Taiwanese Mandarin
Taiwanese Mandarin, Guoyu () or Huayu () refers to Mandarin Chinese spoken in Taiwan. This comprises two main forms: Standard "Guoyu", the formal standard variety, and Taiwan "Guoyu", its more colloquial, localized form. A large majority of the population is fluent in Mandarin, although other Chinese dialects, especially Taiwanese Hokkien, are common as well. Standard "Guoyu" ( "Biāozhǔn Guóyǔ") refers to the formal variety that serves as the official national language of the Republic of China (Taiwan). This variety is used in the education system, in official communications, and in most news media. The core of this standard variety is described  in the official dictionary maintained by the Ministry of Education of Taiwan, "Guoyu Cidian" (《》). The standard is based on the phonology of the Beijing dialect of Mandarin Chinese and the grammar of written vernacular Chinese. Standard "Guoyu" closely resembles and is mutually intelligible with the Standard Mandarin (, simp. , pinyin: "Pǔtōnghuà") of mainland China. However, some divergences and differences exist in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar. Taiwan "Guoyu" ( "Táiwān Guóyǔ") refers to the more colloquial form of the language, namely, varieties of Mandarin used in Taiwan that diverge from Standard "Guoyu". Likewise in Singapore with Singaporean Hokkien on Singaporean Mandarin, these divergences  are often the result of Taiwan "Guoyu" incorporating influences from other languages used in Taiwan—primarily Taiwanese Hokkien. Like Standard "Guoyu", Taiwan "Guoyu" is mutually intelligible with "Putonghua". However, when compared with Standard "Guoyu", Taiwan "Guoyu" exhibits greater differences from "Putonghua" due to such regional influences. All forms of written Chinese in Taiwan often use traditional characters alongside other Sinophone areas such as Hong Kong, Macau, and many overseas Chinese communities. This is in contrast to mainland China and Singapore, where simplified Chinese characters were adopted beginning in the 1950s and 1980s respectively. This article uses Taiwan "Guoyu to refer  to the colloquial varieties of Mandarin in Taiwan, Standard "Guoyu for the prescribed standard form, "Putonghua" to refer to Standard mainland Chinese Mandarin, and simply Guoyu or Taiwanese Mandarin when a distinction is unnecessary. Terms and definition. Chinese is not a single language, but a group of languages in the Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan family, which includes varieties such as Mandarin, Cantonese, and Hakka. They share a common ancestry and script, Chinese characters, and among Chinese speakers they are popularly considered dialects ( "fāngyán") of the same, overarching language. These dialects are often extremely divergent in the spoken form , however, and not mutually intelligible. Accordingly, Western linguists tend to treat them as separate languages, likening their relationship to that of English and Dutch, for example (both being West Germanic languages). Western linguists tend to refer to these varieties of Chinese as separate languages in their own right, while Chinese linguists tend to prefer "fangyan"/dialect. Mandarin Chinese is a grouping of Chinese languages that includes at least eight subgroups (often also called dialects). In English, "Mandarin" can refer to any of these Mandarin dialects, which are not necessarily mutually intelligible. However, the term is most commonly used to refer to  Standard Chinese. Standard Chinese in mainland China is called "Putonghua" ( "Pǔtōnghuà", lit. 'common speech') and in the Republic of China (Taiwan) "Guoyu" ( "Guóyǔ", lit. 'national language'). Both of these, as Mandarin languages, are based on the Beijing dialect of Mandarin and are mutually intelligible, but also feature various lexical, phonological, and grammatical differences. There exists significant variation within "Putonghua" and "Guoyu" as well. Many linguists argue that "Putonghua" and "Guoyu" are abstract, artificial standards that, strictly speaking, do not represent the native spoken language of any significant number of people. Some linguists have thus further differentiated between Standard "Guoyu" ( "Biāozhǔn  Guóyǔ") and Taiwan "Guoyu" ( "Táiwān Guóyǔ"), which refers to Mandarin as it is commonly spoken, incorporating significant influence from mutually unintelligible Southern Min Chinese dialects (namely, Hokkien). More formal settings—such as television news broadcasts—will feature speakers using Standard "Guoyu", which closely resembles mainland "Putonghua", but is not generally used as a day-to-day language. Not all linguists emphasize the differences between the