內容簡介
Over the past ten years the major significance of Formosan languages has come to be recognized by a number of specialized linguists of international repute. Formosan languages are the key to tracing the origins and early migration/dispersal of Austronesian peoples. Formosan languages also provide evidence crucial to the reconstruction of proto Austronesian culture. The four essays comprising the first section focus on the origins, migration and dispersal of Austronesians in Taiwan. Recognizing the significance of Taiwan's Austronesian languages, the task of preserving and developing these precious languages is paramount, they are disappearing fast. The six essays in the second section address this very issue. The author, Paul Jen-kuei Li, (李壬癸, 1936-) a leading specialist on Formosan languages, got his PhD in linguistics at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa and is a research fellow at the Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan. Li lives in Taipei with his family when he’s not wandering the mountain trails in his life-long bid to preserve as many of the 14 Formosan languages as he can. He received awards of Academician of the Academia Sinica (2006), Outstanding Achievement Award from Taiwanese-American Foundation (2005), Distinguished Research Honorary Award for Science and Technology from the Executive Yuan (2002), Distinguished Research Award from the National Science Council (1987, 1995, 1998, 2000), Humanities and Social Sciences Academic Award from the Ministry of Education (1998), Significant Contributions to Formosan Language Studies Award from the Ministry of Education (1996).
