Abstract

輔仁大學笞語言學笞研厼究所碩士論窑文尠 

輔仁大學笞語言學笞研厼究所碩士論窑文尠 

Fu Jen Catholic University 

Graduate Institute of Linguistics 

M. A. Thesis 

指匸導笠教授指匸導笠教授:陳鄉永岛禹參博鄯士 

指匸導笠教授陳鄉永岛禹參博鄯士 Advisor: Dr. Chen, Yung-Yu 

從社會優語言學笞的觀毢點看厶國語中的台屲語借穃詞 


A Sociolinguistic Study of 

Taiwanese Loan Words in Mandarin 

研厼究生岥研厼究生岥:謝菁玉岡 

研厼究生岥研厼究生岥謝菁玉岡 Student: Shelley Ching-Yu Hsieh 

中華民岙國八十三年六月尦 

中華民岙國八十三年六月尦 

June, 1994.

A SOCIOLINGUISTIC STUDY OF 

TAIWANESE LOAN WORDS IN MANDARIN 

A THESIS 

PRESENTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS 

FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS TO THE FACULTY 

OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF LINGUISTICS 

FU JEN CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY 

By 

Shelley Ching-Yu Hsieh 

June, 1994



A Thesis Presented 

By 

Shelly Ching-Yu Hsieh 

Approved as to style and content by: 

陳永禹 , Advisor 

許洪坤 , Member 

連金發 , Member 

劉小梅 , Director 

Graduate Institute of Lingistics 

八十三年七月八日





Table of Contents 

Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………I 

Abstract……………………………………………………………………………Ⅲ 

Acknowledges………………………………………………………………………V 

List of Tables………………………………………………………………………Ⅵ 

List of Figures………………………………………………………………………Ⅶ 

Abbreivations………………………………………………………………………Ⅷ 

1. Definitions and Historical Profile ………………………………………………1 

1.1 Mandarin………………………………………………………………………1 

1.2 Taiwanese………………………………………………………………………2 

1.3 Loan Words…………………………………………………………………… 4 

1.4 Taiwanese Loan Words ………………………………………………………6 

1.5 Historical Profile of Mandarin and Taiwanese………………………………7 

1.5.1 The Genetic Relationship Between Taiwanese and 

Mandarin………………………………………………………………7 

1.5.2 The Political Reformation in Taiwan…………………………………9 

2. Introduction………………………………………………………………………11 

2.1 Motivation and Objectives …………………………………………………11 

2.2 The Interaction between Taiwanese and Mandarin………………………13 

2.3 Source of the Data……………………………………………………………14 

2.4 Transcription of the Data……………………………………………………15 

2.5 Basic Concepts………………………………………………………………17 

2.5.1 Language Contact ……………………………………………………20 

2.5.2 Language Interaction …………………………………………………21 

2.5.3 Borrowing as a Survival Strategy of Language………………………22 

2.5.4 The Spread of a Loan Word …………………………………………23 

2.5.5 Borrowing………………………………………………………………29 

2.5.5.1 Borrowing Reviewed and Explained…………………………29 

2.5.5.2 Code-mixing and Code-switching……………………………31 

2.5.5.3 The Distinction between Borrowing, Code-mixing 

and Code-switching……………………………………………32 

2.5.6 Social Situations………………………………………………………33 

2.5.7 Social Variables…………………………………………………………34 

3. Types of Taiwanese Loan Words………………………………………………36 

I

3.1 Revivals………………………………………………………………………37 

3.2 Innovations……………………………………………………………………41 

3.2.1 New Word-Combinations ……………………………………………42 

3.2.2 Semantic Reinterpretation ……………………………………………50 

3.2.2.1 Meaning shift……………………………………………………51 

3.2.2.2 Figurative Use …………………………………………………65 

3.3 Written Representation of Taiwanese Loan Words ………………………68 

3.3.1 Transliteration…………………………………………………………69 

3.3.2 Loan Translation………………………………………………………72 

3.3.3 Mixed Word Creation…………………………………………………75 

3.3.4 Neologism………………………………………………………………77 

4. Dynamics of Language Borrowing ……………………………………………80 

4.1 The Nonlinguistic Motivation ………………………………………………80 

4.1.1 Political Environment…………………………………………………81 

4.1.2 Speakers' Psychological Identity………………………………………81 

4.2 Pragmatic Functions…………………………………………………………82 

4.2.1 To Fill in Lexical Gap…………………………………………………83 

4.2.2 The Need for Synonym…………………………………………………85 

4.2.2.1 A Denotation of Solidarity……………………………………86 

4.2.2.2 Humorous Effect………………………………………………88 

4.2.2.3 A Touch of Fashion……………………………………………89 

4.2.2.4 Expressiveness…………………………………………………90 

5. Sociolinguistic Distribution……………………………………………………94 

5.1 Domains………………………………………………………………………94 

5.2 Social Situation………………………………………………………………95 

5.2.1 Settings…………………………………………………………………95 

5.2.1.1 Formal Settings………………………………………………96 

5.2.1.2 Casual Settings…………………………………………………97 

5.2.2 Role-relationships………………………………………………………98 

5.2.2.1 Social Variables………………………………………………101 

5.2.2.2 The Interaction of Social Variables…………………………104 

5.2.3 Topics…………………………………………………………………105 

5.2.3.1 Serious Topics………………………………………………105 

5.2.3.2 Casual Topics …………………………………………………105 

5.2.4 The Interaction of Setting, Role-relationship and Topic……………106 

6. Conclusion………………………………………………………………………110 

6.1 Summary of the Findings…………………………………………………110 

6.2 Suggestions for Further Studies ……………………………………………113 

Bibiolography………………………………………………………………………115 

Appendix 1 Innovations of New Word-Combinations…………………………120 

Appendix 2 Questionnaires………………………………………………………132 

Index………………………………………………………………………………140 

II

摘要稊 

摘要稊 

在峹我們穆每天所講的國語中,近來增加展了大量的新儡詞彙僸。這些新儡的詞彙僸大多峿 

數借穃自台屲語。本岓文尠從報酒紙和一般年輕人的對話中收集了 942 個積國語中的台屲語借穃 

詞。將之輸入電腦,建匔立岷資料庫窰(彗星卋二號)後匝,我們穆依這些詞彙僸對國語所產生岥 

的語意僼影響來分類。再峘進一步分析其語用上的功屖能和社會優語言學笞的分佈情況。 

第一、在峹對國語所產生岥的語彙僸轉變殤方尣面稫:主尾要稊分為厉復酸古層詞和新儡創鄪詞兩大類。 

復酸古層詞即名峮見經冲傳但已帶現代國語中消失屺,而台屲語借穃詞又使其復酸活卺的詞彙僸。新儡創鄪 

詞是半屬在峹國語中全峖新儡的詞彙僸,其下又分語意僼擴張類、語意僼縮小類、新儡增負稐面稫意僼義 

類、新儡增正岗面稫意僼義類等。第二、在峹語用功屖能方尣面稫:這些台屲語借穃詞除了有些能填僠補 

國語中的詞彙僸空缺之外屸,主尾要稊有其溝兊通功屖能。屆們穆能作為厉製造親和力、增加展鄉土 

氣息窾、加展強語氣或緩穓和語氣等的溝兊通工具。第三、在峹社會優語言學笞的分佈情況:台屲 

語借穃詞的使用乃視談窇話的場酏合峯、對話者的關係和所談窇的內容窞而定。一般人傾向峭於 

在峹非正岗式場酏合峯、較輕鬆的話題中與平岅輩窴對話者使用。 

語言是半一個積活卺的生岥命體殱。語言隨著語言使用者和整笺個積社會優的脈動而不斷在峹 

變殤。國語在峹台屲灣毞經冲過了過去屢四屶、五十年的變殤化,已與大陸鄊的國語有所不同峧。再峘加展 

上近幾酱年國語和台屲語的強烈互動所產生岥的變殤化,我們穆甚原至可屣以层大膽預測釱,如崇果國 

語中的台屲語借穃詞持匵續增加展,一個積新儡的語言變殤體殱─ ”台屲灣毞國語”正岗逐漸成形中。 

III

Abstract 

In the lexicon of contemporary Mandarin, a strong tendency of borrowing from 

Taiwanese has been observed. Using newspapers and the fad of the youth as the data 

source, we collected Taiwanese loan words from October 1992 to April 1994. A total 

amount of 942 lexical items is collected, which forms a database (CIM) for the 

present analysis. 

We first categorized these Taiwanese loan words according to the lexical 

variation they caused in Mandarin into two main groups, revivals and Innovations. 

The former is the words that help the restoration of the lost Mandarin lexical item. 

The latter is the items that are completely new in Mandarin. They enriched the 

vocabulary of Mandarin. Under innovations, subgroups like broadening, narrowing, 

degeneration and elevation, and so on are classified. Second, we examined the 

pragmatic function of Taiwanese loan words. Most of the Taiwanese loan words are 

not borrowed for filling in the lexical gap in Mandarin. Instead, they are borrowed 

because the speakers think that they express an attitude or feeling, such as humorous 

effect, the denotation of solidarity, easing the tone or reinforcing the tone, which is not 

adequately expressed in their Mandarin equivalents, Third, we investigated the 

sociolinguistic distribution of Taiwanese loan words. Who employs Taiwanese loan 

words when speaking to whom and on what topic? In a word, The young male 

speakers of equal status talking about some casual topics in a casual setting are most 

likely to adopt Taiwanese loan words in their conversation. The change of any 

component in the general rule may influence the use of Taiwanese loan words. 

Language is a dynamic system full of vitality. It is changing along with the 

change of social environment. The lexicon of Mandarin is varying by the affection of 

copious loan words from Taiwanese. If the present borrowing phenomenon continues, 

we might predict that a new language, with the mixture of Mandarin and Taiwanese, 

is going to generate in Taiwan. 

IV

Acknowledgements 

It is impossible to finish this thesis without the assistance of my teachers, 

classmates and friends. I am most grateful to my advisor, Professor Chen Yung-Yu, 

for his advice and painstaking revision of my manuscript. I would like to give my 

warmest thanks to Professor Joseph H. Hsu and Professor Chin-fa Lien for their 

extremely helpful criticism and comment. 

I owe a special debt of gratitude to my classmate Yin-chun Su who helped me 

with organizing my drift and makes it easier to read than it would otherwise have 

been. My gratitude also due to my friend Cheng Ying, the Ph. D. student of linguistics 

in National Tsing Hua University, and to Dyer Yu-ru Tung, the enthusiast for the study 

of Taiwanese, and to the people who completed my questionnaires. To all of them go 

my heartfelt thanks for their help, both to me and this thesis. Lastly, the script would 

never have reached its final form without my husband's encouragement and help. 

There are doubtless many errors and inadequacies that remain, but without the aid of 

my teachers and friends, I should have gone astray more often than I have done. 

V

List of Tables 

Table 1.1 Proportion of the Major Ethnolinguistic Groups in Taiwan ……………… 3 

Table 2.1a. Taiwanese Consonants (Church Romanization)…………………………16 

Table 2.1b. Taiwanese Vowels (Church Romanization)……………………………...17 

Table 2.2a. Mandarin Consonants (Pinyin System)………………………………….17 

Table 2.2b. Mandarin Vowels (Pinyin System)………………………………………17 

Table 2.3 Social Situations…………………………………………………………34 

Table 3.1 Etymological Restoration………………………………………………..40 

Table 3.2a. Innovations of New Word-Combinations………………………………..43 

Table 3.2b. Proverbs………………………………………………………………….44 

Table 3.2c. Euphemism for Taboo……………………………………………………50 

Table 3.3a Meaning Shift (Monosyllabic Loan Words)……………………………53 

Table 3.3b Meaning Shift (Bisyllabic and Polysyllabic Loan Words)……………..54 

Table 3.4a Development of Pejorative Connotations (Monosyllabic Loan Words)….58 

Table 3.4b Development of Pejorative Connotations (Bisyllabic and Polysyllabic 

Loan Words)……………………………………………………………….58 

Table 3.5 Narrowing………………………………………………………………….64 

Table 3.6a Figurative Use (Monosyllabic Loan Words)……………………………67 

Table 3.6b Figurative Use (Bisyllabic and Polysyllabic Loan Words)……………..67 

Table 3.7 Written Representation of Taiwanese Loan Words ………………………..79 

Table 4.1 The Taiwanese Loan Words Borrowed to Fill in the Lexical Gap in 

Mandarin …………………………………………………………………..85 

VI

List of Figures 

Fig. 1.1 The Generation of Taiwanese……………………………………………….3 

Fig. 1.2 The "Language Family"of Chinese…………………………………………8 

Fig. 2.1 The Social Status of Mandarin and Taiwanese before 1990………………13 

Fig. 2.2 The Social Status of Mandarin and Taiwanese after 1990………………...14 

Fig. 2.4 The Spread of a Loan Word……………………………………………….24 

Fig. 2.5 Rates of Change…………………………………………………………...26 

Fig. 2.6 The Mechanism of Language Change…………………………………….28 

Fig. 5.1 Setting-governed Adoption of Talwainese Loan Words…………………..98 

Fig. 5.2 The Model of Lexical Selection…………………………………………108 

Fig. 5.3 The Sociolinguistic Distribution of Taiwanese Loan Words………….…109 

Fig. 6.1 The Mechanism of Language Change…………………………………...113 

VII

Abbreivations 

LH = Lian He Bao 聯合報 United Daily News 

LW = Lian He Wan Bao 聯合晚報 United Evening News 

ZZ = Zi Li Zao Bao 自立早報 Independence Morning Post 

ZW = Zi Li Wan Bao 自立晚報 Independence Evening Post 

ZG = Zhung Guo Shih Bao 中國時報 China Times 

ZU = Zhung Shih Wan Bao 中時晚報 China Evening Times 

GS = Gong Shang Shih Bao 工商時報 Commercial Times 

ZY = Zi You Shih Bao 自由時報 The Liberty Times 

ZR = Zhong Yang Ri Bao 中央日報 Central Daily News 

ZH = Zhong Hua Ri Bao 中華日報 China Daily News 

MS = Min Sheng Bao 民生報 Min Sheng Daily 

TW = Tai Wan Ri Bao 台灣日報 Taiwan Daily News 

TX = Tai Wan Xin Sheng Bao 台灣新生報 Taiwan Hsin Sheng News 

ZW = Zhong Guo Wan Bao 中國晚報 China Evening Post 

MZ = Min Zhong Ri Bao 民眾日報 The Commons Daily 

JJ = Jin Ji Ri Bao 經濟日報 Economic Daily News 

VIII

1. Definitions and Historical Profile 

1.1 Mandarin 

The term 'Mandarin' in this study is confined to the language used in Taiwan 

which is also called Guoyu (國語 the National Speech), as opposed to Putonghua (普醭 

通話 the Common Language) used in Mainland China. 

Chinese political and cultural sovereignty has long been in the North, especially 

in the area around Peking. The language spoken there, Peking dialect, therefore has its 

prestige and dominant status, and is thus set as the official language or the "standard 

language" which is the antecedent of Mandarin. The language itself is originated from 

the Sino-Tibetan language family, and is also akin to the Altaic languages such as 

Mongolian. Historically, for about one thousand years, Peking has served as the 

capital city for various dynasties which were governed either by the Han people or by 

other peoples such as in Liao dynasty (970-1125), Jin dynasty (1115-1234), Yuan 

dynasty (1206-1368) and Qing dynasty (1616-1911). Peking language is thus formed 

on the basis of the Han language and its intimate contact with these Altaic languages. 

This is the particular social background of Peking official language, or Mandarin 

(Huang 1993:117). 1 

Mandarin is used as an official language both in Taiwan and in Mainland China. 

Due to the separation for more than forty years, however, there have been differences 

with respect to pronunciation, vocabulary, syntax, semantics and written characters, to 

___________________________ 

1 The text is "北屙京話是半漢語和少數民岙族的阿爾泰語系混雜而成的語言。...和外屸 

族語言長期醸密切接觸,而和中原穦地峸區的漢語反而疏遠,北屙京話就酧是半在峹這種很匘特殊 

的社會優背秥景醱下成長的。" (Huang 1993:117).

varying degrees (Li 1983, Cheng 1989, Yao 1991, Tong 1991, You 1991, Lu and Lu 

1992). 

In addition to being an official language, Mandarin is also used as a tool for 

communication among billions of people, including the Chinese people in Southeast 

Asia, America and Europe. However, the Mandarin spoken in different places is 

somewhat divergent because of the influence of the local languages; such is the case 

of the Mandarin spoken in Singapore (see Pakir 1989), and the Mandarin spoken in 

America. Likewise, in Taiwan, Mandarin is different from what we spoke forty years 

ago. It is changing mainly because of the contact with Taiwanese. 

1.2 Taiwanese 

The term 'Taiwanese' in this study is confined to the Southern-Min dialect in 

Taiwan which is also referred to as Minnanyu (閩南勌語), Hoklohua (河洛卾話) and 

Taiwanese Hokkian (台屲灣毞福建匔話) (Cheng and Cheng 1977, Hsu 1990). It is a 

deviation of the Southern Min dialect. In the early 17th century, immigrants from 

Fu-jian and Kuang-dong provinces began to settle in Taiwan. Most of the pioneers 

merged with one of the aboriginal Pin-pu tribes, because of the small percentage of 

their population. Their languages were probably been assimilated at the same time. 

