Marked language choice and
use in Taiwan
Jennifer M. Wei
Talk for the linguistics graduate program at National Chung
Cheng University
December 24, 2010
Objectives for this talk
There are two objectives for this talk:
 to encourage awareness of some of the less
common language choices and uses occurring in
Taiwan both in public and in Computer Mediated
Communication (CMC) venues such as Facebook;
 to find ways to account for such marked language
uses and choices, for those interested in
language variation and discourse analysis.
Outline of this talk
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Introduce common language choices and uses in Taiwan and Taiwan’s language
policies.
Analyze examples by citing theoretical works on codeswitching and markedness
and suggesting that Taiwan’s language policies and their legacies can explain
some less common but nevertheless mundane metaphorical usage.
Provide two examples of metaphorical language use and apply them to a related
phenomenon, the stylizing of English, Taiwanese-accented Mandarin, or
Taiwanese in Computer-mediated Communication (CMC), using examples from
Facebook.
What do these examples tell us about writing/speaking Chinese/Taiwanese? Are
they really for play and humor or do they reinforce stereotypes?
Examples from the media, and how to account for these? Marked language use?
Mock language use? Or language play in a postcolonial context?
Considerations from current mock Spanish in the USA , and language play in
earlier writers such as Taiwan’s 王禎和 in 玫瑰玫瑰我愛你
Common language scenes in Taiwan in the 21st century:
The multilingual and codeswitching situation
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In present day Taiwan, common language choices and uses consist of
Mandarin in public and for most official purposes, with English and
Japanese taught the most as foreign languages and used in trade, and
Taiwanese, Hakka and other Chinese varieties such as Wu and Yue
used to a lesser extent at home or other private settings.
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Most people use more than one language in most of their daily
interactions, though they might not do so with equal fluency. That is to
say, people constantly switch among English, Mandarin, Japanese,
and Taiwanese as situations demand.
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This is what’s being referred to as “codeswitching” in the
sociolinguistic literature.
What is codeswitching?
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Speakers use more than one language in a discourse unit (an exchange, a
sentence, a paragraph).
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“Language” here is defined loosely -- it can be two different languages such
as French and German, or varieties of a language family such as Mandarin
and Cantonese, or a variety of language styles (such as a mix of different
registers).
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A related but different term, code mixing, refers to hybridization in a shorter
and fixed exchange, rather than an active movement from one language to
another in a discourse.
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Code mixing suggests that the speaker is mixing codes indiscriminately,
perhaps because of incompetence, whereas code switching refers to a more
active manipulation of the symbolic and social meanings of a language
choice.
Examples of situational
codeswitching
 An example from Singaporean English
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoZIF59Qsiw&NR=1
 Examples of code switching from pop commercials in Taiwan
(switching between Mandarin and Taiwanese)
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuCuzcTa33s (cough
syrup)
 Shopping channel
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ud7WERrDO8
 Jiayi
How do people switch languages
and why?
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Code switching occurs at any linguistic boundary (sentence initial, sentence
final, between words).
Speakers actively interject meanings into conversation by adding varieties.
In “situational switching," speakers code switch according to factors (topics,
situations, participants).
Examples: using more formal codes such as English, Japanese or Mandarin
to signal professionalism and authority, or switching to a more “intimate”
code such as Cantonese, Hakka, or Taiwanese to signal solidarity or group
identity.
Less commonly, a skillful code switch can operate like a metaphor to enrich
communication without any change in the situation (no change of topic, no
new participants, no change of scene). This is what is meant by
‘metaphorical’ usage.
Responses to codeswitching among
college students.
 Responses from people who switch codes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2LUUL
zo5JU
 Your response?
Metaphorical codeswitching (1)
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An example involving English and Samoan is taken from Holms,
1992, pp. 49-50. (Words originally spoken in Samoan are in
CAPITALS; the rest is English.)
Alf is 55 and overweight. He is talking to a fellow Samoan at work
about his attempt to go on a diet.
My doctor told me to go on a diet. She said I was overweight. So I
tried. BUT IT WAS SO HARD. I’D KEEP THINKING ABOUT FOOD
ALL THE TIME. Even when I was at work. And in bed at night I’D
GET DESPERATE. I COULDN’T GET TO SLEEP. SO I’D GET UP
AND RAID THE FRIDGE. THEN I’D FEEL GUILTY AND SICK AND
WHEN I WOKE UP NEXT DAY I WOULD BE SO DEPRESSED
because I had to start the diet all over again. The doctor wasn’t
sympathetic. She just shrugged and said.‘Well it’s your funeral!’
Metaphorical codeswitching (2)
 In the example, the speaker draws on two languages to
express ambivalent feelings about the topic he is discussing.
 There is no exact one-to-one match, but it is possible to see
that in general, personal feelings are expressed in Samoan
while English is used for referential content such as “My
doctor told me to go on a diet.”
