Tannaean revivalism

Tannaean revivalism (Tannaean Kuuvutta Hiisanigö ['ku:vutta hi:'sanigø], lit. "Revival of the Language") is a movement to promote the use and revival of the Tannaean language. It is usually considered part of the general wave of regionalism that swept Arithia beginning the late 1960s CIE, and on a smaller scale was part of a resuscitated nationalist drive to promote a Tannaean national identity.

Origins

The Second Wave of nationalism that began in Carabaea reached the minorities of Arithia, whom the First Wave had largely missed. Beginning as a human rights movement to demand recognition from the Carabaean government of the minority Eshureya culture, the controversy it ignited sparked a renewed wave of agitation for self-determination, which in Arithia was termed the regionalist movement. Recognising their distinct cultural and ethnic identity from that of the Areth, Tannaean nationalists began demanding self-government and promotion of the Tannaean language, which they saw as a means to an eventual end of Tannaean, or Eleena, sovereignnty, and which gave rise to the revivalist effort.

Proponents

One of the most famous revivalists was the renowned author Otäära Kotoka, who grew up in an atmosphere of Eleena nationalism, and went on to write extensively in support of the revivalist movement, although he stopped short of advocating independence. Along with other writers and academics such as the journalist Kiira Jaallii, the physicist Mekes Pulanka, and the linguist Eiko Vassaley, he collaborated on the first modern dictionary of Tannaean, which appeared in print in 1993 CIE.

Resistance

The Tannaean Unionist Party (TII) was and is the most visible and vocal opponent to Tannaean nationalism, of which they see revivalism of the language as the first step onto the slippery slope. Besides the extremist TII, however, most conservative and some liberal mainstream political parties also condemned regionalism as betraying the integrity of the Arithian state, which they argued was now different from the ethnocentric Arithia of pre-revolutionary and imperial times. Eventually having given way to federalism, the same factors are now strongly against further weakening of the Arithian centre, a view which is in line with contemporary opinion.

See also

• Regionalism in Arithia
• Tannaea (region), Tannaea (province)
• Tannaean Unionist Party (TII)
• Devolution Act of 1979