IN MEMORIAM Dr. Suwiali Premsrirat

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our Senior Adviser and Board Member Dr. Suwilai Premsrirat. Dr Suwilai was a devoted researcher of minority and endangered languages of Thailand and mainland South-East Asia. She was the founder of the Research Center for Documentation and Revitalization of Endangered Languages and Cultures at RILCA, Mahidol University in Bangkok.

Dr. Suwilai presented her work at two Linguapax Asia symposia, the first one at Gakushin University in 2014 when she introduced “Thailand’s Mahidol Model for language revitalization and maintenance of minority and endangered languages”. The second time was in 2018 at Tsukuba University when she talked on the topic of “Bilingualism and Bilingual Education: a pivotal point to the language loss or language revitalization”. After the symposium, we invited her to become a member on the Linguapax Asia board as a Senior Adviser. During Covid, she joined our Board online meetings. She also organized a series of short video messages from representatives of Tro, Bisu, Khamu and Urak Lawoc language communities of Thailand which we included in our video PRIDE, LOVE & COMMUNITY.

Linguapax Asia Board Members remembering Dr. Suwilai:

I met Dr. Suwilai for the first time in 2012 at the 13th IALL conference in Chang Mai, Thailand. Her presentation of Thailand’s Mahidol model made a strong impression on me. Two years later we invited Dr.
Suwilai to present the model at the next Linguapax Symposium on the theme of “Endangered Languages Networking”. During her stay in Tokyo, she resided at the Gakushin University dormitory near my house, so
we spent a lot of time together exploring Tokyo. She particularly enjoyed our visit to Ameyoko shopping street in Okachimachi where she purchased Japanese seaweed and pickles. She was very curious about the
unusual Japanese food ingredients.

During our explorations, she often had to stop to use her inhaler to help her breathe. Her health was fragile even then, but that never stopped her from exploring new places. Her boundless curiosity and life energy kept her going till the end. Thank you Dr. Suwilai for your friendship and for your invaluable contribution to Linguapax Asia. We will miss you very much.

Biba Jelisava Sethna, Director
Linguapax Asia

To Dr. Suwilai Premstrirat

I had several opportunities to meet Dr. Suwilai.
Particularly, the two occasions in Thailand in 2018 and 2019 were memorable.
She was always open-minded and willing to help others.

I learned from her that in Thailand, I should address the first name after ‘Dr’, not the family name. It is the same social culture addressing the first name rather than a family name like Okinawa; I found this made our rapport develop
quickly.

When I visited Bangkok for my interview research, she invited me to talk to her colleagues about the endangered language in Japan at the university. The following year, I attended the conference, International Interdisciplinary Conference 2019, “On the Move: Indigenous Knowledge, Language and Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy in Asia and Beyond”, July 2 & 3 2019, organized by RILCA, Mahidol University, Thailand.

On both occasions, she showed me the Center of Documentation and Revitalization of Endangered Languages and Cultures in Mahidol University.
As a centre director, Dr. Suwilai was passionate about documenting endangered languages in Thailand. Her work and her students/colleagues
at the centre produced incredible learning resources: dictionaries, textbooks, word cards, language maps, etc, collaborating with
assistants from each area of endangered languages. Of course, she was an excellent scholar and published papers and book chapters.

https://lc.mahidol.ac.th/en/about/center-langrevival/

Dr. Suwilai insisted I should bring back those dictionaries and task books created by the centre to follow their examples and apply the idea to revitalize the Ryukyuan languages in which I was working.

I will always remember your advice, Dr. Suwilai. It is sad to learn you are no longer with us here, but your work will stay with us all the time.

Sachiyo Fujita-Round

I was shocked and saddened to hear about Dr. Suwilai’s sudden passing. I had the pleasure to meet and discuss ideas with her at two Linguapax symposia in Japan; and most recently, on her own home ground at the Center for Documentation and Revitalization at Mahidol University, where she invited me to give two talks during my visit to Bangkok in 2019. It is unfortunate that we have lost her, but her work is certain to live on. She has been an inspiration to all of us at Linguapax-Japan, and to so many others involved in the fields of language maintenance and revitalization.

Fred Anderson
Emeritus Professor, Kansai University, Osaka

The deadline for submittal is 31 May.

Click Here For More Info!

Linguapax Award

The 2023 Symposium Program is now available!
https://www.linguapax-asia.org/en/las23-photos.html

For access to the ICU, please see the following link.

https://www.icu.ac.jp/en/about/access/

The venue, the Kiyoshi Togasaki Memorial Dialogue House, is ’18’.

Helpful Links

Navitime Transit search
https://www.navitime.co.jp/en/transfer/

Odakyu Bus Navigation System
https://odakyu.bus-navigation.jp/wgsys/wgp/search.htm?tabName=&selectedLandmarkCatCd=&selectfiftySoundCharacter=&from=&fromType=&to=&toType=&locale=en&fromlat=&fromlng=&tolat=&tolng=&fromSignpoleKey=&routeLayoutCd=&bsid=&fromBusStopCd=&toBusStopCd=&mapFlag=false&existYn=&routeKey=&nextDiagramFlag=0&diaRevisedDate=

There are two films on Yonaguni that involve language issues on tour across Japan. A member of Linguapax ASIA has been involved as an academic consultant in one of them.

Below is a link that shows the places and times where these films will be shown in cinemas across Japan (including Tokyo).
https://yonaguni-films.com/theater02/#yonaguni

INTERNATIONAL MOTHER LANGUAGE DAY is celebrated on the 21st of February each year to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and to promote multilingualism.

Let’s celebrate it with the wise words from Miyako Island, Okinawa Prefecture, that pay tribute to community bonds, as narrated in the video Hisamitsu Album (*Fujita-Round & Hattori, 2019).

AGATA NU UTUZZA YUZZA TSUKAFU NU TUNAZU
Cherish your close neighbors over your relatives far away.

The video documents traditional customs and language practices on Miyako Islands, including HAARI Festival for the Sea Gods, SHISHIMAI Lion Dance, UGAKI sumo wrestling, HOUGEN FUDA language tags, and more.

*Hisamatsu Album was created as part of the research of a sociolinguist and also a board member of Linguapax Asia, Dr. Sachiyo Fujita-Round with her collaborator video artist, Katsuyuki Hattori.

Their youtube page is as follows: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtsbu9qQ7GUiB558D4z4Brg

This course offers a wide panorama of the most important issues and debates related to linguistic diversity. It aims to broaden students’ horizons about linguistic diversity, multilingualism and revitalization, understanding their implications in areas ranging from personal introspection to education, politics, social relations, arts and the digital world.

Most of all, we hope to create a platform for sharing and discussing, in order to enrich all participants’ knowledge, open their perspectives and encourage them to safeguard and promote linguistic diversity.

Linguapax Asia is participating in the International Forum, Saturday, November 21st, 13:25 – 14:55, and with a presentation by Board Member Dr. Sachiyo Fujita-Round on “Transforming Resources Into Webinars and Videos” , Sunday November 22nd, 11:20 – 11:45. Registration required. Come and join us!

https://jalt.org/conference/jalt2020