Cia-Cia

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The Korean writing system, already unique in how it was created, is also part of an interesting exercise in linguistic export. The Cia-Cia people, a relatively small band living in a remote area of Indonesia, have been on the verge of losing their native language due to - among other things - the fact that it (not unusually) did not have a written form. Developing a form of writing is one of the primary ways in which languages come to persist and predominate regionally and beyond over time. The Cia-Cia people chose to adopt Hangeul as the format for the writing system of their own language.

The clear and systematic nature of Hangeul makes it a viable choice for such a project, and the South Korean government has actually been promoting its use in this manner in remote parts of SEA for some time. A version of an Arabic script and later one based on the Latin alphabet have been used at various times, but they did not seem on track to save the language from extinction. Hopefully this form will 'stick' and part of our human heritage will be thus preserved.

The Hangeul Alphabet Moves beyond the Korean Peninsula

 

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