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The Siraya were an indigenous people of Taiwan, comprising at least five major subtribes: Mattauw, Soelangh, Baccloangh, Sinckan, and Taivoan. They lived in the flat southwest part of the island and are considered today to have become extinct or completely sinicized.[citation needed]
[edit] The Sirayan language
According to Taiwan Journal, Taiwan's Academia Sinica historians and linguistics announced, on February 14, 2006, that their team of researchers have deciphered up to 80% of the 187 so-called Sinckan Manuscripts (or Sinkang Manuscripts), a set of documents from 17th and 18th centuries written in the language spoken by the Siraya people using a system of romanization introduced by the Dutch in the 1600s. In order to convert the Siraya to Christianity, Dutch missionaries studied the Sirayan language, devised a romanized script in which to record it, taught the Siraya people how to use it, and began translating the New Testament into the Sirayan language. Copies of the Dutch missionaries' translation of the Book of Matthew into Sirayan have survived, and several of the manuscripts are bilingual, with side-by-side Sirayan and Chinese versions of the contents. (Excerpted from Taiwan Journal. Despite the mis-perception of complete extinction, the Siraya people are still well and alive today. In the Tso-chen, Kou-pei and Chiou chen lin of shinhua township many families still claim to be of pure Siraya blood. Also, several modern day Siraya communities in Taiwan have been involved in Siraya culture and language revitalization movement for over a decade. Through linguistic research and language teaching, the natives are 'awaking' their mother tongue that has been 'dormant' for a century. Today a group of Siraya children in the Shinhua township particularly in Kou-pei and Chiou Chen Lin area are able to speak and sing in the Siraya language ([1]). Also, the Tainan Ping-pu Siraya Association has achieved the publication of the first modern day Siraya dictionary.
