The Cuyonon Language's First Rock Band

Cuyonon (or Cuyono) is a language spoken by the Cuyonon people of the Cuyo Islands and the island of Palawan in the Philippines. In 2000, there were 29,142 speakers of the language. Due to migrations, the influence of television, rapid economic development, and intermarriage with non-Cuyonon speakers, the use of the language has drastically eroded. Approximately only ten percent of children in Cuyonon households speak the language, and many of the young people that do speak a highly creolized version of the language heavily mixing in influences from Tagalog and English.

The question of the language's survival in the coming decades has been ominous, but thankfully there have been indigenous efforts for language revitalization. Ester Timbancaya Elphick studied linguistics at UCLA and started a non-profit called the Cuyonon Language and Culture Project with the aim of documenting and revitalizing the language by establishing a standard writing system, creating a bilingual dictionary, and fostering awareness of Cuyonon cultural heritage among Cuyonons and others. They successfully incorporate elders, young people, and professional linguists in their projects, and they have developed a useful online presence. Hopefully with efforts like these, the lack of academic and social attention to the Cuyonon culture and language will be reversed and we'll see more developments like this.

Contributing to this revitalization effort is a rock band called Bulyaw Mariguen which released the first album ever to be sung in the Cuyonon language. Their name comes from the Cuyonon version of the game hide and seek. They formed the band because of "their desire to express themselves in music that makes use of their own Cuyono language, of creating music that they can call their own and that young Cuyonons can enjoy and relate to and their vision of having Cuyono music diversify (from folk to different genres) and contribute to its development." This is a picture of the band:

It's exciting to see you young speakers of an endangered language use music as a form of advocacy and revitalization so intentionally. They state that their advocacy is the following:

• a response to a need for self-expression
• a response to a need for representation in Palawan's media institutions
• a means to entice teenagers to learn the Cuyono language
• a means to somehow change the perception of the Palawenyo youth about Cuyono music and language
• a means to take part in developing Cuyono music
• a means to move Cuyono and Palawenyo history

This is a music video that the band produced:

For information on Cuyonon and CLCP: http://www.cuyonon.org/
For information on the band: http://bulyawmariguen.blogspot.com/

Ainu Rebels

The Ainu are indigenous people of Japan and far eastern Russia who traditionally spoke languages of the Ainu language family for which no genetic relationship to other language families has been established. However, the only surviving member of the language family is Hokkaido Ainu which is spoken on the large northern island of Japan. In the 19th century, the Japanese government decided to annex the entire island of Hokkaido and to adopt a policy of cultural assimilation for the Ainu as part of their goal of Western-style of modernization. Their aboriginal status was removed and they were given Japanese citizenship and expected to conform to Japanese ways of life. The Ainu faced heavy discrimination which resulted in intermarriage with Japanese people in order to reduce visible Ainu traits. This policy from the Japanese had disastrous effects on the transmission of Ainu culture and the Ainu language. It is difficult to conclusively quantify, but currently there are about 100 speakers of Ainu, most of whom are elderly, and few speak the language regularly.

In 2008, the Japanese reverted their policy of ethnic assimilation and granted the Ainu indigenous status again. In recent times, there have been attempts at language and culture revitalization. Courses in the Ainu language have been offered to interested learners, and material in Ainu can be found online. There have also been increasing instances of young people getting interested in Ainu culture and starting to continue traditional practices of dancing, art, music, and language. One example is the band the Ainu Rebels composed of Ainu people in their 20s and 30s who perform music and dance combining traditional Ainu features with hip hop and R&B. This is a news feature on them:

Ainu is classified as a moribund language, but hopefully with new generations of Ainu revitalizing traditional practices and adapting them for their own contemporary context, the Ainu language can be preserved and Ainu youth (and other youth of endangered language communities) can be inspired.

One especially notable thing about the interview with the Ainu Rebels is that they mention being inspired by Canadian indigenous people using their native language for contemporary music. Endangered languages of the world and their processes of language extinction and revitalization have patterns- they are not all isolated and independent events. With communication between these communities, we can find these patterns and use them to aid our own communities' language revitalization.

This is a live performance by the Ainu Rebels along with another interview: