A Critical Discourse Study of Indigenous Language Revitalisation Policy in Taiwan Chien Ju Ting A thesis submitted to Auckland University of Technology in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) 2021 Institute of Culture, Discourse & Communication School of Language and Culture i Contents Contents ............................................................................................................................ ii List of Figures and Tables .............................................................................................. viii List of Acronyms ............................................................................................................. ix Attestation of Authorship .................................................................................................. x Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... xi Abstract .......................................................................................................................... xiii Chapter 1. What is this study on revitalisation of Taiwan’s Indigenous languages all about? 1 1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1 1.2 How this started for me ........................................................................................... 1 1.3 This study ................................................................................................................ 2 1.4 The methodology of this study – why CDS? .......................................................... 5 1.5 The significance of this study .................................................................................. 6 1.6 The outline of this thesis ......................................................................................... 7 Chapter 2. Theorising Indigenous language revitalisation ........................................... 9 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 9 2.2. Language endangerment ......................................................................................... 9 2.3 Why bother saving languages? .............................................................................. 12 2.3.1 The moral condition ........................................................................................ 12 2.3.2 The welfare perspective .................................................................................. 13 2.4 Can threatened language be saved? ....................................................................... 15 2.5 Global language revitalisation efforts ................................................................... 19 2.6 Linguistic human rights ......................................................................................... 21 2.7 Language ideology ................................................................................................ 21 2.7.1 Ideological complexes facing Indigenous language users .............................. 23 2.8 Language ownership and legitimate speaker ......................................................... 27 ii 2.9 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 29 Chapter 3. Taiwan: The political landscape and the decline of Indigenous languages 31 3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 31 3.2 Colonisation history and linguistic repertoire ....................................................... 31 3.2.1 Colonisation .................................................................................................... 32 3.2.2 Taiwan’s linguistic repertoire ......................................................................... 33 3.3 The political situation ............................................................................................ 38 3.3.1 KMT versus DPP ............................................................................................ 38 3.3.2 Political ideology and language ideology ....................................................... 39 3.3.3 The One-China Principle ................................................................................ 42 3.4 Indigenous Language revitalisation efforts in Taiwan .......................................... 43 3.4.1 Top-down efforts ............................................................................................ 43 3.4.2 Bottom-up efforts ............................................................................................ 46 3.4.3 Scholarly criticisms about the language revitalisation efforts in Taiwan ....... 47 3.5 Conclusion – Towards a critical view ................................................................... 49 Chapter 4. Critical discourse studies and language policy ......................................... 52 4.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 52 4.2 Language policy studies ........................................................................................ 52 4.2.1 Status, corpus and acquisition planning .......................................................... 54 4.2.2 The good policy conditions............................................................................. 54 4.2.3 De facto language policy ................................................................................ 55 4.3 Current issues facing language policy studies – some critical thoughts ............... 55 4.4 Moving towards a critical approach ...................................................................... 58 4.5 Critical discourse studies (CDS) for language policy research ............................. 60 4.6 The theoretical assumptions of Critical Discourse Studies (CDS) ........................ 62 4.6.1 Critique ........................................................................................................... 63 4.6.2 Ideology .......................................................................................................... 63 iii 4.6.3 Discourse and power ....................................................................................... 64 4.6.4 Intertextuality and recontextualisation............................................................ 66 4.7 Analysing Indigenous language revitalisation policy – a critical approach .......... 67 4.8 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 69 Chapter 5. Design and method .................................................................................... 70 5.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 70 5.2 The design of this research .................................................................................... 70 5.3 Analytical framework ............................................................................................ 72 5.4 Data preparation and analysis ................................................................................ 74 5.4.1 Policy documents ............................................................................................ 74 5.4.2 Interviews with Indigenous participants ......................................................... 82 5.4.3 From words to discourse ................................................................................. 91 5.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 91 Chapter 6. A discourse on nation-building: The analysis of Taiwan’s Six-Year Plans for Indigenous Language Revitalisation ......................................................................... 92 6.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 92 6.2 The context of the six-year language development plans ..................................... 92 6.3 Legitimisation strategies and their ideological implications ................................. 94 6.3.1 Legitimisation through authorisation .............................................................. 94 6.3.2 Legitimisation through moral evaluation ........................................................ 96 6.3.3 Legitimisation through rationalisation ............................................................ 99 6.3.4 Legitimisation through a perceived better future .......................................... 101 6.4 The construction of purpose – What the policy is ‘for’....................................... 104 6.4.1 Rang structure 1 (make - become) ................................................................ 104 6.4.2 Rang structure 2 (allow) ............................................................................... 106 6.5 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 108 Chapter 7. The analysis of the Indigenous Language Development Act .................. 110 7.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 110 iv 7.2 Description and context of the ILDA .................................................................