Language policy in Taiwan during martial law

Prior to the martial law, Taiwan was ruled as a Japanese colony from 1895 to 1945. During the rule, the Japanese colonizers imposed a policy of Japanization, including a monolingual policy. Among the native population during the Japanese occupation, the native Taiwanese population consisted of indigenous people, the Hoklo, and the Hakka. Overtime, Hoklo began to be classified as part of the "local population" and became the most spoken language after over 200 years of coexistence with the Austronesian languages. • The immigrated to Taiwan during the 17th Century after the Hoklo. The name "Hakka" means guest in Chinese, which is a reference to the continuing migration over history that led to the formation of Hakka. A large number of Chinese immigrants who spoke Mandarin became the administrators and policymakers of the island. However, most of the Taiwanese who resided in Taiwan prior to the KMT-rule do not understand standard Mandarin due to the "Japanization" during the Japanese colonial rule. A language difference was apparent between the political elites and the mass public. Furthermore, with the lack of historical experiences, tensions were very high between the native Taiwanese people and the Mandarin-speaking people. == National Language Policy ==

The KMT's goal of the monolingual policy was for de-Japanization and national unity. When television was introduced, any airing using native language was strictly prohibited or framed as a language to ridicule. Any other languages other than Mandarin were demoted as "dialects" and socially labeled as unpatriotic to the greater public. Although the different dialects may not be as visible as the Minnan, Hakkas, and the Mainlanders were ethnically Han Chinese, the language, self-identity, and interpretations of history has created invisible ethnic cleavages. Mainlanders were initially discriminated against by the native Taiwanese in fear of the political elites taking over business ownership and were reluctant to hire Mainlanders. Such discrimination was primarily perpetuated by requiring job applicants to speak proficient Minnan. The linguistic separation became more divided when Mainlanders were less willing to learn the local languages due to residential segregation and a lack of practical opportunities to use the language. By speaking Mandarin, the KMT government was attempting to unite the cleavages under a mutual language. The policy was a plan to encourage and promote mutual understandings between the Mainlanders and the local Taiwanese population. Moreover, the KMT had a greater ambition to display patriotism through standardizing Mandarin as a means to prove that the newly established Republic of China is more superior and united than the People's Republic of China. == Erosion of the language policy ==

The demarcation of prior languages as inferior dialects heavily stirred anti-KMT sentiments among the local population. Pockets began to develop among the Hakka, Minna, and indigenous groups where they would hold secret meetings to practice and teach themselves their own languages. Political influence After 1987, the KMT began to change the island's political landscape by transitioning away from martial law to a full democracy. In Taiwan, the movement towards adopting Mandarin as the lingua franca language is still apparent. The conflict in KMT Chinese nationalism and Taiwanese nationalism remains because of the irreversibility of the assimilation policy. ==References==