The main purpose of this thesis is to find out the economic factors that contributed to the successful promotion of Mandarin during martial law period, and serve as a reference for future language planning. Taiwan used to be ruled by Dutch, Koxinga, Qing dynasty, Japan, and the Republic of China (ROC) government. Thus, Taiwanese society gradually becomes multiethnic, multicultural, and, to my greatest concern, multilingual. Each ruling power had tried to impose different degrees of language policies on Taiwan, particularly Japan and the ROC government that were eager to establish an official language. Eventually, the successful popularization of Mandarin is overwhelming.
A number of theories and materials regarding the relationship between language and economy have been reviewed. First of all, it is argued that language could be objectified and valued. Thus, different language varieties contain different values. Second, according to rational choice theory, people make choices that would maximize their benefits. The implication is that people choose to learn a certain language variety that benefits them most. Third, as an economy becomes more and more advanced, linguistic diversity might be reduced.
The ethnolinguistic groups, language varieties, and language history of Taiwan are also discussed. There are four major ethnolinguistic groups in Taiwan: Hoklo, Hakka, aboriginal people, and Chinese Mainlanders. As for language varieties, Hoklo, Hakka, Mandarin, Taiwan Guoyu, and aboriginal languages are separately dealt with. The language history of Taiwan is divided into the evolution of spoken and written language of Taiwan.
Then, the economic value of each language varieties in Taiwan during martial law period is assessed. The result is that Mandarin possessed the highest economic value. Besides, some features of economic development, such as structural change, the emergence of social classes, the desire to gain upward social mobility, expansion in education, and examination systems that favored Mandarin, also facilitated the spread of Mandarin. And through a comparison between the Japan-led and ROC-led island-wide language directives, this thesis argues that political factors alone could not sufficiently explain the successful promotion of an official language. Economic factors must be taken into account as well.
Finally, some suggestions are proposed for the maintenance and revitalization of Hoklo, Hakka, and aboriginal languages.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:CHENGCHI/G0097924002 |
| Creators | 蘇豐文, Su, Feng Wen |
| Publisher | 國立政治大學 |
| Source Sets | National Chengchi University Libraries |
| Language | 英文 |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Rights | Copyright © nccu library on behalf of the copyright holders |
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