[ 摘要 ]

本研究係以調查屏東縣泰武鄉排灣族人母語流失情況為案例，希冀瞭解臺灣之原住民語言流失之現況，而提出對母語保存之建議。研究方法包括了：一、家族世代母語能力訪談調查法；二、問卷調查法；三、觀察法；四、深度訪談法。 本研究調查結果發現泰武鄉之排灣族人有下列現象：一、母語能力自五十歲以下鄉民開始流失，且三十歲以下之鄉民的母語能力流失情況非常嚴重，受訪者認為僅約百分之六的三十歲以下排灣族

人會說非常流利的排灣話，而四成以上的三十歲排灣族人沒有排灣話的口語能力；二、大部分鄉民認為大致上有一半左右的族人不會排灣話；三、影響母語能力好壞沒有絕對的因素，但有些可循的現象：如1 、居住村莊離平地近者，村民排灣語能力較差；2 、已實施 方言教學的村莊，小孩的母語能力較強；3 、整體來看，年齡、職業、階級、性別‧‧‧等社會因素不具絕對影響力；例如：同一家庭內小孩子的母語能力相近、父母親為異族通婚且此家庭居著在非排灣部落者，其小孩皆不會排灣話；4 、在語言使用方面，族人用國語和小孩交談較多的家庭，其下一代之母語能力比較差；5 、母語能力較差的村莊對排灣話的評價較高；6 、受訪者皆認同保存母語之必要，並給予排灣話很高的評價。 研究最後一項發現是：為了保存母語、受訪者建議學校、家庭、教會應多教族人排灣話，並多舉辦排灣話演講、歌唱、說故事比賽，而且皆同意家人( 如父母、

祖父母 )是教小孩排灣話最適合的人選。

[ 英文摘要 ]

A survey is made in this study to investigate the loss of themother tongue among Paiwan people in Taiwu Hsiang, Pingtung County.The main objectives of this survey are to explore Paiwan people''''s language ability, their attitudes toward the Paiwan language, the loss of the Paiwan language, possible reasons for the language loss, and to make suggestions for

maintaining the Paiwan language. Four approaches were used to

collect data: Interview Approach, QuestionnaireApproach, Observation Approach, and Interview-In-Depth Approach. It

was found that the ability of Paiwanese has greatly declined in

the fourth generation, especially among the speakers under age

30.No specific factors can be considered regarding the declination of Paiwanese in Taiwu Hsiang. This study found that

children from familiesof interracial marriages and living in a non-Paiwanese speech community cannot speak Paiwanese. On the contrary, their ability of Southern Minis much better than that of Paiwanese. Strangely, parents'''' Paiwaneseability is not very crucial to their children''''s Paiwanese ability interms of

language acquisition. As for language use, in Taiwu Hsiang, Paiwanese is used mostfrequently when the residents talk to their spouses or their familymembers, or when they are in the tribe. It is Mandarin that they usemost frequently when talking to children or when they are outside the tribe. Paiwan people tend to have positive attitudes toward their mother tongue; however, it is inverse ratio between their Paiwanese ability and ''''very high'''' positive attitudes they have toward Paiwanese. Providing an environment where children can acquire their mother tongue is very important. In this study, the most possiblereason that may lead to the loss of Paiwanese is that Paiwanese is taught neither in the family nor at school. In

order to maintainPaiwanese, Paiwan people in Taiwu Hsiang

suggest that it is necessaryto encourage their tribe members to

use Paiwanese and to teach children Paiwanese. Family members

and school teachers are the bestcandidates for teaching their

children Paiwanese. Besides, Paiwanesecan also be maintained

with the help of the church.