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Taiwan Mandarin vs. Mainland Mandarin

Language Log 2024-11-08

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

[Thanks to Don Keyser]