changes in the 3 groups of the fishermen people.

Changes in the 3 groups of the fishermen people.

          The languages of the Moken, Moklen and U-Lak-La-Woy do not have any recorded writing or letters. So, the history, the legendary folk tale of knowledge of them has to be recorded. Recently, these groups have started to absorb the culture and language of the Thais, risking their own to be lost. The new generation of U-Lak-La-Woy in Rawai community, Phuket province use the Thai language (the South accent) even when they communicate with their family. Thai is here their main language for communication.

          The young girls of U-Lak-La-Woy have ID cards and can get education, and are therefore exposed to the process of becoming "New Thai" that downplays their own language and culture. The Moken children at Surin Island still have their traditional way of living. But when they entered the school system in 1996 which use Thai language to communicate in school, they turned to absorb Thai language and Thai music more and more. From the songs of the Moken people they turned to enjoy the Thai popular songs and ignored their traditional music and lyrics that describes the beauty of nature, travels to the islands, the teachings of the goods in the sea, happy meetings with their lovers, etc.

           The language and the cultural pride of the 3 groups are deteriorating. The Andaman project (NGos worker) has started projects to raise activities and have also published a book that contains stories about their way of living, culture and traditions. These are written in 4 languages such as Thai, Moken, U-Lak-La-Woy and English and also have pictures that the children of the groups draw.

http://moken.hilltribe.org