Taiwanese language policy and cultural identity

Abstract

Taiwan’s uniqueness in geographical position, and political-economic situation contributes to its special status in the Chinese-speaking world. As one of the most important transport hubs located between the Eurasian continent and the Pacific Ocean, for centuries Taiwan has been the focal point of attention of the European and Asian countries. Since the 17th century, European maritime powers (the Dutch, then the Spaniards) occupied the southern and northern parts of the island. In the second half of the 17th century, with the strengthening of East Asian states’ role, Taiwan was under control of general Zheng Chenggong of Ming Dynasty, and his descendants. Subsequently, the island was governed by Qing Dynasty, imperial Japan and the government of the Republic of China. Constant change of power over the past five centuries has contributed to the formation of a unique linguistic system in Taiwan, and the influence of the cultures of the indigenous Austronesian peoples, European and Japanese colonialists, and immigrants from Southeast Asia has contributed to the special cultural identity of its population. Taiwan has come a long way from autocracy to democracy. During the reign of five political forces, the multi-component model of the language policy, taking into account the interests of immigrants from Mainland China and aborigines of Taiwan, was repeatedly replaced by a single-component one (in the center of which there were alternately Japanese and Chinese languages). In the modern period, there is a pluralistic language policy focused on the harmonious co-functioning of the languages of the peoples on the island. This article attempts to examine the dynamics of the language policy of various political forces that ruled in Taiwan since the 16th century, and to analyze the process of the formation of the so-called “Taiwanese identity”.