Taiwan Mandarin vs. Mainland Mandarin
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In recent weeks and months, we've been having many posts and comments about Taiwanese language. Today's post is quite different: it's all about the difference between Mandarin as spoken on the mainland and as spoken on Taiwan.
"Words of Influence: PRC terms and Taiwanese identity", by Karen Huang, Taiwan Insight (8 November 2024)
What is a ‘video clip’ in Mandarin Chinese? In Taiwan, a video clip is yingpian (影片), while in China, it is referred to as shipin (視頻). Similarly, tomatoes are called fanqie (番茄) in Taiwan, but xihongshi (西红柿) in China. These vocabulary differences between Taiwan Mandarin (Guoyu 國語) and PRC Mandarin (Putonghua 普通话) are expected. After all, it is natural for different dialects of a language to have some differences in their vocabulary—just like how ‘rubbish bin’ in British English is ‘garbage can’ in American English.
Some expressions, though, are politically sensitive in ways that are hard to imagine for English speakers.
…in the past decade, increasingly Taiwan Mandarin speakers have been observed using PRC terms (zhongguo yongyu 中國用語) online or in their daily life. The use of PRC terms in Taiwan Mandarin is not well perceived and is often called out directly. On the internet, those who actively correct others for using PRC terms are called zhiyu jingcha (支語警察; China-language police), which uses the derogatory term zhina (支那; Shina) to indicate China. The act of netizens’ language policing has become an internet subculture, with memes of zhiyu jingcha being posted to either ‘warn’ those who use PRC terms or to mock the language policies for being overly sensitive or hypocritical.
This kind of language "policing" is completely different from that on the mainland, which is carried out rigidly by the government, whereas that in Taiwan is exercised more subtly by individuals through social suasion.
Finally, we should not fail to point out that many distinctively Taiwanese expressions have been adopted on the mainland, whose denizens think they are clever or cute. For example, "Q" or "QQ":
In Hokkien-speaking areas, Q (Chinese: ; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: khiū) is a culinary term for the ideal texture of many foods, such as noodles, boba, fish balls and fishcakes. Sometimes translated as "chewy", the texture has been described as "The Asian version of al-dente … soft but not mushy." Another translation is "springy and bouncy". It also appears in a doubled more intense form, "QQ".
The term originates from the Hokkien word khiū (), which has a sound similar to the letter "Q" in English, and has since been adopted by other forms of Chinese, such as Mandarin. The use of the letter "Q" to represent khiū () may have originated in Taiwan, but it is also widely used in Chinese speaking communities outside of Taiwan.
"Q" in Sinitic languages has several other meanings, such as a shorthand for the English word "cute".
("Q texture")
All of these terms rely on integrated circuits / microchips, the majority of which are produced in Taiwan, to transmit them around the world wherever there are computers and other digital devices.
mainland jíchéng diànlù 集成电路 / wēi xīnpiàn 微芯片
Taiwan jītǐ diànlù 積體電路 / wéi jīngpiàn 微晶片
Selected readings
- "Xina" (11/26/18)
- "The transcription of the name 'China' in Chinese characters (6/17/12)
- "Hong Kong anti-China graffiti" (7/26/19)
- "Trump on China" (8/29/18) — he hasn't changed a bit
- "Is Q a Chinese Character?" (4/15/10)
- Joshua A. Fogel, "New Thoughts on an Old Controversy: Shina as a Toponym for China", Sino-Platonic Papers, 229 (August, 2012), 25 pages (free pdf)
- Geoff Wade, "The Polity of Yelang (夜郎) and the Origins of the Name ‘China’", Sino-Platonic Papers, 188 (May, 2009), 26 pages (free pdf)
[Thanks to Don Keyser]
David Marjanović said,
November 9, 2024 @ 11:45 am
The article on "Q texture" reveals that spelling it Q has made it possible to import its pronunciation into Mandarin (which used to lack that syllable after all): it says there is a character for it, , which the linked Wiktionary article calls a variant of 䬫, which in turn it says is (at least theoretically) pronounced tí in Mandarin.
K is another imported syllable (kēi) ; it came in with OK and karaoke (卡拉OK, kǎlā'ōukēi).
I'm reminded of Old Persian, which lacked [l], importing a Babylonian cuneiform sign for la to represent foreign [l] in Persian cuneiform.
Jonathan Smith said,
November 9, 2024 @ 5:11 pm
Like any K + i, /Kiu/ feels like a serious phonotactic violation in Mandarin… clearly some people now say kiu1 for 'cute' and 'rubbery/springy texture' but I wonder when/if it will be comfortable for most speakers. Whereas Kei *should* be illegal but isn't quite… gei3 'give' of course plus many northerners know/use regionalisms (?) like kei1 'pick at'.
Chris Button said,
November 10, 2024 @ 7:23 am
I wonder how the Q in the 1921 story 阿Q正傳 was pronounced when it came out?
As 給, the pronunciation gěi is an innovation too. Its other pronunciation, jǐ, directly ties back to its earlier form.
Chau said,
November 10, 2024 @ 12:39 pm
What could be more elegant than a simple letter Q to write the uniquely Taiwanese word denoting the chewy, springy, bouncy, al-dente texture of foods highly favored by Taiwanese palettes! And the amazing thing about it is that this word may have come from the West a long time ago.
My study on East-West lexical relationship suggests that Tw khiū (or Q) may be a loan from a West Germanic source. Candidates of the possible source include the ancient High German branch: OHG kiuwan (> G. kauen ‘chew’), the Low German: MLG keuwen (> Du. kauwen ‘chew’); and the English: OE ceowan (> E. chew). If we go back further in time, perhaps the reconstructed West Germanic *keuwwan ‘to chew’ may also be considered.
It may be worth noting that, if Tw khiū is indeed a loan from a West Germanic language, it seems to have preserved more faithfully the ancient form than does any of the genuine heirs such as E. chew, G. kauen and Du. kauen.
Matt Anderson said,
November 14, 2024 @ 11:36 pm
Aren’t some of these differences just north vs south? I’m pretty sure, in my experience, that tomatoes stirfried with eggs are always xihongshi chao jidan in Beijing but fanqie chao dan in Shanghai. I’m also pretty sure that I’ve been places that used xihongshi and fanqie interchangeably, but I can’t think where at the moment
Matt Anderson said,
November 14, 2024 @ 11:41 pm
Not to say that there aren’t real differences between mainland and Taiwanese Mandarin – 和 for example really tripped me up the first time I heard the Taiwan Mandarin pronunciation of it
Vampyricon said,
November 30, 2024 @ 3:16 pm
The Cantonese linguistics podcast 絮言・狂想 mentioned language policing in their latest episode: https://youtu.be/GxCuvUtPxP0