prescribed Standard "Guoyu" and "Guoyu" as is generally spoken in Taiwan; instead, some only distinguish between relatively standard "Taiwan "Guoyu"/Mandarin" and "Taiwanese "Guoyu"/Mandarin". The former refers to "Guoyu" as used by those fully educated in  the language, and the latter refers to an even more heavily Southern Min-influenced variety often spoken by older people who learned "Guoyu" only as a second language. This Taiwanese "Guoyu" diverges greatly from standardized forms of the language and is somewhat stigmatized as uneducated. This article focuses on the features of both Standard "Guoyu", particularly its relationship to "Putonghua", as well as non-standard but widespread features of Mandarin in Taiwan, grouped under Taiwan "Guoyu". History and usage. Large-scale Han Chinese settlement of Taiwan began in the 17th century with Hoklo immigrants from Fujian province who spoke Southern  Min languages (predominantly Hokkien), and, to a lesser extent, Hakka immigrants who spoke their respective language. Official communications were made in Mandarin ( "Guānhuà", lit. 'official language'), but the primary languages of everyday life were Hokkien or Hakka. After its defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Qing dynasty ceded Taiwan to the Empire of Japan, which governed the island as an Imperial colony from 1895 to 1945. By the end of the colonial period, Japanese had become the high dialect of the island as the result of decades of Japanization policy. Under KMT rule. After the Republic of China  under the Kuomintang (KMT) regained control of Taiwan in 1945, Mandarin was introduced as the official language and made compulsory in schools, despite the fact that it was rarely spoken by the local population. Many who had fled the mainland after the fall of the KMT also spoke non-standard varieties of Mandarin, which would later influence colloquial pronunciations. Wu Chinese dialects were especially influential due to the relative power KMT refugees from Wu-speaking Zhejiang, Chiang Kai-shek's home province. The Mandarin Promotion Council (now called National Languages Committee) was established in 1946 by then-Chief Executive Chen  Yi to standardize and popularize the usage of Mandarin in Taiwan. The Kuomintang heavily discouraged the use of Hokkien and other non-Mandarin languages, portraying them as inferior, and school children were punished for speaking their native languages. "Guoyu" was thus established as a "lingua franca" among the various groups in Taiwan at the expense of other, preexisting, languages. Post-martial law. Following the end of martial law in 1987, language policy in the country underwent liberalization, but "Guoyu" remained the dominant language. Local languages were no longer proscribed in public discourse, mass media, and schools. "Guoyu" is still the  main language of public education, with English and "mother tongue education" ( "mǔyǔ jiàoyù") being introduced as subjects in primary school. However, mother tongue classes generally occupy much less time than Standard "Guoyu" classes, and English classes are often preferred by parents and students over mother tongue classes. Mandarin is spoken fluently by the vast majority of the Taiwanese population, with the exception of some of the elderly population, who were educated under Japanese rule. In the capital of Taipei, where there is a high concentration of Mainlander descendants who do not natively speak Hokkien, Mandarin is used in greater frequency  and fluency than other parts of Taiwan. The 2010 Taiwanese census found that in addition to Mandarin, Hokkien was natively spoken by around 70% of the population, and Hakka by 15%. A 2004 study found that Mandarin was spoken more fluently by Hakka and Taiwanese aboriginals than their respective mother tongues; Hoklo groups, on average, spoke better Hokkien, but young and middle-aged Hoklo (under 50 years old) still spoke significantly better Mandarin (with comparable levels of fluency to their usage of Hokkien) than the elderly. Overall, while both national and local levels of government have promoted the use of  non-Mandarin Chinese languages, younger generations generally prefer using Mandarin. Government statistics from 2021 found that 66.3% of Taiwanese residents use "Guoyu" as their primary language, and another 30.5% use it as a secondary language (31.7% used Hokkien as their primary language, and 54.3% used it as a secondary language). "Guoyu" is the primary language for over 80% of people in the northern areas of Taipei, Taoyuan, and Hsinchu. Script. "Guoyu" employs traditional Chinese characters (which are also used in the two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau), rather than the simplified Chinese characters used in mainland  China. Literate Taiwanese can generally understand a text in simplified characters. Shorthand characters. In practice, Taiwanese Mandarin users may write informal, shorthand characters ( "súzì", lit. 