國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Since we now live in a highly globalized and mercantile world, economic forces behind languages play an influential role in determining language choice of the common people and thus the success of all language policies. For example, according to research conducted by Language Training and Testing Center (LTTC)4 in 2005, those in higher positions in banking professions in Taiwan are found to be more proficient in English, and therefore that ability is of great significance in relation to career development. A large number of relevant studies with similar conclusions could be easily found. As a result, people in Taiwan are in pursuit of fluent English abilities in an effort to increase competitiveness. And related English education policies hardly encounter any obstacles. In a word, economic forces mainly drive current English-learning trends. Without economic support, English would not have prevailed and acquired such a powerful status.
The same pattern also applies to other language situations across time and space.
As a consequence, to fully understand the changes in language structure of Taiwan, we must not only focus on political factors, but economic forces as well.
To sum up, this study provides another perspective to analyze the language structure of Taiwan. Furthermore, with better understanding of economic factors behind languages, future language planning could be based on related researches since people in modern times are becoming more and more utilitarian.
1.4 Definitions of Terms
Language planning: Cooper (1989) states that language planning refers to deliberate efforts to influence the behavior of others with respect to the acquisition, structure, or functional allocation of their language codes. These efforts may involve graphization, standardization,
4 LTTC is located in Taipei, Taiwan.
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
modernization, and allocation of status or functions to particular language varieties (Tollefson, 1991). According to Reagan (2005), language planning has been divided into four types: status
planning, corpus planning, acquisition planning, and attitude planning.
Language policy: It is sometimes synonymous with language planning. Corson (1990: 141) explains that language policy identifies the nation’s language needs across the range of communities and cultural groups that it contains; it surveys and examines the resources available; it identifies the role of language in general and individual languages in particular in the life of the nation; it establishes strategies for managing and developing language resources as it relates all of these to the best interests of the nation through the operation of some suitable planning agency.
Language variety: Language variety is often called dialect instead of language.
However, to avoid political or ideological implications with regard to which language is referred to as a “dialect,” some sociolinguists prefer the neutral term language variety to dialect.
The term language variety does not imply a particular status nor does it reflect the social status of its speakers. The operational definition of language variety in this thesis is any mode of language use perceived or identified as distinct by the speech community, regardless of the extent of its relationship with other language forms. Thus, a language variety can be anything from a local accent to a separate language (Karl-Eugen, 1994).
Language attitude: Language attitude is a predisposition to respond evaluatively to
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
perceptual or linguistic signs. It can be considered to measure social convention and the prestige of certain language varieties in speech communities. It also reflects an awareness of the status and prestige accorded to the speakers of the varieties
(Karl-Eugen, 1994).
Language shift: A concise definition of language shift is given by Fasold (1984).
It simply means that a community gives up a language
completely in favor of another one. His definition implies that language shift is the long-term result of a community’s language choice. Language shift may ultimately lead to language death.
Mother tongue: Mother tongue has no standardized definition. It could mean the language one acquires from birth, the language one identifies with the native speaker, or the language one knows best or uses most.
All in all, mother tongue provides a basis for sociolinguistic
identity. There are, as proposed by Tulasiewicz and Adams (1998), three distinctive uses for mother tongue. Firstly, it is a language spoken in private settings; secondly, it is used as a regional language; thirdly, it is a language with national status and used in public occasions.
National language: According to Holmes (1992), national language is a political, cultural, and social unit. It contains a symbolic function that not only represents the national unity, but also identifies the nation and unites the people of the nation. It has an ideological and emotional dimension that binds people together, and thus stands for the identity of a country, state, or territory. National language and official language are two separate concepts although they
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
might coincide in some aspects.
Official language: According to Holmes (1992), the functions of an official
language are primarily based on utilitarian considerations instead of symbolic considerations. Mesthrie, Swann, Deumert, and Leap (2000) argue that an official language is designated as a legally appropriate language for political and cultural purposes. Usually, official languages are those with special legal status in a particular country, and are used in official settings such as court and
parliament. To be an official language, it does not matter whether the language is widely spoken or not. For example, Maori
language possesses official status, but it is spoken by less than five percent of the New Zealand population; in the United States, English is undoubtedly dominant, but it is not the official language.
Lingua franca: Lingua Franca is a functionally defined language employed over an extensive area by people speaking mutually unintelligible languages for communicative purposes. Holmes (1992) adds that the most useful and widely adopted lingua franca, in certain cases, is the country’s official language or national language. For
example, E Chen-chun mentions (2003) that about one hundred vernaculars were spoken in the former Soviet Union, and Russian was adopted as the lingua franca, at the same time being the country’s official language and national language; furthermore, there are more than one hundred languages spoken in the
Philippines, and Filipino is not only the lingua franca but also the official and national language of the Philippines.