu Indigenous Peoples Status Act, and nine months later, the cabinet conferred official status on the Siraya.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_327873\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-327873\" src=\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/08\/29114004\/2026%E5%B9%B47%E6%9C%8830%E6%97%A5%E8%A1%8C%E6%94%BF%E9%99%A2%E9%95%B7%E5%8D%93%E6%A6%AE%E6%B3%B0%E5%87%BA%E5%B8%AD%E3%80%8C%E8%A5%BF%E6%8B%89%E9%9B%85%E6%97%8F%E6%B0%91%E6%97%8F%E6%A0%B8%E5%AE%9A%E6%9A%A8%E6%AD%A3%E5%90%8D%E5%AE%A3%E5%91%8A%E5%85%B8%E7%A6%AE%E3%80%8D-768x512.jpg\" alt=\"Uma Talavan, her father Cheng-hiong Talavan, her husband Edgar Macapili, their daughter Lici Talavan and other members of the Siraya Indigenous community hold placards and banners in Chinese and Siraya languages as they pose with Taiwan Premier Cho Jung-tai and other government officials in Taipei on July 30, 2026.\" width=\"768\" height=\"512\" srcset=\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/08\/29114004\/2026%E5%B9%B47%E6%9C%8830%E6%97%A5%E8%A1%8C%E6%94%BF%E9%99%A2%E9%95%B7%E5%8D%93%E6%A6%AE%E6%B3%B0%E5%87%BA%E5%B8%AD%E3%80%8C%E8%A5%BF%E6%8B%89%E9%9B%85%E6%97%8F%E6%B0%91%E6%97%8F%E6%A0%B8%E5%AE%9A%E6%9A%A8%E6%AD%A3%E5%90%8D%E5%AE%A3%E5%91%8A%E5%85%B8%E7%A6%AE%E3%80%8D-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/08\/29114004\/2026%E5%B9%B47%E6%9C%8830%E6%97%A5%E8%A1%8C%E6%94%BF%E9%99%A2%E9%95%B7%E5%8D%93%E6%A6%AE%E6%B3%B0%E5%87%BA%E5%B8%AD%E3%80%8C%E8%A5%BF%E6%8B%89%E9%9B%85%E6%97%8F%E6%B0%91%E6%97%8F%E6%A0%B8%E5%AE%9A%E6%9A%A8%E6%AD%A3%E5%90%8D%E5%AE%A3%E5%91%8A%E5%85%B8%E7%A6%AE%E3%80%8D-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/08\/29114004\/2026%E5%B9%B47%E6%9C%8830%E6%97%A5%E8%A1%8C%E6%94%BF%E9%99%A2%E9%95%B7%E5%8D%93%E6%A6%AE%E6%B3%B0%E5%87%BA%E5%B8%AD%E3%80%8C%E8%A5%BF%E6%8B%89%E9%9B%85%E6%97%8F%E6%B0%91%E6%97%8F%E6%A0%B8%E5%AE%9A%E6%9A%A8%E6%AD%A3%E5%90%8D%E5%AE%A3%E5%91%8A%E5%85%B8%E7%A6%AE%E3%80%8D-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/08\/29114004\/2026%E5%B9%B47%E6%9C%8830%E6%97%A5%E8%A1%8C%E6%94%BF%E9%99%A2%E9%95%B7%E5%8D%93%E6%A6%AE%E6%B3%B0%E5%87%BA%E5%B8%AD%E3%80%8C%E8%A5%BF%E6%8B%89%E9%9B%85%E6%97%8F%E6%B0%91%E6%97%8F%E6%A0%B8%E5%AE%9A%E6%9A%A8%E6%AD%A3%E5%90%8D%E5%AE%A3%E5%91%8A%E5%85%B8%E7%A6%AE%E3%80%8D-350x233.jpg 350w, https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/08\/29114004\/2026%E5%B9%B47%E6%9C%8830%E6%97%A5%E8%A1%8C%E6%94%BF%E9%99%A2%E9%95%B7%E5%8D%93%E6%A6%AE%E6%B3%B0%E5%87%BA%E5%B8%AD%E3%80%8C%E8%A5%BF%E6%8B%89%E9%9B%85%E6%97%8F%E6%B0%91%E6%97%8F%E6%A0%B8%E5%AE%9A%E6%9A%A8%E6%AD%A3%E5%90%8D%E5%AE%A3%E5%91%8A%E5%85%B8%E7%A6%AE%E3%80%8D-610x407.jpg 610w, https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/08\/29114004\/2026%E5%B9%B47%E6%9C%8830%E6%97%A5%E8%A1%8C%E6%94%BF%E9%99%A2%E9%95%B7%E5%8D%93%E6%A6%AE%E6%B3%B0%E5%87%BA%E5%B8%AD%E3%80%8C%E8%A5%BF%E6%8B%89%E9%9B%85%E6%97%8F%E6%B0%91%E6%97%8F%E6%A0%B8%E5%AE%9A%E6%9A%A8%E6%AD%A3%E5%90%8D%E5%AE%A3%E5%91%8A%E5%85%B8%E7%A6%AE%E3%80%8D.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Activists Uma Talavan, her father Cheng-hiong Talavan, her husband Edgar Macapili, their daughter Lici Talavan and other members of the Siraya Indigenous community pose with Taiwan Premier Cho Jung-tai and other government officials in Taipei on July 30, 2026, during the<span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> ceremony announcing the Siraya\u2019s official<\/span>\u00a0Indigenous status. Image courtesy of Taiwan\u2019s Executive Yuan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Since Aug. 13, Siraya people have been able to apply to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/focustaiwan.tw\/culture\/202608190013\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">register<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> as Indigenous, a process <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/talavan.uma\/posts\/pfbid0Lzyv9PtgrbvaHKW4N1XwA48dNdbMiw4fDJpzr8n3fnwe9FNJsBUpCw6m3KfGmyR1l\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">undertaken<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> by Uma Talavan and her family. There is no official data on how many people of Siraya descent are in Taiwan. But the Tainan city government, long supportive of their legal fight, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20180530034707\/http:\/web.tainan.gov.tw\/nation\/page.asp?nsub=H2A2A0\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">recorded<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> more than 11,800 people as Siraya in 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">To register as Indigenous, Silia Pan, a Siraya-language teacher at the 106-year-old Koupi School, had to trace her lineage back to Japanese colonial rule between 1895 and 1945.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In household registries from that era, the Siraya were classified as <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">sh\u00fa<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (cooked), a category adopted from the Qing dynasty that was applied primarily to lowland Indigenous populations considered \u201cassimilated\u201d. If the residence recorded at the time matches one of the sites now recognized as former Siraya settlements, that combination of factors is enough to file a claim for recognition as Indigenous.