Pro-Taiwan localization advocates on Wednesday launched a signature petition to assert their language rights and the right to use the name “Taiyu” (台語) to officially describe the language of the majority of people in Taiwan, in a protest against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers who are seeking to revert to the language’s former name, Minnanyu.
The petition aims to gather support for the Ministry of Education, which in July announced that starting with language proficiency examination, it would change the language’s formal name to “Taiyu” from “Minnanyu” (Hokkien or Southern Min, 閩南), and would intend to use the new term in official notices and government documents.
At a hearing at the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee on Wednesday, KMT Legislator Hsu Hsin-ying (徐欣瑩) opposed the term “Taiyu,” alleging that its use would infringe on the rights and status of other languages spoken in Taiwan while also questioning the suitability of the term “Taiyu” under the official legal definition as being among Taiwan’s “national languages.”
Photo courtesy of the National Cheng Kung University’s Taiyu Research Office
Hsu, an ethnic Hakka, requested reports from government ministries and questioned officials on reasons for the change to “Taiyu,” which Hsu claimed would elevate its status and threaten the use of Hakka and the languages of Taiwan’s indigenous peoples.
Deputy Minister of Culture Lee Ching-hwi (李靜慧) said that “Taiyu is a special term and is not intended to refer to all other languages in Taiwan.”
“Taiyu is one of our national languages, and its status is equal to Hakka, all languages of Taiwan’s indigenous peoples, the Mindong language of Matsu Island and Taiwan Sign Language,” Lee said.
“The new term for Taiyu would not infringe on all these other languages recognized as our national languages... Taiyu, as well as Hakka, and indigenous languages are facing a crisis of dying out, and need government resources to protect and preserve them and pass them on to the younger generation,” Lee said.
Taiwan localization groups and language rights activists condemned Hsu for organizing the hearing, calling it an attempt by the KMT to pressure government ministries, stop the “Taiyu” language rights movement and turn back the clock to using the term “Minnanyu,” as its way of “continuing to denigrate Taiwanese.”
In a statement, Taiyu language advocates accused Hsu of upholding the past policy of “Mandarin Chinese” supremacy, while also protecting the Hakka ethnicity, and deliberately forcing the assimilation and marginalization of Taiyu and Taiwan’s indigenous peoples’ Austronesian languages.
Chiung Wi-vun (蔣為文), professor of Taiwanese literature at National Cheng Kung University, said Taiyu is a specific term and does not extend to other languages.
Chiung accused Hsu of having the mindset of a “Hakka chauvinist” by claiming that Taiyu would erase Hakka and Taiwan’s indigenous languages.
Chiung and other advocates said that the government had approved the Development of National Languages Act (國家語言發展法) in 2019 to certify that all “natural languages” used by ethnic groups in Taiwan are national languages.
They added that Article 33 of the Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights passed in 1996 states that “all language communities have the right to refer to themselves by the name used in their own language.”
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
The Ministry of Culture yesterday officially launched the “We TAIWAN” cultural program on Osaka’s Nakanoshima sandbank, with the program’s mascot receiving overwhelming popularity. The cultural program, which runs from Aug. 2 to 20, was designed to partner with and capitalize on the 2025 World Expo that is being held in Osaka, Japan, from April 13 to Oct. 13, the ministry said. On the first day of the cultural program, its mascot, a green creature named “a-We,” proved to be extremely popular, as its merch was immediately in high demand. Long lines formed yesterday for the opening
The Taipei Summer Festival is to begin tomorrow at Dadaocheng Wharf (大稻埕), featuring four themed firework shows and five live music performances throughout the month, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said today. The festival in the city’s Datong District (大同) is to run until Aug. 30, holding firework displays on Wednesdays and the final Saturday of the event. The first show is scheduled for tomorrow, followed by Aug. 13, 20 and 30. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Disney Pixar's movie Toy Story, the festival has partnered with Walt Disney Co (Taiwan) to host a special themed area on
BE CAREFUL: The virus rarely causes severe illness or death, but newborns, older people and those with medical conditions are at risk of more severe illness As more than 7,000 cases of chikungunya fever have been reported in China’s Guangdong Province this year, including 2,892 new cases last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it is monitoring the situation and considering raising the travel notice level, which might be announced today. The CDC issued a level 1 travel notice, or “watch,” for Guangdong Province on July 22, citing an outbreak in Foshan, a manufacturing hub in the south of the province, that was reported early last month. Between July 27 and Saturday, the province reported 2,892 new cases of chikungunya, reaching a total of 7,716
RSS