The discussion so far has demonstrated how the tactics of adequation and
distinction are at work so that the callers’ implicative ethnological and political identities are able to be revealed. In the following, the extracts concentrate on authentication (6%). The callers asserted their realness as Taiwanren rather than citizens of China or America when expressing their opinions related to nationality identities. The devices used to authenticate the nationality identity are quotations, rhetorical questions, doggerels, and metaphors.
To begin with, Examples 69 to 71 are extracted from the same day’s program and the discussed issue is whether the support to Ma leads to the prosperity of the People’s Republic of China and whether Taiwanren’s government deserves to be depreciated as degradation. All of the callers claimed their realness as Taiwanren and authenticated their Taiwanren identities by categorizing the out-group as people who embrace no Taiwanren identity.
In Extract 69, the caller claimed that Taiwanren’s root was in Taiwan while the KMT’s root was in China. From the context, “我們 (wo-men)” are those who are not supporters of the KMT but those who regard Taiwan as their hometown and country.
In addition, the caller implied that KMT supporters were not Taiwanren because they viewed mainland China as their root or fatherland. To strengthen his nationality identity, the caller quoted the then president Chen Shui-bian’s saying, “If you think Taiwan is worse than China, why don’t you go back to China?” to emphasize the
realness of his nationality identity as a Taiwanren. In addition, the presupposition of the verb phrase “滾回去” is that one comes from another place. According to the context, the place for those who depreciate Taiwan is mainland China. Hence, the distinction between different nationality identities, Taiwanren or the citizen of mainland China, is obvious.
In Extract 70, the caller expressed his gratitude to the program’s host and political commentators for revealing the indecent truth about the KMT because what they did was “為台灣”. To further show his agreement with the commentators, the caller emphasized his stance towards the commentators in “真的ㄏㄡ”. The inference of the rhetorical question “他們真的有臉在台灣說中華民國” is that they possess no rights to discuss the ROC in Taiwan. The caller confirmed his realness as Taiwanren by banishing “他們 (ta-men)”, the KMT, to mainland China and reminding them to take ROC national flags with them. The implication of this statement is that it is impossible for “他們 (ta-men)” to wave ROC national flags, the symbol of Taiwan, on the land of the People’s Republic of China. As a result, if “他們” are really banished to go there, “他們” need to abandon the symbol of Taiwan. In this way, the caller claimed his realness as a Taiwanren, who is able to wave the national flag in Taiwan and claims his identity of Taiwanren by posing the question, “Why don’t they move to mainland China?” which implies that they should move to mainland China.
In Extract 71, the caller authenticated himself as the real Taiwanren by requesting Ma to “回去 (line 3)” China in a doggerel. In the beginning of the doggerel, the caller mocked at Ma’s inability of dealing with administrative affairs and at his over-confidence of his “handsome look”. As to Ma’s ability and look, the caller quoted a Taiwanese proverb “枵狗笑想豬肝骨”(literally, “a hungry dog keeps dreaming of eating a pig’s liver,” and metaphorically, “He bites off more than he can chew”) to pave the way to the final remark that “乾脆趕快回去大陸 當他的豬狗牛 (line 3)”. In this way, in contrast to the place where Ma belongs, the caller proclaimed that he himself belongs to Taiwan, which makes him a real Taiwanren.
(69) March 5
(挺馬 中國有前途?! 喝台灣血? 台灣人政權 下流?
Does people’s supporting Ma lead to the prosperity of the People’s Republic of China?
Is it equal to drinking Taiwanren’s blood? Does Taiwanren’s government deserve to be depreciated as degradation?)
1 我認為台灣人必須要覺醒。我們的根是在台灣，然後國民黨的根是在中國。
2 阿扁說：「如果台灣不好，那你就滾回大陸去！」的確就是這樣！
Translation
1 Taiwanren should be aware that their roots are in Taiwan; however, the KMT’s 2 root is in mainland China. A-bian’s statement is really true that if you think 3 Taiwan is worse than China, why don’t you go back to China?
(70) March 5
(挺馬 中國有前途?! 喝台灣血? 台灣人政權 下流?
Does people’s supporting Ma lead to the prosperity of the People’s Republic of China?
Is it equal to drinking Taiwanren’s blood? Does Taiwanren’s government deserve to
be depreciated as degradation?)
Does people’s supporting Ma lead to the prosperity of the People’s Republic of China?
Is it equal to drinking Taiwanren’s blood? Does Taiwanren’s government deserve to be depreciated as degradation?)
2 administrative ability is well-known by everyone. How dare he, an ignoramus, 3 want to join the Presidential election? He thinks that he is handsome but turns 4 out to be Ma Wen-cai (a pockmarked idiot in Chinese history). He bites off 5 more than he can chew. Why doesn’t he go back to China to be a citizen of 6 China? ”
As to Extract 72, the caller with the last name Ma said that the then Presidential candidate Ma had been cast out from Ma’s clan, the reason of which was that “我們是 台灣馬，他是中國馬”. The juxtaposition of nationality and the last name emphasizes
the nation where those whose last name is Ma belongs. Further, the juxtaposition of Taiwan’s Ma (one with the last name Ma in Taiwan) and mainland’s Ma (one with the
last name Ma in China) creates the contrast of the two different nationality identities, the Taiwan identity and the China identity. Moreover, Ma was also analogized as “洛 克馬” (a “lock horse,” meaning “a nag”), which falls into the category of the
American horse, an innuendo implying that he might be a green-card carrying American citizen, according to the joke cracked by the caller. No matter which
nationality is analogized with Presidential candidate Ma, citizen of China or America, Ma seems to be linguistically distinguished from the Taiwanren identity with the pronouns “我們 (wo-men)” and “他 (ta)”.
(72) March 7
(高捷通車了 謝馬執行力誰好?
Kaohsiung MRT has been done. Whose ability of executive administration is better, Hsieh or Ma?)
1 我現在先表示說：那個馬英九先生已經被我們族譜劃名了。因為我們是台 2 灣馬，他是中國馬，然後也是洛克馬。洛克馬是屬於美國的一種。
Translation
1 I need to clarify first that Mr. Ma has already been excommunicated from Ma’s 2 clan. We are Taiwan’s Ma and he is mainland’s Ma. In addition, he is also
3 notorious as “a lock horse,” (meaning “a nag” in Taiwanese) which falls into the 4 category of the American horse.