Until the Qing dynasty, a large number of people came from Zhangzhou, Quanzhou 

and East of Guang-dong, along with their native languages. They gradually occupied 

a larger percentage of the population in Taiwan. Later, Zheng-Cheng-Gong expelled 

the Dutch, who were the previous occupying sovereignty in Taiwan, and set up the 

political power of the Han people in Taiwan (Hsu 1988:69-69). The languages they 

spoke were thus retained.

Fig. 1.1 The Generation of Taiwanese (after Hsu 1988:65) 

According to the population census done by the Japanese government in 1904, 

there were 2,300,000 Min-nan people in Taiwan (Zhangzhou 1,200,000 and 

Quanzhou 1,100,000), which constituted 76% of the total population. Based on the 

population census in 1990, Huang (1993:21) estimates the proportion of the major 

ethnolinguistic groups of Taiwan as in Table 1.1. 

Table 1.1 Proportion of the Major Ethnolinguistic Groups in Taiwan 

Ethnolinguistic Group Language Percentage 

The Aborigines Malayo-Polynesian 1.7% 

Hakka Hakka 12% 

Southern Min Taiwanese 73.3% 

Mainlander Mandarin 13% 

Taiwanese is, as a result, a mixture of these two dialects. We cannot identify 

Taiwanese as either Zhangzhou dialect or Quanzhou dialect. Moreover, it has been

influenced by Mandarin, Japanese, and the aboriginal languages, particularly with 

respect to lexicon due to constant contact. 

1.3 Loan Words 

A loan word is a word in one language whose origin is in another language. One 

example of this is the English-produced equivalent of Chinese chao-mian 'fried 

noodles' in chow mein. Another example is the German-produced equivalent of 

English television in Fernsehen. Chow mein is a loan word that underwent the process 

of transliteration while Fernsehen underwent the process of loan translation. 

Transliteration is usually a phonetic transcription of the foreign word. That is, a 

word is borrowed directly from the recipient language by transcribing its sound. 

Transliteration is a direct and convenient process of borrowing foreign words for 

alphabetic writing systems and for Chinese characters. For example, when Macintosh 

computer was first introduced in Taiwan, the name of the brand was written as 麥鄛金 

塔僟 mai-jin-ta through transliteration. In the same way, Mandarin speakers invented 

派卼 pai as the equivalent of pie in English, 賓士 bin-shi as the German Benz, and 匹 

薩 pi-sa as Italian pizza. If speakers know the sound of the words they intend to 

borrow, even though they do not have the least knowledge of the donor language (e.g., 

the alphabetic letters, the word formation and the meaning of the individual 

morpheme), transliteration would be the most convenient method because they can 

directly transliterate the sound by a character of similar pronunciation. 

However, the use of Chinese characters as a means of transliteration is different 

from the use of alphabetic writing systems, because alphabetic writing systems are

devices used to denote sounds, whereas Chinese characters are not. A character of 

course bears a sequence of sounds, yet each Chinese character itself also carries 

various meanings. Therefore, when a character is used mainly as a means to denote 

sounds, its meaning is still with the character. Sometimes this may cause 

misunderstanding if the character is not appropriately chosen. For example, we cannot 

transcribe pizza as 砒殺 pi-sa and the car Benz as 兵逝 bin-shi (or 病死 bin-si), 

although 砒殺 pi-sha sounds like pizza as 匹薩 pi-sa does, and 兵逝 bin-shi (or 

病死 bin-si) sounds like Benz as 賓士 bin-shi does. No one would buy such a food 

or car. These products would fail to be introduced in Taiwan because their names are 

badly transcribed and are not accepted by customers. 

Additionally, due to the convenience of transliteration, the name of some 

merchandise is designed to create a commercial impression. A few examples of this 

are demonstrated as follows. The alcohol-neutralizer named 儂賣窠醉竄 nong-mai-zui 

'(literal meaning) people sell the feeling of tipsy'. The characters are read as 

long-be-chui in Taiwanese which sounds like 'will not be drunk'. The medication 足 

爽 zu-shuang '(literal meaning) foot comfortable. Your feet will feel comfortable' is 

used to cure athlete's foot, with the characters sounding like Taiwanese chio-song 

'very comfortable'. Furthermore, the beverage called 速沛 su-pei '(literal meaning) 

soon vigorous; to become vigorous soon' is read as su-phue in Taiwanese meaning 'fit'. 

The calcium tablet named 鈣好崅 gai-hao '(literal meaning) calcium good; calcium is 

good' sounds like Taiwanese kai-he 'very good'. 

Another type of borrowing is known as a loan translation or calque (Bynon 

1986:232, Jeffers & Lehiste 1979:149). In this process, a word is not borrowed whole, 

but its parts are translated separately and a new word formed. For example, as 

mentioned, German produced the equivalent of English television in Fernsehen,

literally, fern 'distant' + sehen 'seeing' (semantically similar). It is a special type of 

borrowing. 

As mentioned earlier, some languages prefer to use transliteration at the time of 

borrowing, such as English, while some languages favor loan translation, such as 

German and French, for preserving the 'purity' of their languages. 

However, whether a word will be borrowed whole, or through loan translation, 

is not a hundred-percent predictable. For example, when the words girlfriend and 

boyfriend spread from the west to the east, they were handled differently. We Chinese 

loan-translated boyfriend as 男朋友 nan-peng-you (nan 'male' + pengyou 'friend') and 

girlfriend as 女朋友 nu-peng-you (nu 'female' + pengyou 'friend'). The Japanese, 

however, borrowed the words as wholes, adapting them to their sound system: the 

result was boifurendo ボーイフレンド and garufurendo ガルフレンド. 

1.4 Taiwanese Loan Words 

Though most of the Taiwanese expressions in newspapers such as 鬱氂卒 yu-zu 

'gloomy', and 牽手尝 qian-shou 'wife' are written in Chinese characters, and those 

spoken by the youth are pronounced in Mandarin sounds, these Taiwanese terms in 

the data can be demarcated from the Mandarin lexicon basically because of their 

Taiwanese sources. In other words, these are usages found only in Taiwanese. 

Besides, some of the Taiwanese expressions can be recognized by their peculiar 

word-formation, e.g., 準兓準兓準兓 zhun-zhun-zhun 'precisely, spot-on', 頭殼釖壞去屢

tou-ke-huai-qu 'screwy' or by the newly invented characters, e.g., 迫稜迌 

chhit-tho 'to loaf', 呷 chia 'to eat'. 2 

1.5 Historical Profile of Mandarin and Taiwanese 

1.5.1 The Genetic Relationship Between Taiwanese and Mandarin 

There are various types of languages spoken in China, and they can be further 

assigned into five language families, i.e. Sino-Tibetan family, Altaic family, 

Austroasiatic family, Austronesian family and Indo-European family (Hoo 1991:188). 

Mandarin and Taiwanese are cousin languages in Sino-Tibetan family. As mentioned 

earlier, Taiwanese speakers were mostly immigrants from Southern Min area. Let's 

now trace the fountainhead of Southern Min dialect. Based on Hsu (1988:65), 

Southern Min dialect was derived from Fujian dialect (Fujian-zu-yu, 福建匔祖語) 

which was derived from Wu dialect, sister language of Mandarin, in A.D. 300 (see 

Figure 1.1). 

__________________________ 

2 Taiwanese loan words have also undergone the process of transliteration or loan translation 

during the borrowing into Mandarin. Please refer to 4.2 for related classification.

Fig. 1.2 The "Language Family" of Chinese (after Defrancis 1990:67) 

Since Mandarin and Taiwanese are cousin languages, without doubt they have 

cognates or lexical items which are shared by both languages. Huang (1988:126) 

claimed that in Taiwanese lexicon, 3/4 are shared by Mandarin. With this interrelation 

on the lexical level, Taiwanese and Mandarin would not be difficult to interact 

tremendously, especially when political pressure becomes relaxed. The genetic 

relationship is probably the main reason that made the interaction between Taiwanese 

and Mandarin so salient.

1.5.2 The Political Reformation in Taiwan 

When the government moved to Taiwan in 1949, it started to promote a national 

language to foster a sense of nationhood, thus uniting the multicultural and 

multilingual groups of people. Mandarin has become the dominant language in 

education and all public domains ever since. Taiwanese, in contrast, had been so 

depressed that linguists predicted that Taiwanese would be a dead language within 

two generations. In the last decade, with the political steps toward a democratic 

country, along with the awakening of ethnic consciousness, language policy has been 

re-evaluated to echo the reformation. Mother tongues are rewarded unexpectedly in 

various ways. The ability to speak Hakka or, more specifically, Taiwanese, has been 

regarded as highly appealing during the national and local elections. Also the 

influential mass media reflect this phenomenon by the increasing use of Taiwanese in 

programs. 

Meanwhile, as Taiwanese becomes more attractive, Taiwanese speakers have 

more chance and motivation to speak Taiwanese. They like to either mix Taiwanese in 

a Mandarin conversation or borrow Taiwanese directly into Mandarin to create a 

communicative effect. As for people who are not Taiwanese speakers, some began to 

learn Taiwanese, some like to show a couple of Taiwanese terms in their speech to 

make an impression of intimacy. Under this circumstance, the dominant Mandarin has 

been wavering. Mandarin manages to keep its status by borrowing Taiwanese lexical 

items to enrich its own lexicon and to adjust other linguistic levels. Taiwanese loan 

words have become more popular, and this phenomenon is best mirrored in the 

newspapers and the fad speech of the youth. It is the Taiwanese loan words that are 

concerned in this study.

To summarize, the language in Taiwan has been changed from above when the 

government moved to Taiwan and pursued Mandarin forty years ago. At that time, 

Taiwanese was depressed and discouraged. Yet it managed to survive, leading a sort 

of underground existence by borrowing lexicon from Mandarin. In the last decade, 

taken the chance of political reformation, Taiwanese has reemerged and wavered the 

prestigious status of Mandarin. The language in Taiwan is now changing from below 

primed by Taiwanese along with the political reformation.

2. Introduction 

2.1 Motivation and Objectives 

Observation of the Borrowing Phenomenon: Since our government moved to 

Taiwan, Mandarin joined the speech community of Taiwanese. Mandarin was then 

pursued as the national language and has received a prodigious status. During the last 

forty years, Mandarin inevitably has borrowed to a limited extent from Taiwanese, the 

language which most people speak in Taiwan. 

This borrowing has, however, become very copious recently, especially the 

appearance of a large quantity of Taiwanese loan words mirrored from the everyday 

dialogues of the youth and the newspaper headlines. For example, during the period 

from October 1992 to May 1994, I have collected 585 lexical items from the 

newspapers, and 357 from conversations of the youth. These loan words have been so 

popularly used that a Mandarin speaker who has left Taiwan for years might find a 

common dialogue, as quoted below, difficult to understand. 

(1) Xiao-lin jin-tian yu-zu de hen, ni bie qu re ta, i-mian gu-ren-yuan you ti-dao- 

tie-ban. 

小林今天鬱氂卒的很匘,你別去屢惹儁屆,以层免顧人怨匤又踢窪到鐵板。 

Xiao-lin (personal name) is very gloomy today. You are advised not to bother 

him. Otherwise, you will be annoying and rebuffed. 

(2) Ta hao-xiang shi-shi zhe-yang, shi-bu-shi tou-ke-huai-qu a. 

屆好崅像時時這樣,是半不是半頭殼釖壞去屢啊! 

He always seems to be. Is he screwy?

(3) Ta de dai-zhi shei ye mo-zai-yang, xiang quan ta ye mei lu-yong, da-jia dou 

mei-fa-du. 

屆的代誌誰窐也莫宰窘羊,想僿勸屆也沒路用,大家窚都沒法度匓。 

No one knows what happened to him. It is useless to advise him. None of us 

knows how to do it. 

Issues: This study is primarily concerned with the following issues: 

(1) Types of Taiwanese loan words. We will first classify the collected 

Taiwanese loan words in terms of whether they are innovations in Mandarin or they 

help the revival of the lost Mandarin lexicon. In the category of innovations, 

sub-groups are categorized as new word-combination, semantic reinterpretation, 

meaning shift and figurative use (see chapter 3). 

(2) Pragmatic functions of Taiwanese loan words. Why do the speakers speaking 

Mandarin borrow lexical items from Taiwanese? Taiwanese loan words serve certain 

pragmatic functions which we are going to investigate in chapter 4. In short, speakers 

borrow Taiwanese expressions to fill in a lexical gap or simply because it is felt that 

the loan words can express an attitude or feeling not adequately expressed in the 

Mandarin equivalent. 

(3) Social functions of Taiwanese loan words. Who employs Taiwanese loan 

words when speaking to whom and on what topic? We will investigate the 

sociolinguistic distribution of Taiwanese loan words in terms of the three components 

of social situation, they are, namely, participants, settings and topics (see chapter 5). 

Why this Study: As this borrowing phenomenon becomes more and more 

intense, and speaking or writing Taiwanese loan words becomes a fashion, we 

consider that linguists should pay close attention to this living phenomenon and try to

answer why and how this borrowing takes place intensively today and to find its 

relevance to our general understanding of human language. 

2.2 The Interaction between Taiwanese and Mandarin 

For over forty years, Mandarin has served a significant role to unify people 

politically. Mandarin is taught in school, spoken in public and used in official 

institutions. It is a dominant language in Taiwan and has affected other dialects here 

vastly. In a speech community of Taiwanese, a lot of youth are not able to speak their 

mother tongue - Taiwanese - fluently. They always switch to Mandarin for the lexical 

items needed when they speak Taiwanese. Some of them are even unable to speak 

Taiwanese. The influence of Mandarin on Taiwanese is overwhelming. On the other 

hand, because a large percentage of Taiwanese population mixed with the mainlanders, 

Mandarin has also been influenced by Taiwanese, especially in respect to some lexical 

items. Taiwanese elements like 好崅家窚在峹 hao-jia-zai 'fortunately', 莫宰窘羊 

mo-zai-yang 'do not know' and 代誌 dai-zhi 'the matter' were borrowed long ago, not 

to mention the recent large quantity of loan words, such as the popular fad 輪窶轉 

lun-zhuan 'fluently', 鬱氂卒 yu-zu 'gloomy', 黑白岭講 hei-bai-jiang 'to talk rot', 辦桌 

ban-zhuo 'to have a big treat' and 臭屁 chou-pi 'fetid fart; sniffy' are all original 

Taiwanese. 

Fig. 2.1 The Social Status of Mandarin and Taiwanese before 1990

Fig. 2.2 The Social Status of Mandarin and Taiwanese after 1990 

In other words, there is a two-way language interaction between Mandarin and 

Taiwanese. Furthermore, the higher percentage of intermarriage 3 is also evidence of 

this. According to Huang (1993:241), the rate of intermarriage between Mainlanders 

and Taiwanese is 74% in Taiwan, i.e., seven out of ten couples are intermarried. 

2.3 Source of the Data 

The data is divided into two forms, spoken form and written form. The former is 

collected from the conversations of the youth, and the latter, written form, is from 

newspapers. 

As Ivir & Kalogjera (1991:283) pointed out, in the development of a language, 

innovations are introduced into the spoken language first, and are applied by 

anonymous groups of younger speakers. The reason is that the younger speakers are 

socially sensitive and creative to the occurrence of innovations whereas their elders 

are not. On the other hand, a newspaper is a well planned and is a practical form of 

________________________ 

3 Intermarriage is a significant index to know the ethnic relations. A higher rate of 

intermarriage indicates closer relations, such as cultural integration, social merger 

and attitude assimilation, between two ethnic groups (Huang 1993:26).

mass media. It witnesses and records social change and language change. In order to 

attract the attention of readers and to promote the circulation of the newspaper, editors 

come to be more reader-oriented. To adopt the innovative lexicon such as Taiwanese 

loan words is one of their strategies. 

The written data in this study is collected from fifteen newspapers from October 

1992 to May 1994 randomly. A total amount of 942 lexical items are collected. 

Among these lexical items, 585 of them are collected from the newspapers and 357 

are collected from the conversations of the youth The data forms a database - CIM 

(Comet Information Manager) for the present analysis. All the data recorded is keyed 

into the computer with eight referential categories, viz. (1) source; spoken form or the 

headlines of a newspaper, the date and the page, (2) context, (3) the sound pronounced 

or the character written, (4) the original Taiwanese meaning, (5) the meaning after 

borrowed, (6) type of representation, (7) part of speech and (8) type of lexical 

variation. 

Besides, two questionnaires (see appendix 2) were also distributed. (1) How do 

Newspaper Editors Adopt Chinese Characters to Represent Taiwanese Loan Words? 

This is for us to know why editors adopt Taiwanese loan words in headlines, and (2) 

How Popular are Taiwanese Loan Words? This was completed by college students in 

order for us to collect some colloquial loan words. 

