Abstract:
This research had two objectives: 1) to investigate the effort of maintaining the Chong people identity and their responses and 2) to examine the Chong language revitalization and the occurred negotiation. In addition to document research, the research employed qualitative data collection including observation and interviews with relevant government agencies, scholars and the Chong people between October 2015 and December 2016. The results showed that the Chong community has existed as an ethnic group in the Thai Kingdom for years and its image has always been maintained through five tools: 1) The historical and archaeological data, 2) The anthropological data, 3) The stories in folklore, 4) The cultural data, and 5) The language revitalization. These five tools have been applied through government agencies aiming at keeping the Chong identity and leading to the academic related reproduction of the Chong identity. As for the language revitalization, the latest tools, created a great impact on the Chong identity, the Chong language which had only verbal form created two new sets of alphabet and the writing system. These include; 1) the writing system utilizing the Thai alphabet developed by a group of university scholars, and 2) a newly created alphabet developed by a local Chong scholar. The first writing system was seen as a trespass of the Thai language upon the Chong language and could even harm the original use of the Chong verbal language. Therefore, in addition to the creation of identity by the local people, the second writing system was also seen as an effort to take the Chong language back from the Thai influence.