The research was conducted by using questionnaire (for basic data) and interview for more in-depth discussion. The multi-part questionnaire sought to elicit address forms used by the aboriginal people and various names of the informants. All informants were asked the same questions during the interview. The questionnaire, written in Chinese, is divided into
three parts. The first part of the questionnaire introduces the purpose of the questionnaire and asks for the backgrounds of the informants. The second part pertains to forms of address and the third part to names. Although most of research are conducted by fieldwork, using
questionnaire and interview can also be regarded as useful methods for collecting information.
In the section on forms of address, informants were asked to answer how they address people of different ages or genders in either formal or casual situations. In few instances, the investigator took additional care to distinguish referential forms from address forms, as sometimes the former was provided by the informants. This was the case when soliciting response for the “how to address one of particular marital status.” For instance, in Bunun, the referential form, Silaungin–maluspingaz, which literally means “being taken away woman” is used to refer to married woman and the term, Dangniangin–mabananaz, which literally means “having someone man” is used to refer to a married man. The term for the latter simply means that a man has a wife. However, the former has a pejorative connotation as it seems to suggest that women are viewed as properties or commodities to be given or “taken away.” Although the use of referential term provides a cultural view of aboriginal society (e.g., what it reveals in terms of gender and language), that is not an example of address form.
Besides, aboriginals don’t use referential terms to address people they meet.
Therefore, personal interview is conducted and some scenarios were provided for informants to elicit more natural response. The 28 hypothetical scenarios presented to the informants are inspired by Lillian (2008)’s methodology in conducting her research on courtesy titles. To elicit more natural response, the hypothetical scenarios include aboriginal names, following the [First Name–Surnames/Clan Name] form and based on the general
characteristics of aboriginal names. All aboriginal names are adopted from the “List of Aboriginal Names” provided by Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP, 2014). The
construction of scenarios relates to various ways of addressing family members, relatives, strangers, tribal leaders, and other professionals.
Since the purpose of the study is to investigate different forms of address used by aboriginal people, the scenarios are designed by concerning factors such as age, gender, the level of familiarity, and tribal and occupational status. The responses will also reveal how informants address people with different level of familiarity, i.e., friends vs. strangers. After considering each scenario, informants were all asked to provide the forms of address they normally use to people they encounter. Scenarios 1 to 14 are used to examine the forms of address for different family members like the elderly, parents, next of kin, as well as married and unmarried individuals in either formal or casual situations. Scenarios 15 to 22 are used to investigate the forms of address for non-relatives such as friends, strangers, and
(non-aboriginal) foreigners. Scenarios 23 to 28 are used to investigate the forms of address for people with different tribal statuses and occupations. Some sample scenarios and examples in the questionnaire of Bunun forms of address are presented in the following.
Example 1. How do you address your aunt and uncle when you’re at their houses?
Example 2. How do you address Paki Takuan, a respectful elderly in the tribe, in the meeting?
Scenario 1. Batu Istanda is a 35-year-old single man, who lives with his parents and has a shop.
Scenario 2. Ali Tamulan, is a 28-year-old married woman, with two children.
The full list is provided in Appendix A and B. In sum, those questions were designed to acquire complete information about forms of address.
As for the questionnaire pertaining to naming systems, there are eight questions.
Question 1, 3, 5 and 6 are used to examine different types of names such as tribal names, nicknames, Chinese names, Christian names, and Catholic names. Question 2, 4, 7 and 8 are used to uncover the meaning of names in three aboriginal groups. Question 9 asks the informants for additional names (e.g., family members) to expand the data set. Response to the last question is optional. Here are some examples in the questionnaire of aboriginal naming systems.
Example 1. What is your tribal name?
Example 2. Does your tribal name encode specific meaning, e.g., referring to your birth order or nature?
Example 3. Do you have nicknames? Who give you nicknames?
In sum, the multi-part questionnaire contains the background information of informants, the description of questionnaires, and the content of questions pertaining to aboriginal forms of address and naming practices.
Interviews with informants were also conducted to further understand the naming practices of three aboriginal groups, the connotations of names, and the usage of names in aboriginal society. During the interview, it was emphasized to the informants provide
answers that they would actually use in their culture. Some questions are “Who gave you this nickname?” or “Why do people use such nicknames to address you?” After obtaining the responses, the researcher examined the answers and if needed, asked follow-up questions in order to acquire a complete understanding of the answers provided.