'customary/conventional characters; also "sútǐzì") in place of the full traditional forms. These variant Chinese characters are generally easier to write by hand and consist of fewer strokes. Often, "suzi" are identical to their simplified counterparts, but they may also take after Japanese kanji, or differ from both, as shown in the table below. A few shorthand characters are used as frequently as standard traditional characters, even in formal contexts, such as the "tai" in  Taiwan, which is often written as , as opposed to the standard traditional form, . Braille. Taiwanese braille is based on different letter assignments than Mainland Chinese braille. Transliteration. Section::::"Zhuyin Fuhao". While pinyin is used in applications such as in signage, most "Guoyu" users learn phonetics through the "Zhuyin Fuhao" ( "Guóyǔ Zhùyīn Fúhào", lit. "Guoyu" Phonetic Symbols) system, popularly called "Zhuyin" or "Bopomofo", after its first four glyphs. Taiwan is the only Chinese-speaking polity to use the system, which is taught in schools and represents the dominant digital input method on electronic devices. It has accordingly become a symbol of Taiwanese  nationalism as well. Romanization. Chinese language romanization in Taiwan somewhat differs from on the mainland, where Hanyu Pinyin is almost exclusively used. A competing system, Tongyong Pinyin, was formally revealed in 1998 with the support of then-mayor of Taipei Chen Shuibian. In 1999, however, the Legislative Yuan endorsed a slightly modified version of Hanyu Pinyin, creating parallel romanization schemes along largely partisan lines, with Kuomintang-supporting areas using Hanyu Pinyin, and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) areas using Tongyong Pinyin. In 2002, the Taiwanese government led by the DPP promulgated the use of Tongyong Pinyin as the country's preferred  system, but this was formally abandoned in 2009 in favor of Hanyu Pinyin. In addition, various other historical romanization systems also exist across the island, with multiple systems sometimes existing in the same locality. Following the defeat of the Kuomintang in the Chinese Civil War and their subsequent retreat to Taiwan in 1945, little emphasis was placed on the romanization of Chinese characters, with the Wade-Giles system used as the default. It is still widely used for transcribing people's legal names today. The Gwoyeu Romatzyh method, invented in 1928, also was in use in Taiwan during this time  period, albeit to a lesser extent. In 1984, Taiwan's Ministry of Education began revising the Gwoyeu Romatzyh method out of concern that Hanyu Pinyin was gaining prominence internationally. Ultimately, a revised version of Gwoyeu Romatzyh was released in 1986, which was formally called the 'National Phonetic Symbols, Second Scheme'. However, this system was not widely adopted. Phonology. Standard "Guoyu". Like "Putonghua", both Standard and Taiwanese "Guoyu" are tonal. Pronunciation of many individual characters differs in the standards prescribed by language authorities in Taipei and Beijing. Mainland authorities tend to prefer pronunciations popular in Northern Mandarin areas, whereas Taiwanese authorities  prefer traditional pronunciations recorded in dictionaries from the 1930s and 1940s. These character-level differences notwithstanding, Standard "Guoyu" pronunciation is largely identical to "Putonghua", but with two major systematic differences (also true of Taiwan "Guoyu"): In addition, two other phenomena, while nonstandard, are extremely common across even highly educated speakers in Taiwan: Taiwan "Guoyu". Taiwan "Guoyu" pronunciation is strongly influenced by Hokkien. This is especially prominent in areas where Hokkien is common, namely, in Central and Southern Taiwan. Many, though not all, of the phonological differences between Taiwan "Guoyu" and "Putonghua" can be attributed to the influence of Southern Min . Notable phonological features of Taiwan "Guoyu" include: Reduction. The non-standard Taiwanese "Guoyu" tends to exhibit frequent, informal elision and cluster reduction when spoken. For example, "zhè yàngzi" 'this way, like so' can be pronounced similar to "jiàngzi" 'paste, sauce'; wherein the "theoretical" retroflex (so called because it is a feature of Standard "Guoyu" but rarely realized in everyday speech, as "zh-" is usually pronounced "z-"; see