基督教對布農語的影響

Abstract

本研究計畫擬定探討基督教信仰的傳入對於台灣原住民語言造成何種層面之影響。研究擬藉由以下兩方面討論以釐清此問題：（1）台灣原住民社群皈依基督教的社會歷史促進因素，以及（2）基督教傳入對於當地語言的各層面的影響，如詞彙、音韻、構詞句法等之影響。本計畫首先著重於調查布農族皈依基督教之原因及過程，以及其對不同布農語方言造成之影響；緊接著研究將延伸至泰雅語及排灣語，進行兩種語言之個案研究。本研究將會是跨領域的整合: 運用語言學、歷史研究、人類學以及神學等領域之研究成果，目的是統合解釋新宗教信仰之傳入對於當地語言造成何種影響。本研究事實上可納入更廣的議題之下，亦即非語言因素在語言演變過程中扮演何種角色，尤其當語言演變發生於小島嶼生態系統（small-island ecosystem）環境,如台灣島嶼。在諸多非語言因素中，本研究選擇深入探討宗教信仰對台灣少數民族語言之影響，包括語意、構詞句法，以及布農語等台灣原住民語言的語言分化過程與機制。

This project will investigate in which ways the introduction of Christianity into Aboriginal communities in Taiwan influences the development of the local indigenous languages. It will tackle this subject by investigating (1) the socio-historical context which led to the Christianization of the indigenous areas of Taiwan, and (2) the linguistic effects this process had on the lexicon, phonology, and morphosyntax of the languages spoken in these areas. The main focus of the project will be how this process of Christianization happened to the Bunun language and the effect it had on a number of Bunun dialects. This initial research will then be extended to secondary case studies on the Atayal and Paiwan language. The research here proposed is interdisciplinary in nature: it will combine knowledge from linguistics, historical research, anthropology, and theology into a unified account of how the introduction of a new religion influences the development of indigenous languages. The more general context of this research is the study of how extra-linguistic factors influence language change, in this specific case in particular in a small-island ecosystem like Taiwan. The project proposes to make an indepth\ncase study of the influence of religion, one particular extra-linguistic factor of great socio-cultural\nimportance to many modern indigenous communities in Taiwan, on the semantics, morphosyntax, and process of dialect differentiation on Bunun and a number of other languages in Taiwan.