Language Choice and Identity Politics in Taiwan
- Authors:
- Publisher:
- 2008
Summary
Jennifer M. Wei argues that construction and perceptions of language and identity parallel sociopolitical transformations, and language and identity crises arise during power transitions. Under these premises, language and identity are never well-defined or well-bounded. Instead, they are best viewed as political symbols subject to manipulation and exploitation during socio-historical upheavals. A choice of language—from phonological shibboleth, Mandarin, or Taiwanese, to choice of official language—cuts to the heart of contested cultural notions of self and other, with profound implications for nationalism, national unity and ethno-linguistic purism. Wei further argues that because of the Chinese Diaspora and Taiwan's connections to China and the United States, arguments and sentiments over language choice and identity have consequences for Taiwan's international and transnational status. They are symbolic acts of imagining Taiwan's past as she looks forward to the future.
Search publication
Bibliographic data
- Copyright year
- 2008
- ISBN-Print
- 978-0-7391-2352-2
- ISBN-Online
- 978-1-4616-3372-3
- Publisher
- Lexington, Lanham
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 136
- Product type
- Book Titles
Table of contents
- Contents No access
- Preface No access
- Introduction No access
- Chapter 1 To –Er Is to Err: Acts of Identity in Chinese No access Pages 1 - 18
- Chapter 2 Language Choice in Mandarin and Tai-yu No access Pages 19 - 32
- Chapter 3 Chen Shui-bian's Language Choices No access Pages 33 - 54
- Chapter 4 Language Choice and Politics No access Pages 55 - 80
- Chapter 5 From Nationalism to Multiculturalism: Making Choices in Language Policy No access Pages 81 - 102
- Chapter 6 A Hybrid Chinese for the Twenty-first Century No access Pages 103 - 120
- Bibliography No access Pages 121 - 130
- Index No access Pages 131 - 132
- About the Author No access Pages 133 - 136