2.4 Transcription of the Data 

For discussion and illustration, the Taiwanese expressions will be transcribed 

according to the Church Romanization system and italicized, while the Mandarin 

parts will be transcribed in the Pinyin system without italicizing. The complete list of

Taiwanese and Mandarin phonetic symbols are found in tables 3.1 and 3.2 

respectively. 

To present the data, written form will be shown as 代誌 dai-zhi 'matter' with 

the Chinese characters before the phonetic transcription and the English meaning. 

Since the data collected from newspapers is in written form, we apply one 

pronunciation of the Chinese character and temporarily leave the actual pronunciation 

unknown. The spoken data will be presented as yu-zu 鬱氂卒 'gloomy' with the 

phonetic transcription before the Chinese characters and English meaning. Since the 

data collected from the conversations of the youth is spoken, we leave the unknown 

orthographic representation but present them in the form that most subjects (of 

questionnaire) write and recognize. 

The written data will be transcribed into the sound which the character 

represents. There are two possibilities: (1) Mandarin sound e.g. 死忠 si-zhong 

'completely devoted', (2) Taiwanese sound, when the represented character is not 

available in Mandarin, e.g. 迫稜迌人 chhit-tho-lang 'the loafer'. It should be noted that 

many of the Taiwanese expressions in the headlines can also be pronounced in 

Mandarin and, as a matter of fact, quite a few of them sound rather natural in 

Mandarin pronunciation. Shih (1993:36) stated that "this is basically due to the 

Mandarin context of the newspapers and partly because some have been borrowed 

into the Mandarin lexicon." 

Table 2.1a. Taiwanese consonants (Church Romanization): 

unasp. 

stop 

asp. 

stop 

voi. 

stop 

labial p ph b m 

nasal unasp. 

affricate 

asp. 

affricate 

unvoi. 

fricative 

apical t th l n ch chh s 

velar k kh g ng 

glottal h

Table 2.1b. Taiwanese vowels (Church Romanization): 

Front Central Back 

High i u 

Mid e o 

Low a o. 

Table 2.2a. Mandarin consonants (Pinyin System): 

unaspirated aspirated 

stop affricate stop affricate 

fricative 

labial b p m 

labiodental f 

nasal 

dental d t n l 

dental z c s 

palatal j q x 

lateral 

retroflex zh ch sh r 

velar g k h ng 

Table 2.2b. Mandarin vowels (Pinyin System): 

2.5 Basic Concepts 

Front Central Back 

±Round unrd. rd. unrd. rd. 

High i yu u 

Mid e e o 

Low a 

Borrowing and semantic changes have been observed for a long time. Sapir 

(1921) describes language from the point of view of explanation and general theory to 

call attention to the lexical borrowing and the linguistic influences due to cultural 

contact. He proposes that "The study of how a language reacts to the presence of 

foreign words - rejecting them, translating them, or freely accepting them - may throw

much valuable light on its innate formal tendencies." A language may borrow a 

foreign word by the way of "whole-sale", to borrow the whole word including both its 

sound and form, or by loan translation, to borrow the word by translating its parts and 

forming a new word. From the way a language borrows foreign words, one could 

detect the speakers' psychological attitude of that language. For example, English 

welcomes borrowing a word whole (e.g., compassion, a word of Latin origin, is 

borrowed as compassion), while German prefers loan translation (e.g., Latin 

/compassion/ is borrowed as Mitleid 'compassion', literally, mit 'with' + Leid 'feeling') 

owing to the willingness to preserve the purity of the language (Arlotto 1972:189). 

Bloomfield (1933) categorized borrowing processes from one speech 

community to another as cultural borrowing, intimate borrowing, and dialect 

borrowing. Cultural borrowing is the adoption from a different language of lexicon 

referring to notions and things newly introduced to one cultural group from another. 

Loan-words are important indicators of cultural contact. Cultural borrowing is mostly 

limited to cultural novelties, and is generally in a one-way direction introduced from 

the language of the dominant group to the language of the subordinate group. We have 

found that this can be demonstrated by the lexical borrowing from Mandarin to 

Taiwanese, such as Mandarin 錄影機 lu-ying-ji 'video recorder' and 原穦子筆 

yuan-zi-bi 'ball-point pen' are borrowed into Taiwanese as lok-ian-ki and goan-chu-pit, 

respectively, which are lexical items related to new novelty. 

Unlike cultural borrowing, intimate borrowing is the transfer of lexicon between 

two languages spoken in a geographically and politically single community. A 

borrowing like this is not limited to cultural novelties, and is commonly one-sided, 

proceeding from the language of the dominant group to the language of the group that 

has come under domination. It is generally the case that at least one of the two groups

of speakers in contact tends to become bilingual, and the probability is high that a 

language shift will ultimately take place. 

Lastly, dialect borrowing always occurs between the languages which are 

genetically related. The closely related languages might influence one another more 

readily and more significantly than do foreign languages, since the similarities 

between the grammatical and lexical systems of these languages will permit 

differences to be more easily interpreted. An example of this kind can probably be 

illustrated by the borrowing between Taiwanese and Mandarin. 

The following sections will further give an overview of the studies of these 

issues. The articles concerning Chinese borrowing will now be reviewed. Although 

the borrowing phenomenon has been widely observed by western linguists, the 

processes of Chinese borrowing, especially the borrowing between Mandarin and 

Taiwanese, are rarely explored. Cheng (1987) examined the process of language 

change by comparing Taiwanese words with their Mandarin equivalents. Although he 

set his concern mostly on the phonological aspect, the lexical aspect has also been 

surveyed. For instance, he concludes "borrowing of compounded words has taken 

place much more than that of affixed words - which are overwhelmingly internally 

developed" (Cheng 1987:125). 

Shih (1993) highlighted the interaction between Mandarin and Taiwanese. She 

investigated the mixing of Taiwanese in Mandarin-framed newspaper headlines. Not 

only did she discuss this phenomenon from sociolinguistic viewpoints, such as the 

implication of code-mixing in newspapers and the communicative functions, but she 

also gave an overall review of the written representations of Taiwanese and then 

discussed these Taiwanese representations mixed in newspaper headlines (Shih 

1993:36-44).

While the tendency of borrowing from Taiwanese into Mandarin has operated 

rather notably, in the following sections, a brief review about language contact, 

language interaction, language change and lexical variation as a survival strategy of 

language will be given. 

2.5.1 Language Contact 

Language contact is a situation of prolonged association between the speakers of 

different languages (Crystal 1992). It is the external motivation of language change. 

Nowadays, convenient transportation and frequent connection between countries, in 

which different languages are used, make language contact inevitably occur all the 

time. Thus, every language can borrow words or expressions from other languages. 

Languages mix either few or a lot of words which are of foreign origin into their 

system. Frequent language contact makes for no 'pure language' in the world, or, in 

the so-called 'global village'. 

The social background of language contact is high heterogeneity. Heterogeneity 

refers to the distribution of people among different groups (Blau 1977:77). The larger 

the number of groups and the smaller the proportion of the population that belongs to 

one or a few, the greater the heterogeneity is in terms of a given nominal parameter. 

For example, a community's industrial heterogeneity depends on the number of 

different industries located there and the distribution of the labor force among them; 

its occupational heterogeneity is greater if people work in a large variety of 

occupations than if most of them are concentrated in a few; its political heterogeneity

is greater if there are numerous parties and voters do not largely support one or two of 

them. 

In a community of low heterogeneity, language contact prevents language 

change. On the contrary, in a speech community, like Taiwan, its dialectic 

heterogeneity is greater since many people have different language backgrounds. 

Their first language might be Sichuan dialect, Shandong dialect, Mandarin, southern 

Min dialect, etc. For effective communication, they either modify their own language 

or mime others' language during language contact. 

The most intensive kind of contact may exist in a fully bilingual community. We 

believe that Taiwan is an example in this regard, and here not merely lexical items but 

even phonological and grammatical rules may be shared by the languages in question 

(Bynon 1986:216). The population of bilinguals, such as the bilinguals of both 

Mandarin and Taiwanese, plays the role as the transmitter of loans. 

2.5.2 Language Interaction 

Languages interact while they contact. It happens when the coexisting languages 

make adjustments by imitating or borrowing one another's lexicon or linguistic 

patterns. 

Language interaction can be either salient or inconspicuous; it depends on the 

internal and external motivations existing in the speech community. Coexistence and 

additional political pressure are the external factors which inevitably cause language 

interaction; however, without the internal factor interweaved, these factors would 

contribute to merely one-way interaction and the effect would be inconspicuous. For

example, during the years of Japanese occupation, Taiwanese was influenced by the 

Japanese language. The internal motivation, such as the above mentioned genetic 

relation between the coexisting languages (see 1.5.1), would make a tremendous 

effect on language interaction. This can be exemplified by the interaction between 

Taiwanese and Mandarin (see 2.2), which has much effect on both languages due to 

the presence of both external factors and internal genetic relations. 

2.5.3 Borrowing as a Survival Strategy of Language 

Lexical borrowing is the most common type of interaction between languages. 

Words can be taken very freely from one language into another, with very little effect 

on the rest of the grammar of the borrowing language. When a given community feels 

the need, words can be picked up or discarded easily. This phenomenon can be 

observed today in many languages. Especially when a language is conducted as a 

measure to achieve national unity, local dialects are often repressed and discouraged. 

More and more members of the younger literate generations acquire the national 

language with few, if any, traces of the strong localisms of their parents. Yet the 

dialects somehow manage to survive, leading a sort of underground existence from 

which they may at any moment emerge again. That is, when a language is going to 

decline, lexical borrowing is always its strategy to survive. For example, in Taiwan, 

Taiwanese is one of the dialects which were suppressed. Its survival strategy was to 

absorb a large number of lexicon from the dominant language-Mandarin. The amount 

of the borrowed vocabulary from Mandarin in Taiwanese is enormous, and its striking 

consequence is that many Taiwanese speakers have to switch to Mandarin very often 

in an originally Taiwanese conversation. Some of the terms switched are not available 

in Taiwanese, because they refer to new concept or products, such as 愛儀滋釵病

ai-zi-bing 'AIDS; Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome' and 微僺電腦 wei-dian-nao 

'micro-computer'. Some of the vocabulary switched are available in Taiwanese, the 

speakers simply are not familiar with them, such as 翻筋斗尡 fan-jin-dou 'the tumble' 

and 放大鏡 fang-da-jing 'the magnifier' (the ready Taiwanese expressions are 

chhia-pun-tao 'the tumble' and ham-kian 'the magnifier', respectively.) 

On the other hand, a present dominant language may unconsciously adopt the 

strategy of lexical borrowing to keep its superior status, when an originally locally 

confined dialect becomes prosperous and is able to compete with it. The present 

dominant language would adjust itself by imitating or borrowing the vocabulary from 

its competitor. This also can be exemplified by the present situation of Taiwanese and 

Mandarin; in other words, the roles are switched. In the last decade, due to the 

awakening of ethnic consciousness and the political reformation, Taiwanese has 

unexpectedly gained positive evaluation. The ability to speak Taiwanese becomes 

attractive, instead of being discouraged as before. Under these circumstances, 

Mandarin borrows lexical items from Taiwanese intensively in order to enrich its own 

lexicon and manage to keep its status. 

2.5.4 The Spread of a Loan Word 

The spread of a loan word does not happen suddenly. It is not the case that all 

speakers of Mandarin wake up one morning and decide to use the word 鬱氂卒 yu-zu 

for "gloomy." Nor is it true that all the children of one particular generation grow up 

and adopt this new usage. Language changes occur gradually.

Of course, certain changes may occur instantaneously in a particular speaker. 

For example, when a speaker acquires a new word, he doesn't "gradually" acquire it. 

Even when a new rule is incorporated into his grammar, the rule is either in or not in 

his grammar. The word or rule at first may be optional. Speakers use it only under 

certain circumstances determined by social context. What is gradual is the spread of 

certain changes over the entire speech community as shown in Figure 2.4. At the 

beginning when a loan word borrowed, only the people in a small area use the word. 

Gradually, the word spreads over the whole speech community as the last diagram 

shows. 

Fig. 2.4 The Spread of a Loan Word

An example can be illustrated as follows: The Taiwanese loan word 莫宰窘羊 

m-chai-ian 'do not know' was probably first produced by a monolingual Mandarin 

speaker who had contact with a Taiwanese speaker and learned the sound m-chai-ian 

to mean 'do not know'. Sometimes he simply spoke Mandarin 不知道 pu-zhi-dao 'do 

not know', and by chance he would speak 莫宰窘羊 mo-zai-yang (with a special ascent) 

to mean 'do not know', either when he spoke with one who understood Taiwanese or 

when he wanted to create an easy atmosphere. Gradually, from one speaker to two 

speakers, then from two to four, and consequently many Mandarin speakers acquired 

the term 莫宰窘羊 mo-zai-yang 'do not know'. Therefore, this "Mandarined 

Taiwanese" expression spread over the speech community of Mandarin. That is, the 

Taiwanese expression m-chai-ia 'do not know' is borrowed into Mandarin through the 

transmission of a Mandarin speaker by means of sound translation. It is pronounced as 

mo-zai-yang by speakers and written as 莫宰窘羊 by writers, as the newspaper editors 

or some of the subjects of our questionnaires have done. 

Along with lexicon borrowings like this, languages change gradually. The rate at 

which a change spreads through a language can be drawn as a wave model as Chen 

(1972) suggests:

Fig. 2.5 Rates of Change 

The rate at which a change spreads through a language can be drawn as a curve 

with a characteristic S-shape. It begins slowly, with only a few words affected, then is 

followed by a period of rapid expansion, with the number of new words rising 

exponentially. This change gradually levels off as the number of new lexicon nears 

complete saturation. 

From the above exploration of language interaction and change, we may now 

sketch a model which suggests the mechanism of language change in Taiwan (Fig. 

2.6). The language contact of Mandarin and Taiwanese in Taiwan began in about 1945 

when the Nationalist government took over Taiwan. The sustained interaction caused 

some code-mixing/switching and a small amount of borrowing between Mandarin and 

Taiwanese. The interaction has become vigorous in the last decade due to the change 

of policy and the awakening of ethnic consciousness. The code-mixing/switching 

between Mandarin and Taiwanese has become a very common practice in normal 

communication. Moreover, more and more loan words have been borrowed into 

Mandarin from Taiwanese. If the present borrowing phenomenon continues, we might

expect that the Mandarin in Taiwan will become more and more divergent from the 

Mandarin speaking in Mainland (Putonghua). 

A. B. 

S S' Mainland China Taiwan 

a← →a Mandarin ← →Mandarin 

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ 

b c Putonghua Taiwan 

Mandarin 

Diagram A (Saussure 1959:198) pictured that the colonists from S (Space) to 

S’ spoke exactly the same language, 'a' in the diagram, as on the preceding day. The 

geographical separation diversed the language. After a long period of time, language ' 

a' gradually changed into two different languages, 'b' and 'c' in the diagram. This 

is just the case of the Mandarin in Taiwan and Mainland China. Mandarin in these 

two geographically separated spaces will change into two different languages 

gradually. As the following diagram suggests, it is reasonable to speculate that a new 

language - "Taiwan Mandarin", with the mixture of Mandarin and Taiwanese, is 

growing up in Taiwan.

Fig. 2.6 The Mechanism of Language Change 

To conclude this section, this study is based on the principle of language 

interaction and language change. Languages interact while they contact. In a bilingual 

community, speakers are often unaware of the interactions among languages.

However, when an originally locally-confined dialect becomes prosperous and is able 

to compete with the present dominant language, in order to keep its status, the 

dominant language would adjust itself by imitating or borrowing the vocabulary from 

its competitor. This is the survival strategy of language. Gradually, language change 

arose at the time of interaction and borrowing. 

2.5.5 Borrowing 

2.5.5.1 Borrowing Reviewed and Explained 

Borrowing is an important source of language change. Taking Gumperz's 

definition, (1982:66) borrowing is the introduction of single words of short, frozen, 

idiomatic phrases from one variety into the other during language contact. 

Borrowing is the process by which one language or dialect takes and incorporates 

some linguistic element from another. Some languages have borrowed words so 

extensively that native words are in a minority, as exemplified by English. Of the 

20,000 or so words in common use, about three-fifths are borrowed. Or, of the 500 

most frequently used words, two-sevenths are borrowed (Fromkin 1983:292). Loan 

words from other languages are an important source of new words in English. English 

stands out as being almost unique with regard to the extent to which it indifferently 

borrows words from other languages for various purposes. 

As Baugh (1951) and Francis (1963) pointed out, lexical borrowing from other 

languages is a crucial factor for the recipient language to enrich its vocabulary. 

English speakers do not ordinarily worry about the notion that extensive borrowings 

cause their language to be corrupted or less "pure." Quite the contrary, they might 

think that the extensive borrowings would make their language more expressive and 

delicate. In English, a native word and a borrowed word may even exist comfortably

side by side with very similar or identical meanings. Such is the situation with words 

like handbook (native) and manual (borrowed from French, with further origin in 

Latin manus 'hand'). 