above section) is assimilated into the palatal glide [j]. Often the reduction involves the removal of initials in compound words, such as dropping the "t" in "jīntiān" 'today' or the "ch" in "fēicháng  'extremely, very'. These reductions are not necessarily a function of speed of speech than of register, as it is more commonly used in casual conversations than in formal contexts. Tone quality. Standard Chinese has five tones, including the neutral tone. While formally identical, tones in Guoyu" differ somewhat. Research suggests that speakers of "Guoyu" articulate the second and third tones differently from the standards of the Beijing dialect. The precise nature of the tonal differences is not well attested, however, as relevant studies often lack a sufficiently large variety of speakers. Moreover, "Guoyu" speakers' tones may vary based on age , gender, and other sociolinguistic factors, and may not even be consistent across every utterance by an individual. In general, for "Guoyu" speakers, the second tone does not rise as high in its pitch in "Guoyu", and the third tone does not "dip" back up from the low, creaky voice range. Overall, "Guoyu" speakers exhibit a lower and more narrow total pitch range than speakers of Standard Mandarin of Beijing. Acoustic analysis of 33 Mandarin speakers from Taiwan in 2008 also found that for many speakers, the second tone tends to have a dipping contour more akin to that of the  prescriptive third tone. Differences from mainland "Putonghua". Standard pronunciations. In addition to differences in elision and influence from Hokkien, which are not features that are codified in the standard "Guoyu", there are differences in pronunciation that arise from conflicting official standards in Taiwan and the mainland. These differences are primarily but not exclusively tonal. Quantification of the extent of pronunciation differences between "Guoyu" and "Putonghua" vary, and peer-reviewed, scholarly research on the subject is scarce. Estimates from graduate-level research include a 2008 study, based on the 7,000 characters in the "List of Commonly Used Characters in Modern Chinese , which found approximately 18.3% differed between Guoyu" and "Putonghua", and 12.7% for the 3,500 most commonly used characters. A 1992 study, however, found differences in 22.5% of the 3,500 most common characters. Much of the difference can be traced to preferences of linguistic authorities on the two sides; the mainland standard prefers popular pronunciations in northern areas, whereas the Taiwanese standard prefers those documented in dictionaries in the 1930s and 1940s. The Taiwanese formal standards may not always reflect actual pronunciations commonly used by native Taiwanese Mandarin speakers. The following is a table of relatively common characters pronounced differently in  Guoyu and "Putonghua" in most or all contexts ("Guoyu"/"Putonghua"): Some pronunciation differences may only appear in certain words. The following is a list of examples of such differences: Vocabulary. "Guoyu" and "Putonghua" share a large majority of their vocabulary, but significant differences do exist. The lexical divergence of "Guoyu" from "Putonghua" is the result of several factors, including the prolonged separation between the mainland and Taiwan, the influence of Imperial Japanese rule on Taiwan until 1945, and the influence of Southern Min. The "Cross Strait Common Usage Dictionary" categorizes differences as "same word, different meaning" ( "tóngmíng yìshí"); "same meaning, different  word" ( "tóngshí yìmíng"); and "Taiwan terms" ( "Táiwān yòngyǔ") and "mainland terms" ( "dàlù yòngyǔ" ) for words and phrases specific to a given side. Same meaning, different word. The political separation of Taiwan and mainland China after the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949 contributed to many differences in vocabulary. This is especially prominent in words and phrases which refer to things or concepts invented after the split; thus, modern scientific and technological terminology often differs greatly between "Putonghua" and "Guoyu". In computer science, for instance, the differences are prevalent enough to hinder communication between "Guoyu" and "Putonghua" speakers unfamiliar  with each other's respective dialects. Zhang (2000) selected four hundred core nouns from computer science and found that while 58.25% are identical in Standard and Taiwanese Mandarin, 21.75% were "basically" or "entirely" different. As cross-strait relations began to improve in the early 21st century, direct interaction between mainland Chinese and Taiwanese increased, and some vocabulary began to merge, especially by