Clarifying Taiwanese
Taiwan’s Coast Guard released a video on the jurisdiction of the waters around Kinmen County, drawing attention to safety in the area while at the same time clearing up for the Taiwanese public the differences between Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) and Southern Min.
In Executive Yuan Order Tai-Wen-Tzu No. 1110025587
(臺文字第1110025587號函), each government institution or organization shall use the name “Taiwan Taiwanese.”
However, the Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Education continue to use the wording “Taiwan Minnan,” or “Taiwan Southern Min,” refusing to implement the order.
Not only are their actions not aligned with reality, they contribute to confusion over the official naming of languages, misleading people into thinking that Southern Min is the same as Taiwanese.
Meanwhile, the Kaohsiung City Government has drawn up a plan for an experimental school taught solely in Taiwanese as a medium of instruction, which is a wonderful leap forward in the protection of Taiwanese as a mother tongue.
We need to have a clear understanding of the differences between Southern Min and Taiwanese.
Taiwanese is one of several languages endemic to Taiwan and it is broadly used in daily life.
Southern Min, on the other hand, is one of three language groupings in the overall Min language branch that exists mainly in China’s Fujian and Guangdong provinces.
As a language grouping, Southern Min is much broader in scope.
In academia, although Taiwanese originated from and is classified as a Southern Min language, there are differences in their scopes of use and their cultural connotations.
After hundreds of years of changes, shifts in dialects and tone sandhi, grammar and vocabulary, there is a massive difference.
If Taiwanese institutions continue to use the name “Southern Min,” they would not only be misleading people, they would also be forcibly parking mother language education in a mistaken identity.
Yeh Hsin-yi
Tainan
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