In this study, as mentioned in the introduction, we recognize Taiwanese loan 

words by their peculiar combination of morphosyllabics. That is, if the formation of 

the words is not available in Mandarin (that can be distinguished by native speaker of 

Mandarin) it will be taken in the form of Taiwanese loan words. e.g., 老神在峹在峹 

lao-shen-zai-zai 'to be poised' and 水尯噹笋噹笋 shui-dang-dang 'very beautiful'. However, 

Mandarin and Taiwanese are genetically closely related and have some structural 

features in common even when they are not in contact with one another. As Huang 

(1988:126) calculated, about 75% of Taiwanese lexicons are shared by Mandarin. In 

other words, we may easily find words whose formation structures are shared by both 

Mandarin and Taiwanese, e.g., 人頭 ren-tou 'the poll', 心尚肝 xin-gan 'the heart and 

the liver, the precious', 好崅狗命 hao-gou-ming 'good fate (with scornful tone)'. Terms 

such as these will be excluded from our data. Only when the words, in the context, are 

familiar to Taiwanese speakers but not to Mandarin speakers, and we could not look 

them up in Mandarin dictionaries, e.g.,肉腳 rou-jiao 'clumsy', 鴨霸 ya-ba 'swank', 

would they be regarded as a Taiwanese borrowing. 

Borrowing, code-mixing and code-switching are all cross-cultural phenomena 

occurring during language contact. They are all considered by some as a 'corrupt' and 

an 'impure' linguistic behavior. However, the distinction among code-mixing, 

code-switching and borrowing has been a controversial issue in literature. In this 

study, we are going to take the conception of Jeffers & Lehiste (1979:149) who 

conclude that there appears to be a continuum between code-mixing, code-switching 

and borrowing. In the consequent sections, we will first give a brief review of 

code-mixing and code-switching then explain their distinctions with borrowing.

2.5.5.2 Code-mixing and Code-switching 

Code-mixing is the embedding of various linguistic units such as affixes, words, 

phrases and clauses from two distinct languages or varieties of the same language 

within the same sentence and speech event (Bokamba 1989:278). In other words, 

code-mixing is intrasentential switching. Code-mixing is one of the widely observed 

linguistic behaviors in the speech of bilingual or multilingual speakers. A speaker can 

mix two codes in a sentence when he has acquired the minimal competence of the 

second language. 

Code-switching is, as Bokamba (1989:278) defines, the mixing of words, 

phrases and sentences from two distinct languages or varieties of the same language 

within the same speech event. In other words, code-switching is intersentential 

switching, whereas the above mentioned code-mixing is intrasentential switching. 

This distinction is generally accepted by sociolinguists. 

One who is able to make an intersentential switching must be a bilingual speaker 

of these two codes, since to switch two codes intersententially requires an extensive 

competence of the second language. This is different from code-mixing in which one 

has to acquire merely minimal competence of the second language. In a word, 

code-mixing is the linguistic behavior in the speech of bilingual or monolingual 

speakers, while code-switching is the linguistic behavior in the speech of bilingual 

speakers.

2.5.5.3 The Distinction between Borrowing, Code-mixing and 

Code-switching 

It seems that there is no clear-cut distinction between borrowing, code-mixing 

and code-switching since all of them are cross-cultural phenomena occurring at 

language contact. Motivationally, all of them can be triggered by the lexical gap in the 

host language 4 (see 4.2.1). Sociolinguistically, they are each a kind of communicative 

strategy used by bilingual speakers. From a perspective of language change, they 

can result in the expansion of the vocabulary of the host language, can introduce new 

sounds and new grammatical features in the host language and can create new styles 

and registers of language use 5 . 

On the other hand, Shih (1993:17) differentiates code-mixing/code-switching 

from borrowing in the following ways: 

(1) the mixed elements do not necessarily 'fill lexical gaps' in the host language; 

(2) the mixed elements are often sequences longer than single words; 

(3) the mixed elements are not restricted to a more or less limited set accepted 

by the speech community of the host language - on the contrary, the entire 

____________________________ 

4 Titone (1991) proposes a theoretical paradigm for code-switching. Among the 

factors which conditioned code-switching, some are adequate to borrowing. For 

example, he suggests that a speaker may switch the code when there is lack of 

equivalents in the host language with regard to the referents the speaker wants to 

express. Also, as he described, it becomes more and more fashionable in many 

social circles to make use of foreign words or utterances, so the speaker may 

switch the code to show off the social consideration. 

5 Kamwangamalu (1989) suggests that code-mixing can result in (a) expansion of 

the vocabulary of the languages code-mixed, (b) the introduction of sets of new 

sounds, (c) the introduction of new grammatical features, and (c) the creation of 

new styles and registers of language use.

second language system is at the disposal of the code mixer; 

(4) the mixed elements are not necessarily assimilated into the host language by 

regular phonological and morphological processes; 

(5) the two terms make totally different claims about the competence of the 

individual speaker: borrowing can occur in monolinguals speech, while code 

mixing is necessarily a product of bilingual competence. 

She also concluded that the line between code-mixing and borrowing is "almost 

impossible to draw." 

Although there are resemblances and differences between code-mixing and 

borrowing, it is also possible that there is a successive relationship between them, i.e., 

the elements mixed in code-mixing or code-switching will be further developed as 

borrowings. They do not necessarily have a clear-cut distinction, but have a coherent 

relationship. Kamwangamalu (1989:330) argues that "if language contact takes place, 

there will result not only code-mixing but also changes and innovations in the 

structure of the languages involved." We may therefore posit code-mixing and 

code-switching as a transitional period preceding borrowing which preludes to 

language change. 

2.5.6 Social Situations 

Social situation is a sociocultural construct abstracted from topics of 

communication, relationships between communicators, and locales of communication, 

in accord with the institutions of a society and the spheres of activity of a speech 

community (Gumperz & Hymes 1986:442). This explored three components of social

situation: (1) persons; the participants who take part in the communication, (2) places; 

the circumstance where the communication takes place, and (3) topics; the subject 

which the participants are communicating. We hereby illustrate some examples of 

these three components as in table 2.3. 

Table 2.3 Social Situations 

Social Situation Space Time Roles Topic 

Class Classroom Class meeting Teacher&Student Where to buy 

a linguistic 

encyclopedia 

Family Home Dinner time Father&Mother Where to go 

for a picnic 

Domain (Fishman 1964, 1965, 1968e) is certain institutional contexts in which 

one language variety is more likely to be appropriate than another. A typical domain, 

for example, would be the family domain. If a speaker is at home talking to another 

member of her family about an everyday topic, that speaker is said to be in the family 

domain. Some domains are more formal than others. A domain like employment is 

more formal than the domain of family. 

2.5.7 Social Variables 

Social variable refers to a particular social characteristic which is shared by a 

group of people. For instance, we may classify people into various groups according 

to their age, sex, ethnicity, occupation, education, income, locality, and so on. Most 

work in sociolinguistics has drawn on commonly used unitary scales of social variable 

to designate the social class membership of individuals in an attempt to describe the 

characteristic linguistic behavior of various social classes.

It is easy to relate the occurrences of the variants of a linguistic variable to 

factors such as sex and age, defining them to factors such as race and ethnicity is 

somewhat more difficult since these are much more subjective in nature and less 

easily quantifiable. The most complicated factor of all is social class membership. 

Social classification is one-dimensional whereas social space is 

multi-dimensional. This is one of the major problems in talking about social class. At 

any point in time, an individual locates himself or herself in social space according to 

the factors that are relevant to him at that moment. At any time it is important to the 

person to be a member of a certain economic class, to be a particular gender or 

ethnicity, or to identify with a particular interest group. This demonstrates that such 

factors as self-identification and role relationships between individuals may be more 

important than social class labeling.

3. Types of Taiwanese Loan Words 

If the number of loan words is large and the contact lasts for a sufficient length 

of time, the borrowing language may undergo some structural changes. As mentioned 

earlier, though the written representations of Taiwanese expressions in newspapers are 

in forms of Chinese characters, the meanings of these characters are somehow 

divergent from those in Mandarin originally, during the borrowing processes, i.e., the 

lexical structure or the semantic field of Mandarin has undergone changes. In this 

chapter, with the study of the collected data, two types of lexical variations will be 

proposed, namely, (1) revivals, and (2) innovations. It is hoped that the data drawn 

from newspapers and fads will give a broad comprehension of the basic mechanism 

for the lexical variations in Mandarin. 

Before getting into the topic, we shall first call attention to the fact that not all 

the data collected can cause the lexical variation in Mandarin. Only those which do so 

would be considered as established loan words. An established loan word is confined 

to either (1) a colloquial form, or (2) a written form but has appeared in different 

newspapers for many times, and does not appear only in a frozen form. Consequently, 

the 青菜 qing-cai 'vegetable' in (4) and 亭仔腳 ting-zai-jiao 'the verandah' in (5) 

will be excluded in our discussion since they are not colloquial forms and have been 

found only once in China Times and United Daily News, respectively. On the other 

hand, the term 走馬燈 zou-ma-deng 'the lamp with the circular running horses' has 

entered Mandarin for decades not only in written form but also in colloquial form. 

Such a term will then be considered a well established loan word. However, the 走 

zou in 走馬燈 zou-ma-deng 'the lamp with the circular running horses' (走 zou 

originally denotes the meaning 'to run' and in modern Mandarin means 'to walk') will 

not be discussed here because 走 zou appears only in this frozen form 走馬燈

zou-ma-deng 'the lamp with the circular running horses' but not found elsewhere. 

Such a bound morpheme would not cause any lexical variation in Mandarin unless it 

becomes more productive and present in other contexts. In other words, If 走 zou 

can bear the meaning run and appear in other loan words or contexts, 走 zou 'walk, 

run' can be an example of revivals (see 3.1), since it helps to restore the lost meaning 

run of 走 in modern Mandarin. 

(4) Gu-piao qing-cai mai. 

股票青菜賣窠 

'The stock is to be sold at a very low price.' 

(ZG, 04/24/1991; 23) 

(5) Ren-lai-ren-wang de ting-zai-jiao 

3.1 Revivals 

人來人往的亭仔腳 

'The verandah where we can always see people walk' 

(LH, 07/17/1993; 36) 

Some lexicons have been lost for a long time in Modern Mandarin due to low 

frequency of application. Through the process of borrowing from Taiwanese, the lost 

lexicon is revived in Mandarin. As mentioned in chapter one, Mandarin and 

Taiwanese are genetically related, and Taiwanese keeps Chinese sound pattern more 

conservatively than Mandarin does. For example, 脰 dou was a lexical item meaning 

'the neck' in old Chinese. It has been rarely used and was faded in Mandarin for 

decades. However, Taiwanese 吊峨脰 'tiau tau; to hang oneself' (see Shishuoxinyu 世尺

說新儡語 or Lijinji 荔鏡記) 6 has kept the sounds and the meaning all this time. Also, 

喙酋 hui 'the mouth' is an example of this case. 喙酋 hui meant 'mouth' in old Chinese. 

Nevertheless, in Mandarin, 喙酋 hui is no longer commonly used to refer to the mouth 

of a bird, i.e. beak, instead of 'the mouth of a human being'. Unlike Mandarin, 

Taiwanese keeps both the sound chhui and the meaning for 喙酋 'the mouth of any 

creature or the openness of some things'. 

From the above Taiwanese examples, we see that it is not only possible but 

reasonable that the lexical borrowing of Taiwanese may help Mandarin to restore the 

lost meanings in its lexicon. In our data, 古層 gu and 鬧竱熱 nao-re 'boisterous' exhibit 

precisely the process noted above. 古層 gu originally meant story, it was borrowed to 

mean ancient as in terms like 古層時候穎 gu-shi-hou 'the ancient time' and 古層人 gu-ren 

'the ancient people'. Since the meaning 'ancient' was very productive and became 

rather dominant, a new character 故卂 gu (ex.故卂事 gu-shi 'the story') had to be created 

to represent the original meaning. In other words, 古層 gu4 story abandoned its form to 

古層 gu3 ancient, and then brought the meaning story with it and transformed into 故卂 

gu4 7 . Taiwanese, on the other hand, conservatively keeps the old sound and the 

original meaning of 古層 gu. Nowadays, hundred of years later, by the way of 

Taiwanese lexical borrowing, the original meaning of 古層 gu 'story' has been 

restored to Mandarin, as in the popular term 三叔公講古層 san-shu-gong jiang-gu 

'granduncle tells a story'. We could say that gu3 'ancient' has occupied the character 

古層 and excluded gu4 'story' in Mandarin, yet Taiwanese loan words 講'古層' gu 

reinstall it back in the form. 

_________________________ 

6 These two books are considered to be the important literature which was written 

in southern dialects. 

7 This is known as 假借穃 jiajie 'phonetic loan principle'.

鬧竱熱 nao-re 'boisterous' is another interesting example. Few people know that 

鬧竱熱 nao-re 'boisterous' was once used in old Chinese. An example of this term, in 

(6), is found in the poem of Bai-Ju-Yi 白岭居易 'a Chinese famous poet'. 

(6) Hong-chen nao-re bai-yun leng 

紅秒塵鬧竱熱白岭雲冷。 

'(literal meaning) The world is boisterous but the cloud is cold.' 

(白岭居易雪鄑中晏起偶詠所懷) 

(7) Mo-cai huo-dong ci-ji mai-qi nao-re-gun-gun 

摸彩活卺動刺激買氣鬧竱熱滾滾。 

'Drawing lots inspires the deals to become boisterous.' 

(JJ, 01/14/1994; 16) 

(8) Wo zhen-de zhang de ru-ci you-chi ma 

我真的長得如崇此幼岆齒竽嗎僋? 

'Do I really looked so babyish?' 

(LH, 01/08/1994; 34) 

Although certain terms like these were lost in Mandarin for unknown reasons 

for years, fortunately, they are now revived as we can see in many newspaper 

headlines, such as (7). This is done through the loan words from Taiwanese.

Table 3.1 Etymological restoration 

Lexicon Meaning Restored 

Context Applied 

Literature 

古層 gu a story 講古層 

燒 shao hot 燒肉粽 (集韻) 

醮 jiao 

a big worship 

做醮宴窛請窊黑白岭兩道(LH, 

12/08/1993;34) 

The Context Appeared in 

醮諸窋神,禮太一(文尠選宋玉岡 

高唐穪賦窛) 

吃峰 chi to drink 吃峰茶唐穪宋時(Jiang 1989:77) 

鬧竱熱 

nao-re 

幼岆齒竽 

you-chi 

打岌拼匳 

da-pin 

鐵馬 

tie-ma 

boisterous 

選後匝行情鬧竱熱滾滾(ZY, 

12/02/1993; 15) 

young and innocent 阿婆變殤幼岆齒竽(ZU, 

(person) 

to strive 

bicycle 

03/01/1994; 1) 

就酧近打岌拼匳監管 

(GS, 12/04/ 1993; 2) 

騎著鐵馬回峵家窚 

紅秒塵鬧竱熱白岭雲冷(白岭居易詩) 

雖在峹幼岆齒竽,宗黨間每有爭 

論窑,皆至孝肅所平岅論窑也(隋 

書徐窶孝肅傳) 

我與公孫窖先峕生岥打岌拼匳了便來 

(水尯滸傳第十八回峵) 

鐵馬二千,風稱驅電擊(宋書 

謝晦傳) 

The items 幼岆齒竽 you-chi appeared in Suishu 隋書 meaning 'childhood, young'. 

This usage is popular in Taiwanese but not in Mandarin. Not until Mandarin borrowed 

this item from Taiwanese was the lost etymological meaning connected as in (25). 

On the other hand, the cases of 打岌拼匳 da-pin and 鐵馬 tie-ma are somehow different 

from the above revivals. The term 鐵馬 tie-ma in Xieh-Hui Zhuan 謝晦傳'The 

Biography of Xieh-Hui' 8 means 'the strong horse' (see Zengxiuxiyuan 增修穑詞源光 

'The Revised Chinese Etymological Dictionary' 1978: 2188). It is lost in Modern 

Mandarin. When the Taiwanese expression 鐵馬 thi-be 'the bicycle' entered 

Mandarin, Mandarin then had this form 鐵馬 back. However, as we know, the 

__________________________ 

8 The text is written as: 

Tie-ma er-qian, feng qu dian ji 

鐵馬二千,風稱驅電擊 

'two thousand strong horses, at full gallop'

meaning of the Taiwanese loan word 鐵馬 thi-be 'the bicycle' is different from the 

old one 'strong horse'. They refer to different kinds of transportation vehicles. This 

divergency in meaning can be explained by the fact that the vehicle was changed from 

horses in ancient times to the modern bicycle though the graph remains the same. 

Consequently, we suggest that the Taiwanese loan word 鐵馬 tie-ma 'the bicycle' 

only helps Mandarin to restore the form 鐵馬 tie-ma, but not the meaning. In other 

words, 鐵馬 tie-ma 'the bicycle' can be grouped into another kind of revival, which 

revives only the form but not the meaning. Likewise, 打岌拼匳 da-pin is found in 

Gujinxiaoshuo 古層今小說第三十九回峵 9 . The term means 'to dispose' (see Ciyuan 

詞源光 'Chinese Etymological Dictionary' 1992:873). The Taiwanese loan word 打岌拼匳 

phah-pian 'to strive' helps Mandarin to restore the form 打岌拼匳 only. 

