This is a project to preserve the endangered cultures and languages of aboriginal Taiwanese Puyuma. There are approximately 26 Formosan languages, and about 10 of these are extinct while 4 are classified as moribund. The rest are still endangered.

What’s special about the Formosan languages and people?

The general consensus among linguists and anthropologists is that the Austronesian peoples (who settled in Madagascar, New Zealand, the Phillipines, and the rest of Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia among other locations) originated from the island of Taiwan. For a graphic animation of these expeditions, click here. The languages of all these places thus find their roots in Taiwan.