The response data were then collected and analyzed. Regarding forms of address, the data are divided into three categories. The first category relates to the forms of address for family members; the second for non-relative people (friends, strangers, and foreigners); and the third for individuals of different tribal or social status. The followings are the responses that informants provided to two of the scenarios.
Scenario 1: Your young brother or sister’s teacher, Hui-Feng Zhang, is a Chinese and comes to visit your family.
Answer1: 張老師您/你好 “Hello, teacher Zhang.”
Answer2: 老師您好/ 老師好 “Hi, teacher.”
Answer 3: 張老師好 “Hi, teacher Zhang.”
Scenario 2: A 50-year-old retired teacher, (Her name), who is single and lives alone.
Answer1: Cina Pinaz or Pinaz 阿姨 “Auntie Pinaz” / 阿姨好 “Hi, auntie.”
Answer 2: Aki 老師好 or 老師好 or Singsi “Hi, teacher Aki.”
In some cases, the scenarios were not clear to the informants. For example, when
informants were asked to provide the address forms for parents or siblings, some of them said that they would just use greetings or perhaps even not address their family members. Under such circumstance, the researcher would then reframe the questions in order to gather the required data, like “How do you call your parents and old siblings in your language?” or
“How do you address ______ if needed?”
The data pertaining to aboriginal naming practices are also divided into three
categories. The first is on the naming practices of the three aboriginal cultures; the second on nicknames given by friends or families; the third on other types of names such as Chinese
and English names and Christian names. Example 1 and 2 are the responses that informants provided.
Example 1. The meanings of tribal names (including connotative and denotative meanings).
a. Names that denote child’s birth order: Savi, Kiuua, Rucu, Rabay, Ruby, Bawan, Sabu, Samu (inherited from grandparent’s names) Talum. Atul, Liku (relative’s name)
b. Names that both denote child’s birth and commemorate people: Kacaw (a fisherman’s name)
c. Names that both denote child’s birth order and nature: Lakaw (“fallen leaves”)
Example 2. Do you have nicknames? Do they have meanings?
a. Nicknames that encode meanings: Pakis (“iron wires”), 青蛙 (“frog”), 山豬 (“wild boar”), KaleyBang (“lizard”), Babuy (“mountiain pigs”), Kacaws (“watermelon”) b. Nicknames that are the homophonies of tribal names: 達倫 (a boy’s name, Talum) c. Names used as nicknames: Savi, Atul, Bawan, Sabu, 里固 (a girl’s name, Liku), Samu, d. Nicknames that are the abbreviation of names: 翎翎 (a girl’s name, 媛翎), Akaw (a
girl’s name, Lakaw)
e. Informants without using nicknames: Rabay, Kaying, 3.3 Data transcription
The data were collected from two questionnaires, and they were written in Romanization based on 原住民族語言線上詞典, which is also available online. According to 原住民族 語言線上詞典 (2016), each aboriginal language has its phonetic and morphological system due to the dialectal difference. In the study, data were written down based on informants’
spoken dialects. For instance, Bunun data are based on Isbubukun dialect (郡群) and
Takivatan dialect (丹群). Amis data are based on Haian Amis (海岸阿美語), Malan Amis (馬 蘭阿美語) and Guangfu Amis (光復阿美語). As for Seediq data, they are written based on three dialects including Truku (德路固), Tgdaya (德固達雅), and Toda (都達). The data can also be transcribed by asking the informants or aboriginal teachers who learned the
Romanization written systems.
3.4 Summary of Chapter Three
In this chapter, the design of the questionnaires, the procedure of conducting interview, and the data transcription method are introduced. In the study, data pertaining to aboriginal forms of address and naming practices were collected. In total, there are 15 informants divided into three groups according to their aboriginal cultures—Bunun, Amis, and Seediq.
The informants include young and old aboriginals, ranging from age 19 to 61. In the data collection procedure, informants were asked to offer answers actually used in their respective cultures. By carrying out the interview, the researcher can further acquire complete
information about aboriginal society and understand the use of forms of address and names in cultural contexts. In the data transcription procedure, the written form of data is assisted by the use of an aboriginal dictionary and the informants’ and teachers’ knowledge on the languages. Finally, the data are divided them into different categories and analyzed and compared.