 Samoan expresses shame and embarrassment (“I’d get
desperate”, “I would be so depressed”.)
Connecting this to theory
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Rational Choice (RC) or Markedness Model (From Myers-Scotton and Bolonyai,
Language in Society 30:1 (2001) p. 23)
RC theory is based on an assumption about human cognition: in the parlance of my
field, that actors are oriented to seek optimality of an interpersonal nature in their
actions, including their linguistic choices.
Specifically as a sociolinguistic construct, markedness refers to the capacity to develop
the following three abilities.
(i) Most important is the perception that relevant linguistic choices for a specific
interaction type fall along a multidimensional continuum from more socially unmarked
to more marked.
(ii) In addition, speakers learn to recognize that the markedness ordering of choices is
dynamic; it depends on the specific interaction type, as well as on how the individual
interaction develops.
(iii) Finally, speakers develop the ability to provide relevant interpretations for all
choices, marked as well as unmarked, given the interaction type.
An example
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For example, a choice made by Kristóf, a Hungarian-and-English speaking boy living in
the United States.
To speak only Hungarian at the dinner table would be an index of what his parents
might prefer as the unmarked RO set for family interactions in his home.
Under this RO set, children are compliant with their parents’ wishes to keep their
ethnicity salient through linguistic means rather than all generations assimilating fully to
the dominant culture.
If Kristóf switches between Hungarian and English, this might index a somewhat less
preferred RO set, from the parents' point of view.
Should Kristóf insist on speaking only English at the family dinner table, this move
would index a marked RO set from the point of view of family norms.
Under such an RO set, Kristóf would be asserting his independence from familial
control and possibly even his “defection” to the dominant (American) culture.
Connecting this to political discourse: Why and how Taiwan
politicians exploit different languages
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First, some history to explain why Taiwan’s language scene differs from that of other Chinese communities.
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Twice in a hundred years a non-indigenous tongue was imposed as a “national" language.
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First came Japanese during the Japanese occupation (1895-1945), and then came Mandarin during the
heyday of KMT rule (1945-1987).
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Modernization in both Japan and China, combined with an island backlash against nationalistic language
policies and a rising Taiwanese consciousness, twice inspired Taiwan language reforms, in the 1930s and
1990s.
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In the most recent case, with ethno-linguistic consciousness surging and democracy gaining, politicians
found they could connect to different constituencies by switching between languages.
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They could slyly address the unspeakable: Taiwan’s ambiguous national status.
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They could allude to past wrongs suffered under a Mandarin-only language policy and a China-center identity.
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They could also exploit stereotypical images of a certain speaker and manipulate derisive effects for political
gain.
Another example
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Example (Tai-yu in CAPITALS; the rest in Mandarin)
Zhonghua renmin gongheguo burang women miaoli li zi-zhen qu,
CHIT8-TIUN1 HO2- PAI5 PIAN3-SENG5 A-PIN2-AH BEH4 LIA7KHI3 TAI5, CHIN1 U7 CHHA7 HIA1 CHE7? (Then-President Chen
Shui-bian, campaigning in Miaoli, responding to criticism over his
choice of an APEC representative. Era News10/27/01)
Trans: The PRC (People’s Republic of China) won’t let our Miaoli
adviser Li attend [APEC]. A GOOD CARD WAS TURNED INTO ABIAN’S CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. DID IT REALLY MAKE THAT
MUCH DIFFERENCE?
What is meant?
 Symbolic acts of identity are seen here
 Question is asked: Who is really
responsible for not sending the right
representative to APEC?
 An explanation from the Rational Choice
Model (Bolonyai and Myers-Scotton 2001)
Mixing/crossing languages in public
using CMC (Computer Mediated
Communication)
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Some observed characteristics of CMC in Taiwan:
Internet communication is both public and private.
The medium can be both oral and written. It is a hybrid form.
The objective for this kind of communication is not always informational but
sometimes creative, poetic or polemic. This contradicts the conventional line that
Internet usage is for convenience and immediate gratification (i.e., speed).
Speakers are not preoccupied with issues such as language proficiency,
standardization or authenticity since the Internet and a certain degree of
anonymity, i.e. either through use of a nickname or under the cover of the
“friends" category of Facebook, allow individuals some leeway to say and write
things as they please.
This seemingly “democratized” language scene might also temporarily suspend
the advantageous resonances of old language ideologies such as “official speak"
and “professional speak” associated with English and Mandarin. In CMC contexts,
Taiwanese and Taiwanese-accented Mandarin might not appear to be so
déclassé.
Language devices seem to enjoy equal status; they are used either as sound
and/or written symbols for the users to make fun of something or to make a point
in an interaction.
Commonplace features of language
in Facebook and other CMC locales
1. Stylizing English: using Chinese characters,
numbers, (phonetic) alphabets to sound out
English
1.1 What happened?
1.2 Facebook
1.3 All passed.
1.4 Thank you.
1.5 I am in love
song)
1.6 I am in a dilemma
花 黑 噴?
