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4.2 What has been accomplished
In the first chapter of this thesis I outlined the theoretical perspective that the entire thesis was going to take and that is one of ideology. Following Josephs’ Language and Politics (2006) he outlines the nature of speech and in the end all language can be considered political in one form or another. He argues in his book that some scholars on the nature of language have suggested that language started for political reasons in the beginning. That is, language served to distinguish allies from enemies and as a way of grooming potential allies. (Joseph: 2006:1) He also argues in his book that language studies have recently taken on a more political nature, he then goes on to quote Aristotle who said that man is a political animal, more so than the bees or any other animal, and that man and man alone was given the gift of speech. Although not the central theme of the thesis Language and Politics are important when it comes to the central theme of my thesis which was that language ideology influenced and played an important role in the direction that both Japan and The KMT took in Language Planning in Taiwan from 1895 to 1987 which is the period that my thesis focuses on.
The central argument of my thesis is that language ideology as defined by Spolsky, Schieffelin and Woolard defined how the Japanese and the KMT would implement language policy on the island from 1895 to 1987. 1987 was chosen as the ending point because in 1987 Martial Law was lifted in Taiwan and language policy changed as well. Ideology as defined by Spolsky, Schieffelin and Woolard define language ideology as any attempt to modify or influence that practice by any kind of language intervention, planning and management, as well as the cultural system of ideas about social and linguistic relationships, together with the loading of moral and political interests.
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It is within this context and theoretical perspective that this thesis argues that it was language ideology that influenced language planning in Taiwan from 1895 to 1987 on the island of Taiwan.
Spolsky defines three different components of a language policy found in any given speech community. The first component is the language practice that is the habitual pattern of selecting among the varieties that make up the speech communities linguistic repertoire. The second component that he discusses of a speech community is its language ideology and beliefs about is language and language use, and any specific effort to modify or influence that practice by any kind of language intervention, planning and management. (Spolsky 2004:5). The problem that I had with Spolsky is that he did not adequately define what he meant by a speech community and not everyone accepts that same meaning for a speech community and what constitutes a speech community. The problem with definitions then is that not everyone agrees on the same definitions and they are often left open to interpretation, the second component that Spolsky defines is the language policy of the speech community and its language beliefs and ideologies.
Spolsky’s third component of language policy is defined as any specific effort to modify or influence that practice by any kind of language intervention, planning or management. This will be the central focus of the thesis, in that it was language ideology as introduced first by the Japanese and later by the Kuomintang that influenced language planning and policy on the island of Taiwan from 1895 to 1987 which is the historical period that this thesis addresses.
In the second chapter Japanese language policy was discussed from the perspective taken by Spolsky, Willard and Schieffelin in that any effort to modify language policy is in effect a form of
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language ideology. When Japan effectively took control of Taiwan and Korea, which were to become Japan’s two most important colonies this drive towards attaining colonies must be placed in what historians have called the period as the age of ‘new imperialism” (Gunner: 1). Elites in Japan had seen their countries recent modernization, Japan had recently become modernized, and began its technological and economic reforms after the Meiji Restoration. The elites in Japan were quick to see this modernization was their opportunity to join the Western powers that had gained or acquired colonies for centuries and Japan wanted in on this drive towards colonization. The elites in Japan wanted to be part of the modernized world and as they had escaped being colonized themselves they were quick to see the opportunity of out ward expansion in the region. Korea and Taiwan as it turned out were geographically close to Japan which meant the long supply lines were not necessary. There was effectively not much territory left when the Japanese started their outward expansion efforts. As has been mentioned the Japanese were rather late coming to the colonizing table and Taiwan and Korea were really the only two areas that Japan could effectively gain control over. The Japanese controlled language policy on the island of Taiwan for 50 years from 1895 to 1945 until Taiwan was returned to Chinese rule at the end of the Second World War.
The focus of the second chapter is to discuss the educational policies that the Japanese introduced in Taiwan. There were three main periods of Japanese colonial rule in Taiwan. They were Gradualism: 1898 to 1919, and then Assimilation: 1919-1936, and finally Japanization: 1937 to 1945. As assimilation policies changed on the island so did educational polices. When the Japanese first acquired Taiwan, they knew very little about its people or the languages that they spoke. When the Japanese first arrived on the island there was some localized resistance to their colonial rule which led to the short-lived Taiwan Democratic Nation which by all accounts lasted a mere 10 days. Despite all the hardships that the Taiwanese faced during Japanese colonial rule on the island
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there were some benefits as well. The Japanese were able to upgrade lines of communication by building better railways and improved port facilities, and better health care was afforded to the local population, and for this thesis the Japanese were able to introduce almost universal schooling for much of the population of Taiwan, and at the end of Japanese rule on the island the Japanese educational system reached one of the highest enrollment figures in all the region.
In the third chapter of the thesis I discussed several issues and traced the historical beginnings of Mandarin on the island of Taiwan. Once again, it was language policy as defined by Spolsky, Schieffelin, and Woolard that was used to explain how language policy was defined and implemented on the island of Taiwan once the new KMT government took over from the Japanese.
When the Japanese lost the 2nd World War, they returned Taiwan to Chinese rule, after 50 years of colonial rule on the island. At first the local Taiwanese population looked forward to being reunited with China, but this feeling of good will towards the two sides soon ended. When the new Kuomintang government arrived in 1945, they effectively introduced yet another national language plan, in this case it was exclusively Mandarin as it was spoken on the mainland. Over the last 50 years of KMT rule on the island there has grown a sense of two distinct groups on the island. The so-called mainlanders and the rest of the local Taiwanese population who make up most of the population and basically consists of three main groups: that is the Taiwanese speakers, the Hakka speakers and the aboriginal groups on the island which are further divided into the mountain peoples and the plains people who over the centuries of Han occupation have become assimilated into the main stream Han culture with a lot of intermarriage between the two groups.
The mountain peoples have been more isolated from the rest of the main population and have
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maintained some of their culture and language use. That is not to say that language loss has not occurred in this population, they too have been affected by the dominant use of Mandarin on the island as well. The last chapter of the thesis also addressed the issue of language erosion and shift.
Taiwan effectively has had several issues that all have affected language policy and use on the island. When the KMT arrived on the island they soon set into motion their plans for a national language that was to be used on the island. Unlike the Japanese the new governments’ introduction of the national language was swift. There was a great deal of tensions between the two main groups on the island, which still can be seen today.