Chapter Four: Results and Findings
This section shows the results and findings of the study on aboriginal address forms and names. Section 4.1 discusses the use of aboriginal address forms and three subtypes are included. Section 4.1.1 represents the use of address forms within the family unit. Section 4.1.2 examines the forms used to address non-relatives such as friends, strangers, and
foreigners. Section 4.1.3 illustrates how forms of address could be used as linguistic codes to mark different social or tribal status. Following address forms, section 4.2 reports the
findings of the study on aboriginal naming practices. Section 4.2.1 discusses tribal names.
Section 4.2.2 examines the presentation names including Chinese and English names, which may be seen as instances of onomastic acculturation. Sections 4.2.3 examines nicknames given by families and friends. Finally, a summary of the findings is provided in section 4.3.
Results show that aboriginals use multiple names such as given names or nicknames or terms of endearment to address their friends. As for people in their tribes, aboriginals prefer to use kinship terms to indicate close relationship between individuals. For people whom they are not familiar with, aboriginals also address them with kinship terms so that strangers don’t feel like outsiders. Because of Japanese (1895-1945) and Han (1895- ) colonization, foreign borrowing as address forms were also identified.
In addition, examination on various types of names yields interesting findings. For example, tribal names are used as heirlooms and children are named after esteemed elderly to commemorate them. Most of Bunun and Seediq names don’t encode meanings while Amis names denote child’s birth time and place. Different nicknames also encode distinct meanings.
Children’s tribal nicknames are given by families and are used as jokes to describe their physical appearances or ridiculous behaviors. Chinese nicknames are usually given by friends
and may be related to one’s physical feature. As for Chinese and English names, they are seen as instances of acculturation. Some of them encode meaning and others are
homophonies of tribal names.
4.1 Forms of address
4.1.1 Forms of address within family unit
All cultures contain terms to denote family members or next of kin: father, mother, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, grandfather, and grandmother. Informal equivalents may also be accorded, as in the case of ‘dad’, ‘mom’, ‘auntie’, and ‘granny’. In some cultures, forms of address via kinship terms may even be further divided along the patrilineal and matrilineal line. For example, in the Chinese culture, the address form for father’s older brother is Pofu and for his younger brother is Shushu. On the other hand, maternal uncles are addressed as Jiujiu, or n-jiu, where n represents the birth order of the uncle.
Grandparents are accorded much respect in their respective aboriginal communities.
They are revered for their wisdom and serve as a sort of record keeper of aboriginal history and heritage. One of the Seediq informants, for example, commented that a male elderly in his tribe was particularly respected because of his talent in hunting. Not many existing members today are skilled in traditional hunting and that knowledge would have been lost were it not for the elderly of the tribe. According to the result of the study, all groups adopt general forms to address male and female elderly, which naturally includes grandparents. For instance, in Amis, Akong is the form for male and Ama for female elderly. These terms are borrowings from Taiwanese Southern Min. Moreover, the frequency of Mamo
(“grandmother”), a traditional address form to female elderly, is less than Ama, in Amis. It is observed that only few Bunun and Seediq use Taiwanese kinship terms to address the elderly
and it can be seen as the evidence of showing Ami’s greater exposure to Han culture than Bunun’s and Seediq’s.
Slightly longer in form and more explicit, the Bunun uses Tama hudas (‘father’ +
‘elderly’) and Cina hudas (‘mother’ + ‘elderly’), respectively. In fact, Hudas (‘elderly’) can be used to address all the elderly, while Hudas nanaz (‘elderly’ + ‘male’) and Hudas pingaz (‘elderly’ + ‘female’) are used for respectful introduction. As for Seediq, the form of address for male and female elderly, including grandparents, seemingly accords the other with equal status as one’s parents: Tama rudan (‘father’+ ‘elderly’) and Bubu rudan (‘mother’+
‘elderly’). From a power-distance framework, it is an even more respectful form since the elderly—whether of close acquaintance or strangers—are viewed and treated as one’s own parents.
The results of the comparative study showed that all groups adopt general and specific forms to address close family members. In terms of address to older brothers and sisters, two variant forms exist for Bunun. For example, the general form for older brother and sister is Masituhas in addition to separate forms Tuhas- nanaz and Tuhas- pingaz to refer to older brother and sister, respectively. Here, different contexts dictate use of general or specific form. Bunun prefer to use the general form if they are addressing a sibling directly but specific form if they are, for example, introducing their siblings in front of another person.