非死不可
嘔趴
3Q
戀愛ing (title of a
進退兩難ing…
Stylizing Japanese
2. Stylizing Japanese: using Chinese
characters to sound out Japanese,
adopting some form of Japanese
grammar into Chinese syntax
2.1 Really?
紅豆泥
2.2 Very cute!
卡哇伊
2.3 ???
再見一碼事 (changing
Japanese verb into noun)
Stylizing Mandarin
3. Stylizing Mandarin: using phonetic alphabets or
Taiwanese-accented Mandarin to sound out
Mandarin
3.1 You are welcome. 不客氣 ㄅ ㄎ ㄑ
3.2 This is really funny. 這太好笑ㄌ
3.3 Would you?
好嗎? OKㄇ?
Stylizing Taiwanese-accented Mandarin
Tapping into the stereotypical phonological features of
Taiwanese-accented Mandarin:
 lack of retroflex: zh, ch, sh, ---＞z, c, s
 lack of rounding: u--＞I
 simplification of diphthongs: uo－＞o
 substitution of labial-dental: /f/ with /h/
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
Almost gone crazy.
I am
teachers
students
快發瘋了
我是
老師
同學
快花轟惹
偶似
老蘇
同鞋
Stylizing Taiwanese
 Using English and Chinese characters to
sound out Taiwanese
5.1 封鎖台灣的IP～～A驚喔～
(A response to the alleged South Korean
blocking of Taiwan IP [Internet Protocol]
addresses after the disqualification of
female Taiwan athletes in the recent Asian
Games, & media aftermath.)
5.2 係金A～EU聖誕大禮送上了～～申根
VISA～BYE BYE～～OH～YAH *^﹏^*
(A response to free-visa entry to most
European countries for Taiwanese visitors.)
Mixing/crossing of languages as found in media:
cooperative discourse speech
 少年ㄟ 不愛地球 還是個倫嗎? [Taiwanese
in boldface, followed by Mandarin]
 Trans.: Young men, (if) you don’t love the
earth, (then) are you (still) human?
 From FB Bank advertisement ostensibly
trying to promote environmental
consciousness among youngsters. (富邦
少年發聲網)
What is meant? Humor and language
play?
 Professor Su His-yau (2009, 2010) treats the
stylizing of Taiwanese-accented Mandarin in
online usage as mostly playful or used to mitigate
potentially face-threatening situations.
 Her claims are mostly based on the incongruity of
sounds and meanings in the languages adopted
by users online, which further creates humor
involving different frames of references.
A quasi-parallel from mock Spanish
 Professor Jane Hill has investigated corrupt ways
of speaking/representing Spanish in the USA.
 Most claim that they use “mock Spanish” for fun
and to be humorous, but Professor Hill argues
that the systematic ways corrupt Spanish is used
together with tensions between groups who
advocate/oppose the US “English Only”
movement has made this discourse a new “racist”
one. That is, users are thought to reinforce
stereotypical images and language uses by way
of making fun or creating humor.
A third view: language play in
postcolonial context
 Although we are focusing on CMC at the
moment, we need to be reminded that
using/mixing/crossing languages to poke
fun, to mock, or to satirize doesn’t start
/stop with the Internet.
 Playwrights have long mastered this
linguistic skill to create sarcasm and mock
socio-political tensions.
 Examples from 王禎和 玫瑰玫瑰 我愛你
To conclude: revisiting marked/mock language
uses and choices in Taiwan
 In this presentation, we have laid out cases on
mixing/crossing languages in both everyday and
political interaction as well as in online communication.
 While most switching between languages falls into the
situational switching category, i.e. involving
who/where/what/how we are talking about, there’s
also metaphorical switching where the choice of a
certain language serves as a symbol to provide
emotional/meta-discourse reasons.
Remember:
 A skillful politician can tap into Taiwan’s rich
linguistic history and codeswitch for political gain.
 The Internet’s cooperative culture further can
make the mixing of languages fun and more
sophisticated.
 While some scholars view this kind of linguistic
crossing/mixing as benign, others claim that the
humor reinforces stereotypes and stereotypical
linguistic practices.
And note:
 More systematic data is needed to sustain
either one of these claims.
 Meanwhile, we should also consider
discourse analysis from broader sociohistorical contexts where language policies,
ideologies and histories can play very
important roles in shaping how we interpret
a linguistic practice.
Acknowledgements
Thanks are due to Professor Victoria Rau,
director at the Graduate Institute of
National Chung-cheng University for the
invitation, and to students at Soochow
University for contributing examples and
discussions on this fascinating topic.
Thanks also to John Hamilton, Irene Wen
and Willis Liao for editorial help and
technical support.
More to come
 This lecture was given to the graduate
program of linguistics at National Chungchen University. A refined version was
published at Journal of Taiwan Linguistics
http://tjl.nccu.edu.tw/volume11-2/11.2.3.pdf