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Language Stereotypes in Contemporary Taiwan: Evidence from an Experimental Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

Yu-Tzung Chang  and
Jie Lu
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Abstract

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We collected original experimental data, using the matched-guise technique, to examine the Taiwanese people's evaluational reactions to two major spoken languages in contemporary Taiwan: Mandarin and Taiwanese. Taking advantage of the effectiveness of the experimental technique in controlling for possible unobserved confounding variables, we clearly and systematically demonstrate that (1) language stereotypes do exist in today's Taiwan, and (2) there are some serious and significant implications for Taiwan's public opinion and democratic politics. Our data show that such language stereotypes are of great salience and consistently decoded for political issues, less so for socioeconomic issues, and almost insignificant for personality features. Our data also confirm that these language stereotypes are not just proxies of Taiwan's regional divisions; the Taiwanese people cognitively differentiate between the spoken languages' political and socioeconomic implications (despite some mild halo effect between the two).

Keywords

language stereotypespolitical identityTaiwanmatched-guise experiment
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of East Asian Studies , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , August 2014 , pp. 211 - 248
Copyright
Copyright © East Asia Institute 

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