Re: Another language candidate for the VMS

[Adams Douglas <adamsd@xxxxxxx>]

RSRICHMOND@xxxxxxx wrote:
> 
> A well known example of a fabricated language in the Austronesian area was 
> the supposed language of the alleged "Stone Age" isolate people called 
> Tasaday in the Philippines. The press went wild over this - I don't remember 
> the details, but their language was fabricated out of the nearby Hiligaynon 
> language.

I was hoodwinked by the Tasaday hoax in 1972, when I did a paper on them
while a freshman. I do happen to remember one phrase of "Tasaday":

	Momo dakel diwata tasaday == great white brother to the tasaday

This phrase was used to refer to their "discoverer", Manuel Elizalde, Jr.,
who seems to have concoted the scheme, which also involved getting the area
declared a national preserve by the Marcos government so that Elizalde's
cronies could illegally log the area (where no one really lived).

Good summary at:

	http://www.uiowa.edu/~anthro/webcourse/lost/Tasaday/Tasaday.htm

-Adams

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