means of the Internet. For example, the words () "píngjǐng" 'bottleneck' and "zuòxiù" 'to grandstand, show off' were originally unique to Taiwan but have since become widely used in mainland China as well. "Guoyu" speakers have likewise incorporated mainland  phrases and speech patterns. For example, "Guoyu" traditionally uses the word "guǎndào" to refer to a figurative "channel" (e.g. of communication) as opposed to "qúdào" in the mainland, but "qúdào" has become common in Taiwan as well. Further examples of vocabulary that differ from between "Guoyu" and "Putonghua" include: Words may be formed from abbreviations in one form of Mandarin but not the other. For example, in Taiwan, bubble tea ( "zhēnzhū nǎichá") is often abbreviated "zhēnnǎi", but this is not common on the mainland. Likewise, 'traffic rules/regulations' (/, "jiāotōng guīzé") is abbreviated as "jiāoguī" on the mainland, but not in  Taiwan. Same word, different meaning. Some identical terms have different meanings in "Guoyu" and "Putonghua". There may be alternative synonyms which can be used unambiguously by speakers on both sides. Some examples include ("Guoyu"/"Putonghua" meanings): The same word carry different connotations or usage patterns in "Guoyu" and "Putonghua", and may be polysemous in one form of Mandarin but not the other. For example, () "lǒngluò" in "Guoyu" means 'to convince, win over', but in "Putonghua", it carries a negative connotation (cf. 'beguile, coax'). () "kuāzhāng" means 'to exaggerate,' but in Taiwan, it can also be used to express exclamation at something absurd  or overdone, a meaning that is not present in "Putonghua". Another example is "xiǎojiě", meaning 'miss' or 'young lady', regularly used to address young women in "Guoyu". On the mainland, however, the word is also a euphemism for a prostitute and is therefore not used as a polite term of address. Differing usage or preference. "Guoyu" and "Putonghua" speakers may also display strong preference for one of a set of synonyms. For example, both "lǐbài" () and "xīnqqí" ("xīngqī" in "Putonghua") are acceptable words for 'week' in "Guoyu" and "Putonghua", but is more common in Taiwan. "Guoyu" tends to preserve older  lexical items that are less used in the mainland. In Taiwan, speakers may use a more traditional "zǎo'ān" to say 'good morning', whereas mainland speakers generally default to "zǎoshang hǎo", for instance. Both words are acceptable in either dialect. Likewise, words with the same literal meaning in either dialect may differ in register. "éryǐ" 'that's all, only' is common both in spoken and written "Guoyu", influenced by speech patterns in Hokkien, but in "Putonghua" the word is largely confined to formal, written contexts. Preference for the expression of modality often differs among northern Mandarin speakers and Taiwanese, as evidenced  by the selection of modal verbs. For example, Taiwanese Mandarin users strongly prefer "yào" and "búyào" over "děi" and "bié", respectively, to express 'must' and 'must not', compared to native speakers from Beijing. Both pairs are grammatically correct in either dialect. Words specific to "Guoyu". Some words in "Putonghua" may not exist in "Guoyu" and vice versa. Authors of the "Dictionary of Different Word Across the Taiwan Strait" () estimate there are about 2000 words unique to "Guoyu", around 10% of which come from Hokkien. Sometimes, Hokkien loanwords are written directly in Bopomofo (for example, ㄍㄧㄥ). Some of these differences stem  from different social and political conditions, which gave rise to concepts that were not shared between the mainland and Taiwan, e.g. "fúcǎi", a common abbreviation for the China Welfare Lottery of the People's Republic of China, or "shíbāpā", which refers to the 18% preferential interest rate on civil servants' pension funds in Taiwan. ( "pā" as "percent" is also unique to "Guoyu".) Additionally, many terms unique to "Guoyu" were adopted from Japanese as a result of Taiwan's status as a Japanese colony during the first half of the 20th century. Particles. Modal particles convey modality, which can be understood  as a speaker's attitude towards a given utterance (e.g. of necessity, possibility, or likelihood that the utterance is true). Modal particles are common in Chinese languages and generally occur at the end of sentences and so are commonly called sentence-final particles or utterance-final particles. "Guoyu" employs some modal particles that are rare in "Putonghua". Some are entirely unique to spoken, colloquial Taiwan "Guoyu", and identical particles may also have different meanings in "Putonghua" and "Guoyu". Conversely, particles that are common in "Putonghua" — particularly