In Amis, Kaka is used to refer to an older sibling, male or female, while Safa is used to refer to a young sibling, male or female. When aborigines address young siblings, they prefer to address them with their names directly because they are older than them. Seediq is similar in this way, in that there are specific terms to siblings according to the birth order but there is not in terms of gender (Qbsuran ‘older M/F’ / Swayi ‘younger M/F’). To note, even though
there are words in Seediq to denote kinship, according to the informants, the Seediq people prefer to use Chinese kinship terms to address their family members. For instance, 大哥 da ge (“the oldest brother”) /大姐 da jie (“the oldest sister”) or 二哥 er ge (“the second old brother”) /二姐 er jie (“the second old sister”) can be used to address old siblings based on their birth order. Moreover, in Bunun and Amis, it is observed that the use of Chinese kinship terms to address old siblings is preferred over tribal address forms among young aboriginals.
The influence of Chinese language on the young aborigines is particularly salient as most of them have left their tribes to study or work in cities.
For aunts and uncles, the preferred forms of address are kinship terms in Chinese; e.g., 阿姨 A-yi (“aunt”) or 叔叔 shu-shu (“uncle”), and this phenomenon is evident in Seediq.
Since Bunun do not have specific terms to refer to aunts and uncles, expressions in the form of father / mother + aunt’s / uncle’s names] are adopted to avoid confusion. For instance, a Bunun boy might address his uncle, Laung, as “Dama Laung” if his father is also with him.
Instead of using terms associated with patrilineal and matrilineal lines, Bunun use Dama
“father” and Bubu “mother” to address the male and female relatives. For Yoruba, people who live in the southwestern Nigeria, uncles and aunts, on both paternal and maternal sides, are also called ‘father’ and ‘mother’, respectively (Oyetade, 1995). In contrast to Bunun and Seediq, the Amis address uncles and aunts as Faki (“uncle”) and Fayi (“aunt”), respectively.
Similarly, some Amis also adopt Bunun and Seediq ways of addressing their aunts and uncles according to their habits. In sum, when addressing family members, aboriginals address them with kinship terms to show their respect while addressing younger siblings or next of kin with their names directly to imply close relationship. Table 3 provides some examples of address forms for family members and next of kin.
Table 3. Examples of Address Forms for Family Members and Next of Kin
Dama / Bubu Chinese kinship terms:
哥 ge / 姐 jie
Chinese kinship terms: 阿姨 A-yi /
叔叔 shu-shu
The aforementioned discussions have shown that address form tends to be formal when the addresser and the addressee’s communication are characterized by a bottom-up mode (child to adult) or horizontal mode (sibling to another sibling). That is, the choice of address form also takes into consideration the power differential between the individuals. Especially in the case of former, the use of nicknames may be inappropriate or considered rude and offensive.
However, in a top-down mode of interaction (parent to child), nicknames are common and even endearing. In Taiwan aboriginal cultures, children were often addressed with nicknames by their family member. The terms are sometimes meant for humorous effects. The use of nicknames among Taiwan aborigines will be further discussed in the next chapter.
When a woman is married, she gains not only a new identity, but also a new surname and courtesy title (e.g., Mrs. instead of Miss in English). In the aborigine society, once a woman leaves her family to join her husband, she is part of her husband’s family.
Simultaneously, her husband’s family members also gain new title or role; specifically, the other spouse’s family has acquired the “in-law” status. However, it is observed that
aboriginals use kinship terms to address people with different marital status. For example, aboriginal teenagers would address a 28-year-old married woman as an old sister and a 50-year-old unmarried woman as an aunt. Here, age is a crucial factor that determines the use of forms of address among three groups. Aboriginals use different address forms based on the age difference between them and their addressees. In the case of addressing people who are a little older than them (e.g., people under the age of 30), aboriginals would use kinship terms
aboriginals use kinship terms to address people with different marital status. For example, aboriginal teenagers would address a 28-year-old married woman as an old sister and a 50-year-old unmarried woman as an aunt. Here, age is a crucial factor that determines the use of forms of address among three groups. Aboriginals use different address forms based on the age difference between them and their addressees. In the case of addressing people who are a little older than them (e.g., people under the age of 30), aboriginals would use kinship terms