| Summary: | 碩士 === 東吳大學 === 日本語文學系 === 92 === A Socio-Linguistic Study of The Status of Dialects in Taiwan
(Compared with Japan)
This thesis studies the problems of dialects in Taiwan and compares the matter with that in Japan, in particular. In each of these two geographically different areas, under what circumstances are dialects used? How do the circumstances differ compared with those for the standard language? The differences are studied according to social factors including situation, geographical area, age, sex, ethnicity, among others. Then a poll is taken for better understanding.
In Japan, dialects are primarily geographical but, in Taiwan, dialects are generally classified by ethnicity -- into Mandarin, Minnanese, Hakka, and the aboriginal languages — due mainly to historical backgrounds.
The thesis is divided into eight chapters. After the general objective is explained in Chapter 1, Chapter 2 defines the name ‘Taiwanese’ (that is, Minnanese), followed by an account in Chapter 3 of the historical and political backgrounds of Taiwanese, with an observation in the latter part there of how Taiwanese is being taught now.
Chapter 4 is essentially the first chapter for socio-linguistic observations. It compares urban and rural dialects, discusses effects of news media, and considers matters about dialect prevalence and dialect loss. Then Chapter 5 considers the relationship of age, birthplace, sex, ethnicity, etc., with dialect use, and Chapter 6 discusses the problem of diglossia, or how speakers alternate between the standard language and a dialect.
Chapter 7 presents results of a poll taken to better understand what have been observed in the preceding chapters, and may be said to be the centerpiece of the thesis. It lists in 7-1 the statistics from the poll based on social factors such as ethnicity, age, sex, birthplace, situation, partner, etc., and analyzes these results in 7-2. The results are also given as charts in the appendices at the end of the thesis.
Chapter 8 summarizes the findings. In short, dialects are a warm means of sharing feelings of joy and anger in both Japan and Taiwan. But in Taiwan, in particular, it is found through the poll taken this time that, while Mandarin is associated more with reason, Taiwanese is associated more with feeling.
|
|---|