3.2 Innovations 

An innovation is the lexical item which is newly introduced or developed in a 

language. Taiwanese loan words brought certain innovations into Mandarin, which 

can be grouped into two categories: (1) innovations of new word-combinations, and 

(2) innovations of semantic reinterpretation. The former enriched the Mandarin 

vocabulary and expanded its semantic field while the latter always adjusted its 

semantic field. They will be discussed with illustrations in subsequent sections. The 

________________________ 

9 The text is written as: 

Yi-shi shou zhong you zhi kong-fa. Da-pin de wu-shi liang Yin-zi. Fen song 

yu er ren 

一時手尝中又值穂空乏局。打岌拼匳得五十兩銀子。分送與二人。 

'(Someone) does not have money right now, he goes to dispose of fifty taels 

and delivers the money to both of them.'

examples will be listed in order of first the monosyllabic lexical items, then the 

polysyllabic or bi-syllabic items. 

3.2.1 New Word-Combinations 

Many innovations whose word combinations did not appear in Mandarin 

expanded the vocabulary of Mandarin. They can be recognized by the particular 

composition of characters, such as 鴨霸 ya-ba 'swank', 歹尪勢僄 dai-shi 'shy' and 代誌 

dai-zhi 'matter', and of proverbs 10 , 歹尪竹出屒好崅筍 dai-zhu-chu-hao-sun and 好崅酒沈甕 

底 hao-jiu-chen-weng-di, etc. In these proverbs, the composition of characters is not 

available in Mandarin. This can be testified by the fact that a monolingual of 

Mandarin can not know their meanings without explanation, but a bilingual of 

Mandarin and Taiwanese can. Table 3.2a and 3.2b illustrate some examples in this 

case. The complete set of examples in this regard is listed in appendix 1. 

__________________________ 

10 Although an idiom can be syntactically analyzed as a sentence, yet pragmatically, 

we assume that an idiom can be used as a lexical item. This assumption can be 

illustrated in the following headlines. 

Wu-dun-yi due shi-tu pu-hui chi-wan-li-kan-wan-wai 

吳敦醧義對仕途不會優「吃峰碗冕裡看厶碗冕外屸」 

'Wu-dun-yi (personal name) will not be greedy for political power.' 

(ZG, 12/07/1993, 4) 

X de yi-dai wei-bi shu-ren-shu-zhen 

X 的一代未岔必岊輸人輸陣 

'The X generation won't be lost.' 

(LH, 12/01/1993; 38)

Table 3.2a. Innovations of New Word-Combinations 

Lexicon 

Innovative 

Meaning 


好崅家窚在峹 hao-jia-zai fortunately 好崅家窚在峹!下雨了,否則水尯庫窰都乾了 

好崅佳哉勔 hao-jia-zai 

好崅采頭 hao-cai-tou 

fortunately 

good fortune 

我好崅佳哉勔有這張第一名峮的成續單酀 

(TW, 03/01/1994; 2) 

開春卆嚐甜頭,年年好崅采頭 

(ZG, 01/12/1994; 26) 

好崅彩頭 hao-cai-tou good fortune 新儡春卆好崅彩頭 (TX, 03/01/1994; 16) 

好崅料的 hao-liao-de nosh-up 好崅料的飯盒 (LH, 12/02/1983; 36) 

好崅康 hao-kang profit 牽猴仔還有好崅康 (ZZ, 12/04/1983; 20) 

好崅裡家窚在峹 

hao-li-jia-zai 

好崅年冬屐 

hao-nian-dong 

fortunately 

a bumper harvest 

能夠逃過一劫,真是半好崅裡家窚在峹 

幼岆秀 you-xiu meticulous 她崆看厶起來很匘幼岆秀 

古層錐 gu-zhui cute 這個積小孩匀真古層錐 

有夠 you-gou 

有影嘸 

you-ying-wu 

有聽歭沒有懂 

very, extremely 

Is it true 

you-tin-mei-you-dong but not get it 

死忠 si-zhong 

to have heard 

completely 

devoted 

今年農民岙豐收,大家窚可屣以层過個積好崅年冬屐了 

這款金發表會優,有夠鄉土 

(LH, 11/30/1983; 22) 

買金幣送鈔票有影嘸? 

(LH,12/08/1983; 4) 

你說什麼?我有聽歭沒有懂 

一迷死忠的歌迷 (ZY, 01/13/1994; 18) 

米酒頭 mi-jiu-tou rice wine 屆買了一瓶米酒頭 

岄袋戲 bu-dai-xi 

水尯噹笋噹笋 

shui-dang-dang 

puppet show 

very prett 

岄袋戲老媽僬 vs. 歌仔戲兒子 

(ZG, 12/05/1983; 41) 

第二波周年慶水尯噹笋噹笋 

(JJ, 12/09/1983; 15) 

代誌 dai-zhi matter 記錄了台屲東的「代誌」 

(see appendix 1) 

(ZG, 12/05/1983; 15)

Table 3.2b. Proverbs 11 

Proverb 

鴨仔聽歭雷 

台屲灣毞錢淹腳目岰 

吃峰飯皇帝匎大 

好崅心尚乎屁雷親 

黑矸仔裝醬油 

Innovative Meaning in Mandarin and 

Taiwanese Meaning 

(literal meaning) Ducks hear the thunder; 

cannot understand 

Taiwan is flooded with money 

(TW, 83/04/23; 26) 

(lit.)One who is eating is as mighty as a 

king; Eating is the most important thing. 

One good turn deserves another. 

(lit.) soy souce is in black bottle. Hard to 

tell. 


屆說什麼,我都聽歭不 

懂,像鴨仔聽歭雷一樣 

台屲灣毞錢淹腳目岰 

(吃峰飯時間)別吵,吃峰飯 

皇帝匎大哦穹 

好崅心尚乎屁雷親 

(TW, 83/02/23; 2) 

黑矸仔裝白岭醬油 

(LH, 05/27/1994; 34) 

有聽歭聲嘸看厶影 to hear something, but see nothing (ZZ, 82/12/01; 6) 

西瓜岢偎大邊 realia 議員穵見風稱使舵,西瓜岢偎 

沒魚鄗蝦究也好崅 no fish, shrimps will do 

站高山看厶馬相厴踢窪 

草螟弄雞公 

惦惦吃峰三碗冕公 

踢窪到鐵板 

Standing on the mountain and watching 

the horses fight; to look on at somebody's 

trouble with indifference. 

The cricket teases the cock; Do not kick 

against the pricks. 

A quiet man ate out three big-bowl food; 

All that glitters is not gold. 

to kick on the iron board; rebuffed 

養竢老鼠咬勐岄袋 Raising a mouse which gnaws the sacks 

大邊(ZU, 83/03/01; 2) 

你怎匣麼只屯是半站高山看厶馬 

相厴踢窪,沒勸勸屆們穆 

別看厶屆不多峿話,屆可屣是半 

惦惦吃峰三碗冕公哦穹 

巨岀星卋"踢窪到鐵板" 

(ZG, 82/12/01; 35) 

講台屲語嘛吔通 It also works to speak Taiwanese (ZG, 82/11/08; 15) 

殭某協大丈夫打岌 

某協豬窘狗牛尶 

內神通外屸鬼 

龜笑鱉殆無尾 

A henpecked man is a real man, and a man 

who hits his wife is like a beast 

The god gangs up with ghost; Bring up a 

raven and it peck out your eyes. 

___________________________ 

The turtle laughs at the soft-shelled turtle 

without tail; The pot called the kettle black 

殭某協大丈夫打岌某協豬窘狗 

牛尶(LH, 82/12/05; 11) 

發薪水尯搶儛匪穤怎匣知道,警 

方尣懷疑「內神通外屸鬼」 

(TW, 03/07/1994; 6) 

勿龜笑鱉殆無尾 

(LH, 10/31/1993; 11) 

11 These idioms are recognized as Taiwanese in origin after being looked up 

Taiwanese Proverbs 台屲灣毞諺語 (Wu 1975).

輸人不輸陣 

吃峰碗冕裡看厶碗冕外屸 

好崅心尚給雷捶醟 

Rather lose to one but don't lose to X的一代未岔必岊輸人輸陣 

many;Better be the head of a dog than the 

tail ofa lion. 

to eat one's food and watch others'; 

greedy 

One good turn deserves being kissed by 

thunder; One good turn deserves another. 

歹尪竹出屒好崅筍 A dwarf bamboo generates a nice one; An 

好崅酒沈甕底 

outstanding man is born unexpectedly 

from a bad family 

The best wine sink to the bottom of the 

jar; The best fish swims near the bottom. 

(LH, 12/01/1993; 38) 

吳敦醧義對仕途不會優「吃峰 

碗冕裡看厶碗冕外屸」 

(ZG, 12/07/1993; 4) 

誰窐好崅心尚給雷捶醟? 

(LH, 01/08/1994; 34) 

It should be noted that there is no monosyllabic example in this section, since 

each Chinese character carries at least one meaning itself. Or, in another sense, we can 

take the above discussed invented characters (see 3.3.4) as examples in this regard, 

such as 呷 jia 'to eat' in (9),囝島 jian 'the kid' in (10) and 尪 wang 'the husband' in (11). 

(9) Bi dao-nong qu jia tu-sha 

逼稻農去屢呷土沙 

'Force the farmers to eat sand.' 

(LH, 12/01/1993; 11) 

(10) Xi-wang tai-bei shi-zhang you tai-bei jian-zai xuan 

希望台屲北屙岃長岩台屲北屙囝島仔選 

'It is hoped that the mayor of Taipei is selected from the inhabitants of 

Taipei.' 

(ZZ, 12/04/1993; 1) 

(11) Jia wang qian yi ye 

ang

嫁僨尪前一夜 

'The eve before wedding.' 

(LH, 82/12/09; 22) 

(12) Bi-diao yu wei bei he-dian-chang wu-ran 

秘雕魚鄗未岔被核電廠污染卑 

'The crooked fish is not deformed by nuclear power station.' 

(ZY, 82/10/15; 12) 

(13) You-lu sha-shou bi-diao nu 

右履路殺手尝秘雕女 

'The girl "bi-diao" (her nickname) is a right-wing killer.' 

(MS, 82/12/08; 4) 

Cheng (1987:114) suggests that the loan words from Mandarin increased the 

polysyllabic words in Taiwanese. Our data further proved that the polysyllabicism 

remains the same in the borrowing from Taiwanese to Mandarin. As we see from table 

3.2.1a and 3.2.1b, there are a lot of bisyllabic and polysyllabic loan words borrowed, 

but the monosyllabic innovations are limited. 

There are some special innovations which require further discussion here. First, 

some loan words have been used rather spontaneously and have been nativized into 

Mandarin. This can be best illustrated by the loan word 拜匰拜匰 bai-bai 'to worship' 12 . 

This term can even be consulted in a Mandarin dictionary and is specifically marked 

with 'Taiwan dialect'. 

__________________________ 

12 The item 拜匰拜匰 bai-bai 'to worship, to say good-bye' is also used to represent 

another loan word from English meaning 'good-bye'.

Second, there are words that have been borrowed into Mandarin a long time ago 

and have further developed a new meaning. For example,秘雕 bi-diao 'a crooked man' 

was originally the name of a crooked character of a well-known TV puppet show, who 

is not good looking and is a crooked man. Now the loan word 秘雕 bi-diao in 

Mandarin is broadened to refer to someone or something that is crooked in shape, as 

exemplified by 祕雕魚鄗 bi-diao-yu 'a crooked fish found near the nuclear power plant' 

in (12) and 祕雕女 bi-diao-nu 'a crooked woman' in (13). The semantic field of 秘雕 

bi-diao is modified from [-animate] to [+animate] as shown below. 

祕雕: [+crooked], [+not good looking], [+glove puppet] → 

[+crooked], [+not good looking], [+animate], [+human or +fish] 

Loan words like 芭樂 ba-le 'guava' and 摃龜 kon-ku 'the failure' (see next 

paragraph) are also examples in this case.芭樂 ba-le 'guava' was used to represent the 

fruit 'guava' for decades. A new meaning of 芭樂 ba-le 'guava' has been further 

developed recently to serve as an adjective which is used to describe something fake, 

as in 芭樂票 ba-le-piao 'poll, rubber check'. 

Third, a loan word like 摃龜 kon-ku 'the failure' displays an interesting case 

because it has been dramatically borrowed again and again. According to Tsao 

(1993:6) and Yao (1992:358) Taiwanese kon-ku 'does not catch any fish' is not 

Taiwanese originally. It was probably borrowed from the Japanese expression スコ 

ンケ, which was, however, possibly borrowed from the English word 'skunk'. After 

the entrance into Mandarin, the meaning of 摃龜 kon-ku 'does not catch any fish' is 

further developed. It is now used not only to refer to the failure in catching fish but

also to any failure, such as the failure in business investment or the failure in election, 

and so on. Examples (15) and (16) demonstrated this. 

(14) Diao-you gao-bie gang-gue de ji-jie 

kon-ku 

釣鄂友告別摃龜的季節冫 

'Anglers said good-bye to the unlucky season.' 

(LH, 82/12/05; 20) 

(15) Zhe zhang zhi-piao gang-gue you he-fang 

這張支尟票摃龜又何妨 

kon-ku 

'What matters if the check is not cashable.' 

(LH, 83/05/26; 11) 

(16) Gang-gue de ying-pian yi-da-due 

kon-ku 

摃龜的影片尴一大堆 

'A lot of unplaced film.' 

(ZY, 82/12/05; 18) 

(17) he-dao due co-yuan-zi-tang hu-shi-dan-dan 

黑道對「搓儐圓僙仔湯釭」虎視眈眈 

'The hoodlum glared at him and offered a payoff to dissuade him from 

joining the ballot.' 

(MZ, 01/23/1994; 14)

(18) qi-shi sue Lin-yuan-he xuan zhen-zhang, xi cheng ke fang ren co-tang-yuan 

七十歲儿林源光和選鎮長,戲稱「可屣防人搓儐湯釭圓僙」 

'When seventy-year-old Lin-yuan-he (personal name) joined the ballot, he 

said that he would have no opposition therefore preventing payoffs.' 

(ZG, 12/08/1993; 14) 

Fourth, a Taiwanese expression might be borrowed into more than one forms 

because it is represented by different means, i.e. by transliteration, loan translation or 

mixed word creation (see 3.3). For example, Taiwanese expression so-in-a-thng is 

borrowed into two forms: the term 搓儐圓僙仔湯釭 co-yuan-zi-tang 'to offer a payoff to 

someone and dissuade him from joining a ballot' in (17) is borrowed through 

transliteration; it is a new word-combination in Mandarin. Whereas the loan 

translation one 搓儐湯釭圓僙 co-tang-yuan 'to offer a payoff to someone and dissuade him 

from joining a ballot' in (18) is categorized into another group, i.e. innovations of 

semantic reinterpretation, because the form 搓儐湯釭圓僙 co-tang-yuan 'to make dumpling 

soup' had already existed before the loan word entered Mandarin, only with a 

reinterpreted meaning . 

Fifth, It is interesting to see, in table 3.2.1a., that almost all the Taiwanese 

question particles have been borrowed into Mandarin, such as 誰窐人 shei-ren 'who', 

啥米 sha-mi 'what', 按匲怎匣 an-zen 'how, why, what'. Question particles are the basic 

vocabulary that every language has. They always remain constant and seldom are 

borrowed, except between languages that have strong interaction. The borrowing of 

Taiwanese question particles in Mandarin proved that these two languages, Taiwanese 

and Mandarin, are interacting so intensely that even their basic vocabulary is mixing.

Sixth, the borrowing of taboo words is a special case. After borrowed into 

Mandarin, words which were originally taboo in Taiwanese are distilled through 

euphemistic modification. A taboo word is one which has come under prohibition, 

usually because of the sacred status of the referent of the word in question or because 

of fear inspired by the referent. During the borrowing process, euphemistic strategy is 

applied, and some other words or phrases are called upon to replace the forbidden 

word. This phenomenon can be illustrated by 虎爛 hu-lan 'lie, trick'. Hu-lan 'tiger's 

testis' is a Taiwanese taboo used to denote a lie or a trick. When this Taiwanese 

expression was borrowed into Mandarin, the characters 虎爛 hu-lan were used to 

represent Taiwanese hu-lan. Therefore, the meaning of hu-lan is neutralized and the 

taboo has been replaced. We replaced the taboo by transliteration, i.e., by selecting 

Chinese characters of similar sound. Table 3.2c renders other examples in this case. 

