The spread of raised (ay) and (aw) in Yami: From regional distinctiveness to ethnic identity marker

Abstract

This article extends previous analyses on (ay) and (aw) raising in Yami, an endangered Austronesian language spoken on Orchid Island, Taiwan. Two patterns of (ay) and (aw) variation co-exist in Yami—the more conservative/unraised variants and the innovative/raised forms—each of which indexes an authentic regional identity. Results from recent data suggest that Yami has undergone significant changes in just one generation as the raised variants are now preferred by younger islanders and have started permeating through non-raising areas. Traumatic shifts in the ecological context on Orchid Island help explain this sound change. Economically, rapid shift from fishing/farming to tourism trades promotes daily face-to-face communications among younger islanders, which has catalyzed the spread of nucleus raising to non-raising areas. Sociopsychologically, ongoing intergroup conflicts between islanders and mainland Taiwanese may further trigger the sound change, altering nucleus raising into a new communal system which highlights Yami identity in opposition to Others.

Emergent sociolinguistic variation in severe language endangerment

“…Their data show that three speakers produce the conservative (unraised) variant in wordlists to categorical levels, and variable raising in the more informal narrative style (cf. Lai & Gooden 2018:134). While the sample is small, in this case it appears that speakers orient to the most conservative variant when most attention is paid to speech.…”

Language Contact, Language Ecology, and Intonational Variation in the Yami Community

“…Villages like Imowrod, Iratay, and Yayo, hosts to municipal infrastructure and facilities ( Figure 2 ), are consequently considered to be more modernized and commercialized and have frequent contact with Mandarin speakers. Yami speakers from these villages have been undergoing rapid language shift and show higher degrees of adaptation toward Taiwanese culture than speakers in other villages ( Lai, 2011 ; Lai & Gooden, 2018b ; Li & Ho, 1988 ; Rau, 1995 ; Tsai, 2009 , pp. 33–36).…”

“…III. New top tourism hotspot: Since the turn of the 21st century, the island has gradually rebranded itself as a summer vacation spot and tourism has rapidly become the main economic engine ( Lai, 2018a ; Lai & Gooden, 2018a , 2018b , 2019 ). Iranmilek village, for example, a place renowned for its beautiful sunrise, coastal scenery, and water sports, has transformed itself into a new tourist hub ( Figure 2 ).…”

“…Although the government has pledged to relocate the radioactive waste by 2002, its failure to keep its promise has fueled outrage among the islanders and has caused ongoing anti-nuclear waste protests against the government. One trivial evidence is that the nuclear waste repository is translated as [koʂozi ɖo maɻai] “The poison from afar” in Yami (see Lai & Gooden, 2018b , for further discussion).…”

“…For instance, recent studies on phonological variation in Yami have evidenced contact-induced segmental ( Lai & Gooden, 2014 , in press ; Lai & Hsu, 2013 ) and intonational variation ( Lai, 2018a ; Lai & Gooden, 2018a , 2019 ) in Yami speech. The situation has been worsened by a recent tourism boom that has boosted Mandarin’s linguistic capital ( Bourdieu, 1991 ) at the expense of Yami, especially among younger people ( Lai & Gooden, 2018b ; Rickford & Rickford, 2010 ).It is against this backdrop that we see Yami speakers’ language use and identities being (re)negotiated. We argue that phonological changes in Yami could serve to express speakers’ ethnocultural identity rather than reflecting a wholesale adoption of mainstream Taiwanese language and culture ( Lai & Gooden, 2019 ).…”