northern "Putonghua", such as that spoken in Beijing — are very rare in "Guoyu". Examples  include () "bei", "me", and () "bàle". Wu (2006) argues is influenced by a similar "la" particle in Hokkien. (Unlike in "Putonghua", "Guoyu" speakers will use "lā" immediately following "le", as seen in (a).) Taiwan "Guoyu" has functionally adopted some particles from Hokkien. For example, "hoⁿh" functions in Hokkien as a particle indicating a question to which the speaker expects an affirmative answer (c.f. English "..., all right?" or "..., aren't you?"). Among other meanings, when used in Taiwan "Guoyu" utterances, it can indicate that the speaker wishes for an affirmative response, or may mark an imperative. In informal writing, "Guoyu" speakers may  replace possessive particles "de" or "zhī" with the Japanese particle "no" in hiragana (usually read as "de"), which serves a nearly identical grammatical role. "No" is often used in advertising, where it evokes a sense of playfulness and fashionability, and handwriting, as it is easier to write. is also used to represent the Southern Min particle "ê", for which there is no standard Chinese character, and its usage as a shorthand for "de" appears to have spread from Taiwan to other Chinese speaking regions, according to one linguist. Loan words and transliteration. Loan words may differ between "Putonghua" and "Guoyu . Different characters or methods may also be chosen for transliteration (phonetic or semantic), and the number of characters may differ. In some cases, words may be loaned as transliterations in one dialect but not the other. Generally, Guoyu" tends to imitate the form of Han Chinese names when transliterating foreign persons' names. Examples of differing transliterations ("Guoyu", traditional characters / "Putonghua", simplified) include: From Taiwanese Hokkien. The terms " "agōng"" and " "amà"" are more commonly heard than the "Putonghua" terms "yéye" (paternal grandfather), "wàigōng" (maternal grandfather), "nǎinai" (paternal grandmother) and "wàipó" (maternal grandmother). Both Standard "Guoyu" and Taiwan "Guoyu" make use of  Hokkien loanwords. Some compound words or phrases may combine characters representing Hokkien and "Guoyu" words. Some local foods are usually referred by their Hokkien names. From Japanese. Japanese in the early 20th century had a significant influence on modern Chinese vocabulary. The Japanese language saw the proliferation of neologisms to describe concepts and terms learned through contact with the West in the Meiji and Taisho eras. Thus, the creation of words like "minshu" 'democracy', "kakumei" 'revolution' and "saimin" 'hypnotize', which were then borrowed into Chinese and pronounced as Chinese words. "Guoyu" has been further influence by Japanese. As a result  of Imperial Japan's 50-year rule over Taiwan until 1945, Hokkien (and Hakka) borrowed extensively from Japanese, and "Guoyu" in turn borrowed some of these words from Hokkien, such that Japanese influence can be said to have come via Hokkien. For example, the Hokkien word (Peh-oe-ji: kòngku; IPA: kɔŋ˥˩ku˥˥) 'to lose completely', which has been borrowed into "Guoyu", originates from Japanese "sukanku" (, 'skunk'), with the same meaning. Grammar. Perfective 有 "yǒu". For non-recurring events, the construction involving ("yǒu") is used where the sentence final particle ("le") would normally be applied to denote perfect. For instance, "Guoyu  more commonly uses " to mean Have you seen a doctor?" whereas "Putonghua" uses "". This is due to the influence of Hokkien grammar, which uses ("ū") in a similar fashion. For recurring or certain events, however, both Taiwanese and Mainland Mandarin use the latter, as in "", meaning "Have you eaten?" Auxiliary verbs. Another example of the influence of Hokkien grammar on "Guoyu" is the use of ("huì") as "to be" (a copula) before adjectives, in addition to the usual meanings "would" or "will". Compare typical ways to render "Are you hot?" and "I am (not) hot" in Putonghua, Guoyu, and Taiwanese  Hokkien: Compound (separable) verbs. Speakers of "Guoyu" may frequently avoid splitting separable verbs, a category of verb + object compound words that are split in certain grammatical contexts in standard usage. For example, the verb "bāngmáng" 'to help; to do a favor', is composed of "bāng" 'to help, assist' plus "máng" 'to be busy; a favor'. The word in "Guoyu" can take on a direct object without separation, which is ungrammatical in "Putonghua": 'I help him', acceptable in "Guoyu", must be rendered as . This is not true of all separable verbs in "Guoyu", and prescriptive texts still opt to treat  these verbs as separable.