Table 3.2c. Euphemism for taboo 

Lexicon Innovative Meaning 

賭窞爛 du-lan 

in Mandarin 

unwilling 

Taboo 

to bore the testis 


賭窞爛票(LH, 12/07/ 

1993; 8) 

虎爛 hu-lan lie, trick tiger's testis; lie, trick 你少虎爛了 

殭三小 jing- 

san-xiao 

熱銷竉 re-xiao 

what are you afraid 

of (with scornful 

tone) 

hot sell; popular 

3.2.2 Semantic Reinterpretation 

xiao is the transliteration of 大丈夫殭三小 

Taiwanese siau 'sperm' 

xiao is the transliteration of 熱銷竉話 

Taiwanese siau 'sperm' 

(TW, 02/24/1994; 20) 

In the Mandarin lexicon, some items are chosen to represent Taiwanese loan 

words because their phonetic or semantic value are "similar" to the Taiwanese 

expression in question (see 3.3.4). Consequently, new meanings are instilled into the

existing lexical items in Mandarin. These original Mandarin lexical items could be 

reinterpreted and the semantic field of Mandarin modified. 

In discussing the loan words which caused the semantic reinterpretation in 

Mandarin, three categories will be divided, namely - meaning shift, 

grammaticalization and figurative use. Accordingly, the examples will be listed as 

first the monosyllabic items, then the bisyllabic or polysyllabic terms. 

3.2.2.1 Meaning shift 

Meaning shift is a process in which words move from one set of circumstances 

to another, i.e., the main semantic feature of a word is shifted so that the semantic 

field of the word varies. For example, 阮 ruan refers to 'niece' or 'nephew' in 

Mandarin. After the Taiwanese element gun 'I' was borrowed and was represented by 

this character 阮 ruan, the meaning of 阮 ruan 'niece, nephew' has been adjusted. 

The variation of the semantic field of 阮 ruan is shown below. 

阮: [+younger generation], [+niece or +nephew] → [+the ego] 

Another example is the item 卡属 ka, which means card in Mandarin. Owing to 

the phonetic similarity, the character 卡属 ka is now used to represent the Taiwanese 

loan words kha1 'comparatively' and the original Mandarin ka3 'to garble'. It can serve 

as an adverb meaning 'comparatively' as in 卡属清楚儭 ka-qing-chu 'comparatively clear', 

卡属好崅 ka-hao 'better', and can be used as a verb to mean 'to garble' as in 卡属紙 ka-zhi. 

The semantic field of 卡属 ka 'card' is adjusted.

Likewise, Mandarin 蓋 gai 'to build' or 介 jie 'to introduce' is now in popular 

use to mean 'very' after the Taiwanese expressions kai-ke-siong 'very elegant' or 

kai-huan-hi 'very happy' being introduced into Mandarin. Both 蓋 gai 'to build' or 介 

jie 'to introduce' are used alternately. 

Similarly, the character 赤 chi in Mandarin means 'red, bare'. It is also chosen 

to represent the Taiwanese chhia. This character may stand alone or appear in terms 

like 赤爬爬 chi-pa-pa 'overbearing and rude', which is the phonetic substitution for 

chhia-pe-pe, to describe an overbearing and rude woman; either way, the borrowed 

meaning is the same. Also, this Taiwanese term is sometimes written as 恰匦 qia or 恰匦 

北屙北屙 qia-bei-bei 'overbearing and rude'. With either transcription, the meaning of 赤 

chi 'red, bare' or 恰匦 qia 'apt' are modified to denote 'overbearing and rude'. For the 

full set of examples of monosyllabic words, please refer to table 3.3a.

Table 3.3a Meaning Shift (Monosyllabic loan words) 

Lexicon Original Meaning Innovative meaning Context Applied 

卡属 ka 

卡属 ka 

card 

card 

comparatively 

to be pended at 

somewhere 

上 shang up most 上讚毮 

吳伯雄心尚意僼卡属清楚儭 

(LH, 12/01/1993; 3) 

案子卡属在峹立岷法院 

(ZZ, 12/01/1993; 7) 

電 dian to perm electricity 她崆去屢電頭髮端 

俗 su inelegant cheap 大俗賣窠(ZG, 10/09/1993; 15) 

阮 ruan 

niece, nephew 

I (the ego) 

蓋 gai cover, to build very 蓋好崅 

介 jie to introduce very 介高尚 

阮心尚事誰窐人知 

(ZG, 12/01/1993; 9) 

恰匦 qia fitness overbearing and rude 她崆真是半恰匦北屙北屙 

赤 chi red, bare overbearing and rude 她崆真是半赤爬爬 

厝穧 cuo 

甘岤 gan 

mortuary 

sweet 

House 

Is it possible that ... 

空 kong empty stupid 別空了 

抄 chao 

to copy 

to rummage 

閃 shan flash, sidestep go away 閃! 

啼鄴 ti 

to cry, howl 

to speak 

只屯要稊喜鄹歡馬上即可屣入厝穧 

(01/15/1994; 15) 

無奈的心尚黨甘岤會優知影 

(TW, 03/18/1994; 2) 

透早抄台屲灣毞之聲 

閣 ge attic and 俗閣大碗冕 

擱 ge 

to lay aside 

and 

(TW, 04/22/1994; 2) 

人攏笑咱勡平岅常時上愛儀啼鄴 

(TW, 04/13/1994; 2) 

今年寒酡假有吃峰擱有玩 

(LH, 12/22/1993; 42) 

鹹 xian salty penny-pinching 屆這個積人很匘鹹 

做 zuo 

to make 

to offer 

此後匝沒人醨做好崅心尚 

(ZG, 12/08/1993; 16) 

愛儀 ai love to have to 愛儀拼匳才會優贏 

唸 nian to read to sing 唸歌 (ZZ, 12/01/1993; 14) 

哥穮 ge brother to indicate a bad man 歪卩哥穮,豬窘哥穮 

花 hua flower flashy 屆穿秌得很匘花

Table 3.3b Meaning Shift (Bisyllabic and polysyllabic loan words) 

Lexicon 

古層意僼 gu-yi 

Original 

Meaning 

antique 

Innovative 

Meaning 

ingenuous 


古層意僼的電算老師窯 

臭屁 chou-pi fetid fart sniffy 屆很匘臭屁 

牽手尝 qian-shou 

hand in hand 

wife 

(ZG, 04/29/1994; 38) 

把老字崉留給「牽手尝」戲外屸 

要稊漂亮一下 

(ZY, 01/25/1994; 17) 

公家窚 gon-jia official to share 我們穆公家窚吃峰吧 

牽猴子 qian-hou-zi 

好崅兄屍弟 

hao-xiong-di 

大小聲 

da-xiao-sheng 

to lead a monkey 

good brother 

loud & low 

the broker 

ghost 

shout 

牽猴仔還有好崅康 

(ZZ, 12/04;1993; 20) 

七月尦半屜拜匰好崅兄屍弟 

你別大小聲了 

火尰花 huo-hua flake, sparkle miff, vexedly 這種話叫屭人聽歭了火尰花 

卡属紙 ka-zhi 

ivory board 

to get the paper 

jammed 

黑白岭 hei-bai black & white carelessly 黑白岭講 

抬轎 tai-jiao 

to lift the sedan 

chair 

convoy 

包屗裝印峣刷無卡属紙困擾 

(JJ, 12/09/1993; 27) 

洪即性榮為厉李棟釀樑抬轎 

(MZ, 01/22/1994; 15) 

老鳥鄘 lao-niao an old bird the stager 屆是半公司屫裡的老鳥鄘 

夾去屢配 jia-qu-pei 

人頭 ren-tou 

失屺禮 shi-li 

飼料雞 si-liao-ji 

搓儐湯釭圓僙 

cuo-tang-yuan 

to take food 

human head 

discourtesy 

chicken raised by 

feedstoff 

to make 

dumpling soup 

to take 

something or 

somebody 

poll 

sorry 

man who is 

unable to do 

things well 

to offer someone 

profit privately 

in order to get 

rid of the 

competitor 

要稊就酧夾去屢配吧 

八萬冠元買人頭 

(ZY, 12/08/1993; 5) 

失屺禮!死人骨頭 

(LH, 83/05/04; 34) 

都岃飼料雞 

(LH, 05/27/1994; 50) 

可屣防人搓儐湯釭圓僙 

(ZG, 12/08/1993; 14)

熱滾滾 

re-gun-gun 

軟腳蝦究 

ruang-jiao- xia 

捉兔子 zhuo-tu-zi 

插醘花 zha-hua 

(something is) 

very hot 

feeble-legged 

shrimp 

to catch a rabbit 

Flower 

arrangement 

(situration 

is )very hot 

coward 

to spew 

to join under 

unespecting 

賞窚鳥鄘熱滾滾 

(MS, 12/06/1993; 7) 

做事別像軟腳蝦究一樣 

酒喝鄶多峿了,等一下就酧要稊捉兔 

子了 

二選將中途插醘花 

(LH, 01/15/1994; 13) 

傲古層 ao-gu proud of old and bad 這東西很匘傲古層 

有的沒有的 

you-de-mei-you-de 

顛倒穅 dian-dao 

鱸毻鰻殉 lu-man 

罕見 han-jian 

something and 

nothing 

converse 

eel 

to be seen 

infrequently 

Anything 

on the contrary, 

instead 

rascal 

a word of 

greeting 

給我一些有的沒有的 

爬出屒來的顛倒穅憂頭結面稫 

(03/18/1994; 2) 

檢調窏不辦大尾鱸毻鰻殉 

(TW, 03/26/1994; 1) 

阿水尯伯,最鄦近真罕見 

(LH, 12/05/1993; 14) 

開講 kai-jiang start to lecture to chat 在峹門口開講 

應該 yi-gai 

shall 

to deserve 

something bad 

你應該啦! 誰窐叫屭你這樣 

漏氣 lou-qi tire or pipe leaks to deflate 該你了,別漏氣喔鄻 


ti-dao-tie-ban 

to kick on the 

iron board 

to be rebuffed 

巨岀星卋踢窪到鐵板 

(ZG, 12/01/1993; 35) 

頭殼釖 tou-ke the skull the head 頭殼釖頂鄕 (ZZ, 12/08/1993; 15) 

心尚悶酾 xin-men 

depressing 

to miss 

唸歌唱曲解心尚悶酾 

(ZZ, 12/01/1993; 14) 

The meanings of the lexical items in the donor language may be extremely 

different from the original ones in the recipient language. The items 厝穧 cuo and 好崅 

兄屍弟 hao-xiong-di can demonstrate this case. 厝穧 cuo, in Mandarin, refers to a 

mortuary, i.e., the room to place coffins. This meaning is unknown by many people 

because it appears only in a specific written form like an obituary. Since 厝穧 cuo was 

used to represent the Taiwanese loan word chhu 'house', its meaning has been 

extremely adjusted, from mortuary, a place for locating dead bodies, to house, a place 

for living persons to live. Undoubtedly, if the Taiwanese loan word still prevails in

Mandarin, the original meaning of 厝穧 cuo 'mortuary' will soon be forgotten. It is 

more than likely that people who didn't know that the word has two divergent 

meanings would feel better if they were not informed of the original meaning of 厝穧 

cuo 'mortuary'. As for 好崅兄屍弟 hao-xiong-di, it was used only to indicate good 

brothers, but is now also used to refer to ghosts due to the influence of Taiwanese 

he-hian-ti 'good brother, ghost'. Its variation in semantic field is from [+human] to 

[-human]. 

臭屁 chou-pi means fetid fart in Mandarin. Its semantic field is now modified 

because it can be used to mean a sniffy man due to the influence of Taiwanese. The 

lexical variation of 臭屁 chou-pi 'fetid fart' is: 

臭屁: [+fetid], [+fart] → [+sniffy], [+human] 

The semantic field of this term is modified from [+fart] to [+human]. 

At last, we would also like to mention that the borrowing 牽手尝 qian-shou 'hand 

in hand, wife' is similar to the term 摃龜 kon-ku 'the failure' mentioned above, as it 

is also not original Taiwanese. As we know, in Mandarin, 牽手尝 qian-shou means 

'hand in hand'. Its innovative meaning 'wife' is borrowed from Taiwanese expression 

khan-chhiu 'wife' which was, however, likely borrowed from an aboriginal tribe, the 

Pin-Pu tribe (Wang 1993:8). 

Apart from the examples mentioned above, six subcategories under meaning 

shift will be further represented. They are: (1) Broadening, (2) Narrowing, (3) Litotes, 

(4) Hyperbole, (5) Degeneration, and (6) Elevation. Although from our present data 

only limited examples can be provided, we believe that there will be more loan words 

borrowed and involved in this kind of meaning shift. 

Degeneration vs. Elevation 

A word may develop a sense of disapproval. This process is referred to as 

degeneration (Bloomfield 1933:427) or as pejoration (Crystal 1991:330). As

illustrated by Crystal's example, the English term 'notorious' once meant 'widely 

known', and now means 'widely and unfavorably known'. Likewise, some lexical 

items may not have any pejorative connotation in Mandarin, but this degeneration can 

be developed during the borrowing from Taiwanese. Phonetic substitution serves an 

important role in this process. 

In our data, 鹹 xian 'salty' has unfortunately suffered from this. Mandarin 鹹 

xian meant only salty until the Taiwanese kiam 'salty, penny-pinching' entered. We 

have no idea why in Taiwanese a greedy person is called 很匘鹹的人 hen-xian-de-ren 'a 

very penny-pinching/salty man'. However, Mandarin 鹹 xian 'salty' has been infected 

with this negative connotation by the way of borrowing from Taiwanese. 

Loan words like 花 hua 'flashy' and 空 kong 'stupid' are also examples in this 

regard. Mandarin 花 hua was only used to indicate the beautiful flower before the 

Taiwanese item huei 'flower, flashy' was borrowed. Also, Mandarin 空 kong simply 

meant 'empty' until Taiwanese 空 kong 'stupid' entered Mandarin. The pejorative 

meaning of 花 hua 'flower, flashy' and 空 kong 'empty, stupid' are developed due to 

Taiwanese loan words. 

Other than the above, the loan words mentioned in the above, Mandarin 赤 chi 

'red, bare' and 恰匦 qia now can be used to describe an overbearing woman as in 赤爬 

爬 chi-pa-pa and 恰匦北屙北屙 qia-bei-bei, respectively. The pejorative meaning of these 

two items 赤 and 恰匦 are developed. Please refer to table 3.4a for more 

monosyllabic examples.

Table 3.4a Development of pejorative connotations (monosyllabic loan words) 

Lexicon Original Meaning Innovative Meaning Context Applied 

鹹 xian salty penny-pinching 屆這個積人很匘鹹 


恰匦 qia fitness overbearing and rude 她崆真是半恰匦北屙北屙 

赤 chi red, bare overbearing and rude 她崆真是半赤爬爬 

哥穮 ge brother to indicate a bad man 歪卩哥穮,豬窘哥穮 

花 hua flower flashy 屆穿秌得很匘花 

Table 3.4b Development of pejorative connotations (bisyllabic and polysyllabic loan 

Lexicon 


cuo-tang-yuan 

軟腳蝦究 

ruang-jiao- xia 

好崅兄屍弟 

hao-xiong-di 

words) 

Original 

Meaning 

to make 

dumpling soup 

feeble-legged 

shrimp 

good brother 

飼料雞 si-liao-ji chicken raised by 

feedstuff 

Innovative Meaning Context Applied 

to offer someone profit 可屣防人搓儐湯釭圓僙 

privately in order to get (ZG,12/08/1993;14) 

rid of the competitor 

coward 

ghost 

man who isunable to do 

things well 

做事別像軟腳蝦究一樣 

七月尦半屜拜匰好崅兄屍弟 

都岃飼料雞 

(LH, 05/27/1994; 50) 

捉兔子 zhuo-tu-zi to catch a rabbit to spew 酒喝鄶多峿了會優捉兔子哦穹! 

黑白岭 hei-bai black & white carelessly 黑白岭講 

傲古層 ao-gu proud of old and bad 這東西很匘傲古層 

應該 yi-gai shall to deserve something 誰窐叫屭你這樣做 ? 你應 

bad 

Mandarin 好崅兄屍弟 hao-xiong-di 'close brother' is another victim of degeneration. 

Its development of the meaning 'ghost' results from the Taiwanese expression 

he-hian-ti 'matey brother, ghost' represented by the same Chinese characters 好崅兄屍弟 

hao-xiong-di through phonetic translation. This Taiwanese expression has not only 

broadened the semantic field of 好崅兄屍弟 hao-xiong-di, from [+human] to [-human], 

but also contributed to the development of a pejorative connotation to this term in 

Mandarin. 

該!

Another well known example is 黑白岭 hei-bai. The term 黑白岭 hei-bai 'black 

and white, right and wrong' is now quite productive to mean 'carelessly'. This 

Taiwanese prefix o-pe 'carelessly' in o-pe-kong 'to talk rot' is borrowed and 

represented by the characters 黑白岭 hei-bai. Various innovations like 黑白岭講 

hei-bai-jiang 'to talk rot', 黑白岭猜 hei-bai-cai 'to guess carelessly' or 黑白岭來 

hei-bai-lai 'to do carelessly' are frequently seen or heard. Obviously, the item 黑白岭 

hei-bai 'black and white, carelessly' has developed a pejorative connotation. 

