Writing Taiwanese: language, script, and myths

[cranky_laowai]

I’ve added to my site a major essay on Taiwan’s language situation, etymology, and scripts: “How to Forget Your Mother Tongue and Remember Your National Language,” by Victor H. Mair, a professor of Chinese language and literature at the University of Pennsylvania.

Here is the abstract:

The concept of guoyu (”national language”) is deeply embedded in the consciousness of everyone who has grown up in Taiwan during the past half century. Lately, however, people have begun to speak of their muyu (”mother tongue”) as being worthy of inculcation. Guoyu, of course, refers to Modern Standard Mandarin (MSM), which in China is called putonghua (”common speech”). Mandarin is not native to Taiwan, yet it is the national language of Taiwan’s citizens and is the sole official written language. In contrast, the citizens of Taiwan are discouraged from writing their native languages (viz., Taiwanese, Hakka, and various aboriginal languages) and it is only recently that it has been possible to teach them in the schools. This paper will examine the complicated processes whereby the citizens of Taiwan are transformed from speakers of their mother tongues to speakers and writers of the national language. This transformation does not rely purely on educational activities carried out in the schools, but involves political, social, and cultural factors as well. The transformation of Cantonese and Shanghainese speakers into Mandarin speakers and writers will also be examined for comparative purposes.

This, however, hardly does justice to the scope of the essay, which also covers topics of interest such as the etymology of the name “Taiwan.”

This is a fairly long work (more than 30 pages, if printed) but not particularly difficult. I strongly recommend reading this. Again, here is the link to the full essay.

[ironlady]

I wonder how long a language needs to be in use in a place, and how many kids have to grow up speaking only that language, before it is no longer viewed as “not from that place”. I realize Mandarin “came in” to Taiwan but for practical linguistic purposes it’s no longer the externally-imposed, only-the-conquerors-speak-it-well-enough-to-get-ahead language anymore. (In fact, sometimes the “local languages” are taking that honor to some extent…wasn’t there some flap a couple of years ago about a police exam on which you had to be able to speak Hakka to answer some of the questions?)

[cranky_laowai]

@ironlady

I wonder how long a language needs to be in use in a place, and how many kids have to grow up speaking only that language, before it is no longer viewed as “not from that place”. I realize Mandarin “came in” to Taiwan but for practical linguistic purposes it’s no longer the externally-imposed, only-the-conquerors-speak-it-well-enough-to-get-ahead language anymore.

Yes. That’s part of the point of the essay: to explore how that transformation occurs.

wasn’t there some flap a couple of years ago about a police exam on which you had to be able to speak Hakka to answer some of the questions?

The characters needed to be given Taiwanese readings to work, so Hakka groups were involved in this … in vociferous objection, of course.

[XiangGangDuLi]

I hope there will be a rise in the Hongkongese language now that communists have imposed Mandarin on us

[Sean_Su]

@XiangGangDuLi

I hope there will be a rise in the Hongkongese language now that communists have imposed Mandarin on us

No seriously, someone should check your IP addresses and match it with the CitizenChen/TaipeiROT variants which sarcastically support Okinawan and Hong Kong independence.

Let it be a warning to you that if you genuinely believe in ‘Hong Kong Independence’ (which is kinda funny because I remember the day you proclaimed that Pinyin was bad, yet you use it in your login), that your nature just suggests to most people that you’re totally pro-China. You usually spout something silly with the constituency of swiss cheese and then when someone points out the weak nature of your usually stereotypical arguments, you don’t bother defending yourself.

You seem to be just a mole.

Sorry but most people will just find your ploy obvious. And if it isn’t a ploy, well that’s just sad.

[BlueGreen]

So now you’re saying forumosa mods should ban silly people?

[ac_dropout]

I think Shrimp and Holbart share similar views as well. I think one or both of them should be banned.

Diversity should be celebrated, like minded people should find another venue beside Forumosa.

[Hobart]

[quote=“ac_dropout”]I think Shrimp and Holbart share similar views as well. I think one or both of them should be banned.

Diversity should be celebrated, like minded people should find another venue beside Forumosa.[/quote]

What are you saying AC? I didn’t even post in this thread? :loco: :loco:

[BlueGreen]

I think AC likes you and Shrimpcrackers

[taipeijon]

Hi Cranky Laowai,

I found your publicaton of the Mair article a few weeks ago, before I saw this post. Very interesting. I am still trying to decide what I think of it. I think more Taiwanese, an “official” romanized script, and so on would be great for Taiwanese culture–and in many ways more natural than Mandarin–but I wonder if the situation is too far gone now. Also, it’s hard to balance three languages well, and then it would be more than that since there’s Hakka and the Yuanzhumin languages. (I think Taiwanese, with 25% of their exports to China, won’t give up on Mandarin any time soon, even though there would be benefits.) Anyway… thanks for posting the article. Wonder if you have more thoughts on it?

I’d posted about this in response to Scott Sommers’ recent posting on Taiwanese language on his blog. You might wan to check it out.