震動之語：臺灣地震敘事之研究

Abstract

本論文臺灣的地震敘事為研究對象，探討地震語彙在不同政權更迭與語言制度變遷中的生成、轉化與治理歷程。地震作為一種天災事件，其意涵不僅止於自然現象的描述，更牽涉到文化詮釋、知識建構與權力秩序的交織。透過歷史考察與文本分析，本文從神話、方志、詩文、報導與儀式等敘事形式，重新審視地震傳說在臺灣社會記憶與語言實踐中的角色。本研究首先回溯十七世紀的跨文化接觸現場，描繪原住民族、荷蘭人與漢人如何以各自的神話語言解釋地震現象，展現地震知識的多源生成。隨著清代政權的穩固，地震逐漸被納入傳統治理語彙，透過地方志與文人書寫，構築出「陰陽失衡」的敘事。這些書寫不僅服務於政教體系，也彰顯了地方菁英在知識建構中的中介角色。而民間社會逐步發展出一套與官方敘事相異的災異語彙體系。「地牛翻身」、「金雞徙腳」等意象，反映了地方社群對地震的感知經驗與文化轉譯。這些詞語透過詩歌、儀式與口傳記憶得以持續運作，並在災難重現時成為集體回應的象徵語言。透過民間信仰與儀式實踐，展現出地方社會對災害的解釋主權與文化能動性。在日治時期，殖民政府導入科學語言與制度化災防體系，試圖重構地震的技術敘事與統治正當性。然而，在報導、詩文與官方調查之外，民間傳說仍頑強地存活，並與現代治理話語形成並置與角力。地震傳說並非前現代殘餘，而是一種歷史性的語言實踐，其背後展現出地方知識、語言政治與文化記憶之間的互動關係。

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the historical formation, transformation, and governance of earthquake-related narratives in Taiwan, focusing on how seismic vocabulary evolved under successive regimes and shifting linguistic orders from the seventeenth to the twentieth century. Far from being mere descriptions of natural disasters, earthquake discourses in Taiwan are deeply embedded in cultural interpretation, knowledge production, and structures of power. Through historical investigation and textual analysis, this research explores how myths, local gazetteers, poetry, journalistic reports, and ritual practices contributed to shaping social memory and linguistic engagement with seismic events.The study begins with early cross-cultural encounters in the seventeenth century, showing how Indigenous peoples, Dutch colonists, and Han settlers each employed their own mythological languages to interpret earthquakes, thereby generating multiple sources of seismic knowledge. Under Qing rule, earthquakes were gradually integrated into traditional political discourse as signs of cosmological disorder. Through local chronicles and literary writings, these narratives not only served state ideological needs but also highlighted the mediating role of local elites in shaping official knowledge.Meanwhile, vernacular communities developed an alternative vocabulary of disaster. Symbols such as “the earth-ox turns over” and “the golden rooster shifts its foot” reflect localized perceptions and cultural translation of earthquake experience. These expressions persisted through poetry, rituals, and oral traditions, becoming shared symbolic responses in times of catastrophe. Folk belief and ritual performance thus reveal the cultural agency and interpretive sovereignty of local communities facing disaster.During the Japanese colonial period, the state sought to reconstruct seismic discourse through scientific terminology and institutionalized disaster management. Yet, outside official reports, surveys, and modern media, earthquake legends continued to survive and compete with colonial narratives. Rather than remnants of a premodern worldview, these legends are better understood as historically situated linguistic practices that illuminate the entangled dynamics of local knowledge, language politics, and cultural memory.