(19) Jin-pai chi-dao yi-jiu shui-dang-dang 

金牌遲到依舊水尯噹笋噹笋 

'The late medal is still beautiful.' 

(ZG, 82/12/08; 24) 

(20) Din-jia-nu-zhou de shui, zhen shui 

丁加展奴屻州的水尯,真水尯 

'The water in Tinganu State is quite beautiful.' 

(LH, 83/05/27; 43) 

To move toward an opposite direction, elevation (Bloomfield 1933:427) refers 

to the development of positive sense of a lexical item. In Bloomfield's examples, Old 

English cniht meaning 'boy, servant' has developed a noble connotation of 'knight' in 

modern English. 

Likewise, in Mandarin, a positive or a noble connotation of a lexical item can 

also be developed by the influence of Taiwanese loan words. The character 水尯 shui 

'water' is an example found in our data. After the Taiwanese expression sui 'beautiful' 

was introduced into Mandarin, and represented by 水尯 shui owing to the similarity in 

sounds, the innovative meaning of 水尯 shui 'beautiful' was created, from neutral

meaning 'water' to the positive connotation of 'beautiful'. The loan word 報酒喜鄹 bao-xi 

listed in table 3.3b (meaning shift) is a somehow different case from the others. 

According to Crystal (1991:330), amelioration is a type of lexical variation which 

refers to the loss of a pejorative connotation of a lexical item. Written as '報酒喜鄹' bao-xi, 

the Taiwanese lexical item bau-si has undergone both amelioration and elevation. Its 

meaning has shifted from 'get a lot of undeserved profit' to 'annunciate'. Not only did 

the term get rid of its negative connotation, but it also developed a positive 

connotation at the same time. 

Broadening vs. Narrowing 

It is sometimes difficult to draw a line between meaning shift, broadening and 

narrowing. In an example from Jiang (1989:78), the meaning of 湯釭 tang was 

changed from 'hot water' in old Chinese to 'soup' in modern Chinese. Has 湯釭 tang 

undergone the process of meaning shift, broadening or narrowing? If we accept the 

point that not all hot water is drinkable or edible, and that soup is drinkable, then 湯釭 

tang has undergone narrowing. On the other hand, if we take another position and 

consider that the old meaning 'hot water' is hot, and that soup can be either hot or cold, 

then 湯釭 tang has undergone broadening. Furthermore, we can also claim that since the 

meaning of 湯釭 tang changed from 'water' to 'food', it has undergone meaning shift. 

Which viewpoint shall we take to differentiate broadening, narrowing and meaning 

shift? 

Jiang (1989) defines broadening, narrowing and meaning shift in accordance 

with semantic features and semantic fields. We are going to adopt his definition to 

analyze our data below.

In the broadening process, the semantic feature of a word is deduced during the 

lexical variation, and its meaning is adjusted from hyponym (see Lyons 1977:291-295) 

to superordinate (Jiang 1989:74). We may say that this is a variation from the concept 

of 'part' to the concept of 'whole'. For example, 唱 chang was 'lead to sing' in old 

Chinese and is 'any part of singing' in modern Chinese, its lexical variation is: 

唱(old):[帶頭] + [唱] → 唱(modern): [唱] 

Its variation in semantic field is: 

old: 歌 modern: 唱 

/╲ /╲ 

唱和領唱跟著唱 

We say that 唱 chang is adjusted from hyponym to superordinate, so 唱 chang 

'to sing' is an example of broadening. 

(21) Tou-ke mo lie shao 

頭殼釖摸咧勤燒 

'Someone has a fever.' 

(ZZ, 82/12/08; 15) 

(22) qi-ma ye yao xie dao gai guo tou-ke ding ba 

起碼也要稊寫到蓋過「頭殼釖頂鄕」吧 

'Someone wants to write so many books that they reach over his head when 

those books are piled up.' 

(ZZ, 82/12/08; 15)

The donor lexicon may also utilize this process and cause a broadening in the 

semantic field of the recipient language. For example, since the Taiwanese expression 

頭殼釖 thau-khak 'the head' is borrowed into Mandarin as in example (21) and (22), the 

meaning of Mandarin 頭殼釖 tou-ke 'the skull' has been broadened as: 

頭殼釖 tou-ke: [skull] → [head] 

Its variation in semantic field is as: 

skull 

skull brain 

Mandarin: 頭 loans: 頭殼釖 

/╲ /╲ 

skull brain skull brain 

We see that 頭殼釖 tou-ke 'the skull' is modified from the hyponym to the 

superordinate (loans: 頭殼釖 tou-ke 'the head' > Mandarin: 頭殼釖 tou-ke 'the skull'), so 

the meaning of Mandarin 頭殼釖 tou-ke has been broadened by way of borrowing 

from Taiwanese. 

As opposed to broadening, narrowing refers to the process in which the 

limitative semantic feature of a word is added during the lexical variation, and its 

meaning is adjusted from superordinate to hyponym (Jiang 1989:76). We may say that 

this is a variation from the concept of 'whole' to the concept of 'part'. In an example 

from the archaic Chinese, 宮窜 gong was once referred to as any house; yet, it is now 

referred to as 'the house where the king lives' in modern Chinese. Its lexical variation 

is:

宮窜(old): [house] → 宮窜(modern): [king's] + [house] 


old: 宮窜 modern: House 

/╲ /╲ 

草屋匊/磚屋匊/宮窜殿允宮窜/草屋匊... 

Taiwanese loan words also follow this procedure and cause a narrowing in the 

meanings of certain terms in Mandarin. For example, the term 大小聲 da-xiao-sheng 

means 'to speak loud and low' in Mandarin, but now it means 'shout' through 

Taiwanese borrowing. Its lexical variation is: 

大小聲 da-xiao-sheng: [loud] + [quiet] → [loud] 


Mandarin: 大小聲 after borrowing: 聲響 

/╲ /╲ 

loud quiet 大小聲 quiet 

We see that 大小聲 da-xiao-sheng is modified from the superordinate to the 

hyponym (loud & quiet > loud), so the meaning of Mandarin 大小聲 da-xiao-sheng 

has undergone a process of narrowing by the way of borrowing from Taiwanese. 

The loan word 某協 mou 'wife' is also a good example of this. In Mandarin, 某協 

mou is usually used to refer to 'anyone'. After Taiwanese 某協 mou 'wife' is introduced, 

the meaning of 某協 mou 'anyone' is narrowed.

Mandarin: 某協 after borrowing: people 

Table 3.5 Narrowing 

Lexicon 

某協 mou 

/╲ /╲ 

people ... 某協 ... 

Original 

Meaning 

any people 

Innovative Context Applied 

Meaning 

wife 

我是半某協大姊 

(LH, 05/14/1994; 36) 

大小聲 da-xiao-sheng loud & low shout 你別大小聲好崅不好崅 

來去屢 lai-cu come and go go 我們穆來去屢吃峰飯 

Hyperbole vs. Litotes 

Hyperbole refers to the meaning of a lexical item which is modified from a 

stronger to a weaker meaning (Bloomfield 1933:427). An example provided by 

Bloomfield is that the pre-French ex-tonare meaning 'to strike with thunder' was 

changed to mean 'to astonish' in French. 

In our collected data, we found 愛儀 ai 'want' is an example in this regard. 

Mandarin 愛儀 ai means 'love'. When the Taiwanese ai 'want' was introduced into 

Mandarin as a headline illustrated in (23), the meaning of 愛儀 ai became weaker to 

mean 'want', and the connotation of 'want' has a weaker intention than 'love'. 

(23) Xiang xia za-gen ai pin cai huei ying 

向峭下紮根愛儀拚才會優贏 

'Set well the base, strive to win.' 

(ZR, 12/05/1993; 2)

(24) Mai jin-bi song chao-piao you ying wu 

買金幣送鈔票有影嘸? 

'Buy gold coins and get extra paper money. Is this true?' 

(LH, 12/08/1993; 4) 

As opposed to hyperbole, litotes refer to the meaning of a lexical item which is 

modified from a weaker to a stronger meaning (Bloomfield 1933:427). As 

demonstrated by Bloomfield's example, the pre-English *['kwalljan] meaning 'to 

torment' was changed to mean 'to kill' in Old English. 

In our data collected, we found 影 ying 'truth' is an example in this regard. 

Before the Taiwanese loan words ia n 'shadow, truth' was borrowed, Mandarin 影 

ying meant only 'shadow'. 影 ying 'shadow' is now modified to mean not only the 

superficial shadow but also the definite truth as in (24). Furthermore, 尪 wang is 

another example. 尪 wang meant 'a weak man' in Mandarin 13 . Since Taiwanese ang 

'husband' entered Mandarin, the semantic field of 尪 wang has varied from a weak 

man to husband who is supposed to protect his family. 

3.2.2.2 Figurative Use 

Figurative use is a variation in meaning based on an analogy or likeness between 

things (Crystal 1991:330). For example, Mandarin 俗 su is now adjusted to mean not 

only 'inelegant' but also 'cheap' by the influence of Taiwanese loan word 俗 su as in 

______________________________ 

13 The illustration written in Lushizhunqiou 呂氏尮春卆叇秋 is as follows. 

Min duo ji li, dao duo qiang-bao, mang tu kou wang 

民岙多峿疾癘,道多峿襁褓窂、盲禿傴尪. 

Many people are sick, and a lot of children, blind, undernourished, 

crooked and weak people are on the street.

(25)and (26). We may see that the original meaning of 俗 su 'inelegant' has some 

likeness with the new meaning 'cheap' 14 , i.e. the Taiwanese loan word helped the 

Mandarin item 俗 su 'inelegant' analogizing. 

(25) Su-ge-da-wang de mei-guo mi lai le 

俗擱大碗冕的美秙國米來了 

'Here comes the cheap and good American rice.' 

(LH, 12/01/1993; 11) 

(26) Ai huo-ji su-you-da-kuai 

愛儀火尰雞俗又大塊僣 

'Someone wants to have a cheap and big turkey.' 

(LH, 12/02/1993; 37) 

Loan expressions like 飼料雞 si-liao-ji 'someone who is unable to do things 

well' and 搓儐湯釭圓僙 co-tang-yuan 'to offer a payoff to someone and dissuade him from 

joining a ballot' are also examples of this. 飼料雞 si-liao-ji once referred, in 

Mandarin, only to the chicken which was raised by foodstuff, as opposed to the 

chicken which was raised in the field and was supposed to have better flavor than a 

飼料雞 si-liao-ji had. The Taiwanese expression chhi-liau-ke means not only the 

chicken raised by foodstuff but someone who is unable to do things well. Since 

Mandarin borrowed the Taiwanese expression chhi-liau-ke and represented it with the 

same characters 飼料雞 si-liao-ji, the meaning of 飼料雞 si-liao-ji 'the children 

raised by foodstuff' in Mandarin has been used figuratively under the influence of a 

Taiwanese loan phrase. 

_________________________ 

14 In English, the word cheap is a homograph meaning both 'low in price' and 'less 

attractive or good'.

As for the loan word 搓儐湯釭圓僙 co-tang-yuan 'to offer a payoff to someone and 

dissuade him from joining a ballot', as mentioned in 3.2.1, it is used to represent 

Taiwanese so-in-a-thng 'to make dumpling soup, to offer a payoff to someone and 

dissuade him from joining a ballot' The original 搓儐湯釭圓僙 co-tang-yuan only meant 'to 

make dumpling soup'. Thus, the meaning of 搓儐湯釭圓僙 co-tang-yuan 'to make dumpling 

soup' has also been used figuratively by the influence of a Taiwanese loan word. 

Table 3.6a Figurative Use (monosyllabic loan words) 

Lexicon Original Meaning Figurative Use Context Applied 

俗 su 

inelegant 

cheap 

大俗賣窠 

腳 jiao feet member 會優腳 

衰 sue weak ill-starred 屆很匘衰 

上 shang up most 上讚毮 


閃 shan flash, sidestep go away 閃! 

啼鄴 ti 

*做 zuo 

to cry, howl 

to make 

to speak 

to offer 

(ZG, 10/09/1993; 15) 


(TW, 04/13/1994; 2) 

此後匝沒人醨做好崅心尚 

(ZG, 12/08/1993; 16) 

愛儀 ai love to have to 愛儀拼匳才會優贏 

唸 nian to read to sing 唸歌 (ZZ, 12/01/1993; 14) 

花 hua flower flashy 屆穿秌得很匘花 

Table 3.6b Figurative Use (bisyllabic and polysyllabic loan words) 

Lexicon 

飼料雞 si-liao-ji 

Original 

Meaning 

the chicken 

raised by 

foodstuff 

Figurative Use 

someone who is 

unable to handle 

things well 


飼料雞庄腳行 

(ZG, 12/01/1993; 40)


cuo-tang-yuan 

抬轎 tai-jiao 

失屺禮 shi-li 

to make 

dumpling soup 

to lift the sedan 

chair 

discourtesy 

to offer someone 

profit privately 

and dissuade him 

from taking part 

in competition 

to help 

sorry 


(ZG, 12/08/1993; 14) 

洪即性榮為厉屆抬轎 

失屺禮!死人骨頭 

(LH, 83/05/04; 34) 

老鳥鄘 lao-niao an old bird the stager 屆是半公司屫裡的老鳥鄘 

熱滾滾 

re-gun-gun 



*罕見 han-jian 

*吃峰豆腐 chi-dou-fu 

(something is) 

very hot 


iron board 

to be seen 

infrequently 

to eat bean curb 

(situation 

is )very hot 

to be rebuffed 

a word of 

greeting 

to tease a girl 

賞窚鳥鄘熱滾滾 

(MS, 12/06/1993; 7) 

巨岀星卋踢窪到鐵板 

(ZG, 12/01/1993; 35) 

阿水尯伯,最鄦近真罕見 

(LH, 12/05/1993; 14) 

不再峘被吃峰豆腐 

(MZ, 01/28/1994; 3) 

3.3 Written Representation of Taiwanese Loan Words 

From the above discussion of lexical variation, we see that either a Taiwanese 

loan word expanded the vocabulary of Mandarin or adjusted the semantic field of 

Mandarin depending on the way that the loan word was presented. For example, the 

Taiwanese expression in-a-thng 'to make dumpling soup, to offer a payoff to 

someone and dissuade him from joining a ballot' is borrowed by the process of 

transliteration as 搓儐圓僙仔湯釭 co-yuan-zi-tang. This expanded the vocabulary of 

Mandarin. The Taiwanese expression in-a-thng is borrowed by the process of loan 

translation and is represented as 搓儐湯釭圓僙 co-tang-yuan. This adjusted the semantic 

field of Mandarin, because the form 搓儐湯釭圓僙 co-tang-yuan 'to make dumpling soup' 

already existed in Mandarin before the loan word entered Mandarin, only its meaning 

is reinterpreted and broadened. In other words, we may propose that the phonetic

and/or semantic similarities of the characters in both Mandarin and Taiwanese caused 

such a lexical variation. Therefore, in the following sections, we are going to 

investigate the written representation of Taiwanese loan words. It is hoped that the 

analysis will help to explore the reason why loan words from Taiwanese induced 

those lexical variations in Mandarin. 

3.3.1 Transliteration 

Transliteration is the adoption of the existing Chinese characters to represent 

Taiwanese elements because the phonetic value is similar to the Taiwanese 

morpheme's in question. A process like this is called loan-words by Bynon (1972:217) 

as mentioned in 2.7.1. For example, in our data, the Chinese character 水尯 shui 'water' 

is used to represent the Taiwanese expression sui 'beautiful' because 水尯 is 

pronounced as sui in Taiwanese 15 , which is similar to the Taiwanese expression sui 

'beautiful'. Likewise, 代誌 dai-zhi are selected to represent the Taiwanese expression 

tai-chi 'the matter' simply because they are homophonic in Taiwanese. Chinese 

characters are here used as a means to represent Taiwanese sound 16 . 

Transliteration is a direct and convenient process of borrowing. If speakers 

know the sound of the words they intend to borrow, they can directly transliterate the 

sound by using a character of similar pronunciation. However, it should be noted that 

the use of Chinese characters as a means of transliteration is different from the use of 

an alphabetic writing system 17 , because an alphabetic writing system is a device used 

___________________________ 

15 The literal reading of 水尯 is sui, and colloquial reading is chui. 

16 This is 假借穃 jia-jie, phonetic borrowing, in 六書 Liushu (the six ways of forming 

characters). 

17 To transcribe the sound 'xi', we use the alphabets like /si/ or /xi/. However, if we use 

Chinese character, we have more than enough choices like 西,希,吸,兮,悉,嬉,奚窈,攜,曦,晰醮, 

溪兗,熙,熹,犀,犧,皙,稀,羲,膝穟,蜥,谿,蹊,醯 and 鼷(all with the first tone), etc.

to represent sounds, whereas Chinese characters are not. A character of course bears a 

sequence of sounds, yet each Chinese character itself also carries various meanings. 

Therefore, when a character is used mainly as a means to denote sounds, its meaning 

is still with the character. Sometimes this may cause misunderstanding if the character 

is not appropriately chosen. 