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_327810\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-327810\" src=\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/08\/28154809\/image00005-768x512.jpeg\" alt=\"Siraya-language teachers Silia Pan, left, and Uma Talavan hang a tapestry made by students at Koupi Experimental Elementary School, in Tainan, Taiwan, on Aug. 21, 2026. Image by Aylin Ho for Mongabay.\" width=\"768\" height=\"512\" srcset=\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/08\/28154809\/image00005-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/08\/28154809\/image00005-1200x800.jpeg 1200w, https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/08\/28154809\/image00005-350x233.jpeg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Siraya-language teachers Silia Pan, left, and Uma Talavan hang a tapestry made by students at Koupi Experimental Elementary School, in Tainan, Taiwan, on Aug. 21, 2026. Image by Aylin Ho for Mongabay.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cI\u2019m proud to have fought to be recognized and taken into account by the state,\u201d says 54-year-old Silia Pan, who recently made an application to register as Siraya.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">After learning Siraya from Uma Talavan and Macapili, she says she taught it to her son and her father.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cIt\u2019s something quite extraordinary that this is happening in our time: Children teaching their language to their parents,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019re learning the language of our ancestors together, and it brings us closer.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Banner image:<\/strong> A wall at the entrance of K<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">oupi Experimental Elementary School, the first school where learning Siraya is mandatory, displays the school\u2019s name in Chinese and Siraya. Image by Aylin Ho for Mongabay.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"6WSkkMVUib\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.mongabay.com\/2026\/08\/siraya-gain-recognition-as-taiwans-17th-official-indigenous-group\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\">Siraya gain recognition as Taiwan\u2019s 17th official Indigenous group<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u201cSiraya gain recognition as Taiwan\u2019s 17th official Indigenous group\u201d \u2014 Conservation news\" src=\"https:\/\/news.mongabay.com\/2026\/08\/siraya-gain-recognition-as-taiwans-17th-official-indigenous-group\/embed\/#?secret=n2mkCYkkd0#?secret=6WSkkMVUib\" data-secret=\"6WSkkMVUib\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div id=\"single-article-footer\">\n<div id=\"cite-article\" class=\"align-left banner bg-brand-color crossref-doi outlined ph--16 pv--16\">\n<h2>Cite this article<\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"crossref-doi\">Aylin Ho (2026). Siraya language, deemed \u2018extinct\u2019 over a century ago, finds its voice again in Taiwan. Mongabay Conservation news. DOI: <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.66709\/news-327805\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.66709\/news-327805<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"container in-column about-editor-translator gap--40 pv--80\">\n<div class=\"container grid--3 repeat gap--40\">\n<div class=\"in-row gap--16\">\n<div class=\"author-avatar\">\n                    <img alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ebebfd06926a49aa777d097c555e9c92e9903fa78dfa3c0854ae574beae23139?s=32&amp;d=identicon&amp;r=g\" srcset=\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ebebfd06926a49aa777d097c555e9c92e9903fa78dfa3c0854ae574beae23139?s=64&amp;d=identicon&amp;r=g 2x\" class=\"avatar avatar-32 photo\" height=\"32\" width=\"32\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"\/>        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n                            <span class=\"article-comments\"><a href=\"\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\"\/><\/span>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n                            &#13;<br \/>\n        &#13;\n                        <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#13; A family of Siraya activists in Taiwan is a major driving force behind the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":942,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[12,2466,2464,2465,61,2463,14,9,11,1671,13,2468,10,2,2467],"class_list":["post-941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-unicorn778","tag-bermain","tag-century","tag-deemed","tag-extinct","tag-finds","tag-language","tag-online","tag-peluang","tag-saat","tag-siraya","tag-slot","tag-taiwan","tag-terburuk","tag-unicorn778","tag-voice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webmediamall.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webmediamall.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webmediamall.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webmediamall.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webmediamall.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/webmediamall.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webmediamall.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webmediamall.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webmediamall.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webmediamall.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}