After examining our data, we see that the writers apparently adopt the Chinese 

characters which are frequently used, have neutral meaning, or carry the meaning 

somewhat "near" the Taiwanese items in question. Some writers even make use of the 

meaning-carried speciality of Chinese characters to make a hint or to embellish the 

original Taiwanese meaning through transliteration. Let's now exemplify some 

examples below. 

Firstly, by transliteration, we can sterilize and beautify some expressions which 

denote a negative meaning. For instance, Taiwanese ho-lan was originally a taboo in 

Taiwanese which means 'tiger's testis' to connote 'trick, lie'. After being borrowed into 

Mandarin, hu-lan is now written as 唬爛 hu-lan or 虎爛 hu-lan, but not "虎 hu 

lan". We have replace the taboo by selecting Chinese characters of similar sound. 

Secondly, there are headlines which are designed to picture a hint by applying 

transliteration of Taiwanese expressions. For example, 

(27) Ka-tong zao-xing jin ke-ai 

chin 

卡属通造型勨金可屣愛儀。

cartoon molded gold lovely 

'The cartoon model is golden and lovely.' 

(JJ, 01/17/1994; 5) 

(28) Sha-ren gen wo bi 

bi 

啥人跟我筆。 

Who with me compare 

'Who can compare with me?' 

(ZG, 01/19/1994; 35) 

The 金 jin in (27) is a phonetic transcription of Taiwanese chin 'very' which is 

often represented as 真 zhen 'very', but seldom as 金 jin 'the gold', except for a 

specific purpose such as here to portray a cartoon model which is golden. The 筆 bi 

'the pen' in (28) has phonetic similarity with Taiwanese pi 'to compare' which is 

always represented by the Mandarin counterpart 比尬 bi 'to compare'. This headline is 

used as the title of a competition of calligraphy. 

Transliteration has become an extremely productive means of borrowing 

Taiwanese expressions. However, since there are a great number of characters which 

share the same sound sequence, without a standard policy, different people or even the 

same person would select different characters to represent the same morpheme. For 

example, Taiwanese beh 'would not' is written variously as 麥鄛, 嘜, 未岔,卜, 昧卉, 欲, 

呣 and , etc. Chaos currently exists, especially under the following circumstances: 

(1) when a Taiwanese expression has no cognate words in Mandarin, such as the 

Taiwanese expression he-ka-chai 'fortunately' which is written variously as 好崅家窚在峹, 

好崅佳哉勔, 好崅佳在峹 or 好崅嘉在峹, and Taiwanese che-hue 'to be together' which is written

as 做夥, 作伙峃, 作夥 or 做伙峃, and (2) when a function word is involved, such as the 

above mentioned 麥鄛, 嘜, 未岔, 卜, 昧卉, 欲 and 'would not', and the siong-kai 

'very' in siong-kai-he 'best' is written variously as 上蓋, 尚蓋 and 上介 by 

transliteration. 

Moreover, the Chinese characters selected seldom exactly correspond to the 

sound in both Mandarin and Taiwanese 18 . Therefore, writers' consideration is made 

reluctantly upon similar sounds. In this case, those sounds would be merely similar to 

some degree but not entirely the same. A common modification is made through the 

consonantal similarity, such as Taiwanese lo-mua 'the gangster' which is represented 

by 鱸毻鰻殉 lu-man, and bau-si 'to get profits undeservedly or accidentally' written as 抱 

喜鄹 bao-xi. Another alteration is made through the similarity of vowels, e.g., 

Taiwanese expression bu-sa-sa is represented by 'misty, fog bound' 霧煞入煞入 

wu-sha-sha, and iau-chiau by 妖嬌 yao-jiao. Though in some cases, the sounds in 

both languages are coincidentally similar in respect to both consonants and vowels, 

yet the tone is different, e.g., Taiwanese kha2 'comparatively' 19 by 卡属 ka3 as in 

卡属好崅 ka-hao 'better' or 卡属清楚儭 ka-qing-chu 'comparatively clear'. In this way, sound 

change arose gradually. 

3.3.2 Loan Translation 

Another way to represent Taiwanese expressions is loan translation. This is done 

by the Chinese characters which have the same meaning as the Taiwanese expression. 

For example, Taiwanese item sui 'beautiful' is sometimes written through translation 

as 美秙 mei 'beautiful' in Mandarin (cf. sui 'beautiful' is written as 水尯 shui by 

____________________________ 

18 Cognate words will always have sound correspondence in both Mandarin and Taiwanese. 

However, these are not our concern in this study. 

19 The 'kha' in expressions like kha1 he2 'better' or kha1 chhiong3 chho2 'comparatively 

clear' is pronounced as the first tone (high level) owing to tone sandi.

transliteration as mentioned in 3.3.1), and 黑 hei 'black' in 黑白岭講 hei-pai-jiang 'to 

talk rot' is also translated. The parts of the Taiwanese expression are translated 

separately and a new word formed. In this way, many Taiwanese expressions are 

borrowed into Mandarin and form a class of new compounds termed as 

semicompounds by Babic (1986:31-32), which consists of words joined directly in 

juxtaposition. 

Loan translation of Taiwanese loan words in newspapers can be distinguished 

into two types. In the first type, the selection of a Mandarin counterpart of the 

Taiwanese expression is made without considering the sound correspondence at all 20 . 

This can be illustrated by the above mentioned semantic translation of Taiwanese sui 

'beautiful' as 美秙 mei 'beautiful' instead of 水尯 shui 'water'; the translation of 

Taiwanese bue-len-teng 'not fluently' as 不流却利 bu-liu-li instead of 麥鄛輪窶轉 

mai-lun-zhuan; and the Taiwanese cha-bo 'woman' is written as 女人 nu-ren as 

opposed to 查卟某協 cha-mou. In addition, in-a 'stuffed dumplings made of glutinous 

rice flour served in soup' is written as 湯釭圓僙 tang-yuan instead of 圓僙子 yuan-zi as in 

the Taiwanese expression se-in-a-thng 'to make dumpling soup; to offer someone 

profit privately and dissuade him from competition'. By this way, after translation, 

the Taiwanese expression looks no longer like Taiwanese if the context is Mandarin. 

This kind of translation is not a means of borrowing, but is a method to represent 

Taiwanese expressions. 

(29) Ke fang ren zuo-tang-yuan 


'May prevent someone from offering others profit and dissuade him from 

the competition.' (ZG, 12/08/1993; 14) 

_________________________ 

20 This is named as xung-yung-zi 訓用字崉 by Cheng (1989:307).

(30) Zuo-yuan-zi-tang yi-an, Fu-jia-zeng fou-ren jie-ru 

搓儐圓僙仔湯釭疑案,傅鄟家窚增否認介入 

'Having offered someone payoff and dissuade him from the competition 

which is denied by Fu-jia-zeng (personal name).' 

(LH, 05/26/1994; 14) 

Nevertheless, if the context is Taiwanese or the expression is not available in 

Mandarin, certain terms are categorized as borrowings, such as 黑白岭講 hei-bai-jiang 

'to talk rot' and 招人怨匤 zhao-ren-yuan 'annoying'. Although the Taiwanese element 

o 'black' is preferred to be semantically translated as 黑 hei 'black' instead of being 

phonetically transcribed as 烏 wu 'black', and ko is semantically translated as 招 

zhao but not phonetically transcribed as 顧 gu, these expressions are still considered 

to be loan words from Taiwanese. The reason for this is simply that the structure of 

terms such as 黑白岭講 hei-bai-jiang 'to talk rot' and 招人怨匤 zhao-ren-yuan 

'annoying' obviously do not belong to the word-formation of Mandarin. 

The second type of loan translation refers to the situation where a word is not 

borrowed as a whole. On the contrary, parts of the word are translated separately, 

morpheme by morpheme, and then a new word is formed. Let's temporarily name this 

process 'partial semantic translation'. For example, Taiwanese bue-len-teng is 

translated as 未岔-輪窶-轉. Here 未岔 is semantically translated to represent bue, 輪窶 

represents len and 轉 represents teng. This Taiwanese expression is translated 

morpheme by morpheme and forms new words in Mandarin. Another example is 

so-in-a-thng which is translated as 搓儐-圓僙-仔-湯釭; 搓儐 co is semantically translated to 

represent the Taiwanese so 'twist', 圓僙 to represent in, 仔 to represent a and 湯釭 to 

represent thng 'soup' (cf. 搓儐湯釭圓僙 co-tang-yuan). In this way, the parts of the word are

translated semantically but their phonetic similarities are also taken into consideration. 

It can be seen as a kind of mixed word creation as we are going to discuss in the next 

section. 

3.3.3 Mixed Word Creation 

Mixed word creation is the use of a character due to the similarity of its sound 

and meaning in Taiwanese, i.e. both phonetic and semantic similarity are taken into 

consideration for presenting Taiwanese loan words. The above partial semantic 

translation is one example of this. 

Due to the fact that Taiwanese keeps archaic Chinese sound conservatively, a 

special approach to transcription can be applied. In this case, Taiwanese expressions 

are transcribed into the old forms of Chinese characters which appear only in specific 

writing styles, such as in official documents and obituaries. A lot of Taiwanese 

expressions found in books written by linguists exemplify this case, such as,裘 hiu 

'the coat, the jacket', 企峐 khia 'to stand', 殮 ia 'the train station', 身軀 sing-khu 'the 

body', 舉枷 gia-ke 'to make an unnecessary move', 泅水尯 siu-chui 'to swim', 糶 

thio 'to sell rice', 糴 tia 'to buy rice' 21 . These old forms of Chinese characters are 

prepared but are little used in colloquial modern Mandarin. They are now used in this 

approach to represent Taiwanese expressions because the genetic relationship between 

Taiwanese and Mandarin is being considered. No foreign words can be represented or 

borrowed in this way. In the collected data, the followings are examples in this case 22 . 

____________________________ 

21 This type of character is also referred to as ben-zi 本岓字崉 'the original character' or 

zheng-zu 正岗字崉 'the orthodox character' of Taiwanese by some linguists. 

22 This is like 轉注 zhuanzhu in 六書 Liuzhu. Cheng (1989:306) named as 

zhuan-yung-han-zi 轉用漢字崉 'figurative character' or doublet.

(31) Fu-zhong-gong ming-tian jian-jiao 

福忠宮窜明天建匔醮 

'Fu-zhung-gong (the name of a temple) is going to have a big worship 

tomorrow.' 

(MS, 12/05/1993; 200) 

(32) Wo hao-jia-zai you zhe-zhang di-yi-ming de cheng-ji-dan 

我好崅佳哉勔有這張第一名峮的成績單酀 

'Fortunately, I have this report card which proved that I was the champion.' 

(TW, 03/01/1994; 2) 

(33) Da-pin lai shuai-kai zhe-ge dai ming-sheng 

打岌拼匳來甩開這個積歹尪名峮聲 

'Striving to get rid of the disrepute.' 

(TW, 02/20/1994; 2) 

(34) Xing-zheng-yuan-zhang jing sha-mi 

行政十院長殭啥米? 

'What is the prime minister afraid of?' 

(TW, 02/23/1994; 2) 

(35) Qiang-wei xing-lu 

薔薇行路 

'The rose walks (The title of a prose).' 

(ZG, 01/25/1994; 35)

(36) Meng-han guai zi-ji 

甭厠戇! 怪自己 

'Don't be dumb! You have to blame yourself.' 

(JJ, 01/28/1994; 11) 

(37) Zun-jie zun weng fe-yung 

撙節冫尊酥翁喪鄺禮費用 

'To be economical on your father's funeral expenses.' 

(ZH, 12/10/1993; 5) 

3.3.4 Neologism 

In our data, there are loan words presented by the characters which are not found 

in Mandarin, that is, they are neologism specially invented for representing those 

words. For example, the character 呷 jia in (38) was invented for representing the 

Taiwanese loan word chiah 'to eat'. As mentioned earlier, neologisms are formed more 

or less the same as the basic principles for forming new characters as presented in the 

Liushu 六書 of the Shuowenjiezi 說文尠解字崉. The 呷 jia is an example of phonetic 

compounding or xing-sheng 形聲. The word-formation of these compounds is of 

"radical + phonetic" structure, i.e., the character 呷 consists of the 口 'mouth' 

radical to represent the meaning and of the 岪 jia to denote the sound. 

(38) Xian-dai-ren jia gu-zao wei 

現代人呷古層早味 

'Modern people have the ancient taste.' 

(LH, 07/17/1993; 33)

(39) Tai-wan chhit-tho-lang, zhuan-kou jun-huo shang. 

台屲灣毞迫稜迌人, 轉口軍稔火尰商 

'The Taiwanese gangster became an ammunition exporter.' 

(ZG, 02/10/1991, 7) 

Some newly invented characters for representing Taiwanese elements are not 

created in either way, but have existed so long that it is hard to trace when and how 

they came into existence, as exemplified by the term 迫稜迌 chhit-tho 'play; have fun' as 

in 迫稜迌人 chhit-tho-lang 'loafer'. 

The basic principles discussed above for forming new characters or selecting 

existing characters for Taiwanese loan words are summarized in table 3.7

Table 3.7 Written Representation of Taiwanese Loan Words 

1. Transliteration (jiajie 假借穃) 

An existing character is used to represent Taiwanese elements because its 

Taiwanese sound is similar to the Taiwanese morpheme in question. 

e.g., 水尯 shui 'beautiful' and 代誌 dai-zhi 'matter'. 

2. Loan translation 

An existing character is used to represent Taiwanese for its similarity in meanings. 

a. Counterparts 

A Mandarin counterpart is used to represent Taiwanese. This is not 

borrowing if the context is Mandarin. 

e.g.,流却利 liu-li 'fluently' and 搓儐湯釭圓僙 cuo-tang-yuan 'to make dumpling 

soup; to offer someone profit privately and dissuade him from taking part in 

competition. 

b. Partial Semantic Translation 

A Taiwanese expression is borrowed by translating morpheme by 

morpheme. 

e.g., 輪窶轉 lun-zhuan 'fluently' and 搓儐圓僙子湯釭 cuo-yuan-zi-tang 'to make 

dumpling soup; to offer someone profit privately and dissuade him from 

taking part in competition. 

3. Mixed Word Creation (zhuanzhu 轉注) 

a. Partial Semantic Translation 

(as 2b) 

b. Old Forms of Chinese Characters 

Taiwanese expressions are transcribed into the old forms of Chinese 

characters. 

4. Neologism 

e.g., (做)醮 jiao 'to sacrifice' and (作)穡(人) se 'harvested crops' 

a. phonetic compounding (xingsheng 形聲) 

A character is compounded of "radical + phonetic" structure. 

e.g., 呷 

b. Meaning Aggregation (huiyi 會優意僼) 

A character whose meaning is derived from combining the meanings of its 

constituent parts. 

e.g., 

c. Ideography (zhishi 指匸事) 

A character is indicative of the ideas represented.

4. Dynamics of Language Borrowing 

The borrowing process of languages can be explained in terms of several 

interwoven and motivated reasons. The lexical borrowing which operates between 

Taiwanese and Mandarin is under the joint constraint of both linguistic and 

non-linguistic factors: (1) nonlinguistic factors - political environment and the 

speakers' psychological identity, (2) linguistic factors - to fill in lexical gaps and the 

need for synonyms. 

Borrowing has been improperly misunderstood in the past. It was thought that 

borrowing caused a language to become corrupted or less "pure". On the contrary, 

borrowings make the recipient language much richer, more subtle and more 

expressive than it was before. It is hoped that the discussion in this chapter will 

provide us with a clear view of why Taiwanese lexicon is borrowed into Mandarin. 

4.1 The Nonlinguistic Motivation 

Borrowing is always primarily stimulated by external factors involved in social 

change. The external motivation occurs in a large environment and is comparatively 

more obvious for general speakers to detect. Therefore, the external factors of 

language borrowing always initiate the borrowing and invite the internal motivations 

to join it. The external factors which stimulate the Taiwanese lexicon to be borrowed 

into Mandarin are the change of political environment and the speakers' psychological 

identity.

4.1.1 Political Environment 

Over the last decade, the political environment in Taiwan has been changing. 

With the political reformation toward a democratic country, the repeal of martial law 

in mid 1987, and the lift of the political restrictions on newspapers in 1988, several 

parties are now able to be organized primarily by Taiwanese people who are interested 

in politics. 

During the time when KMT (Kuomintang) alone governed Taiwan, Mandarin 

was the only language spoken at political occasions. At the present time, the periphery 

usually speak their mother tongue, Taiwanese, at public occasions. Taiwanese 

therefore received an unexpected elevation. People like to speak Taiwanese or to 

borrow Taiwanese expressions into Mandarin. Initiated by the politicians, speakers' 

attitude toward languages is changing along with political changes. Political 

reformation becomes a trigger, accompanied by the awakening of ethnic 

consciousness, so language policy has been re-evaluated to echo the reformation. 

4.1.2 Speakers' Psychological Identity 

People are sensitive to political and social changes. Besides adjusting their sense 

of values, speakers accommodate their language behavior constantly to reflect the 

social tendency. This is because verbal communication is not only used to exchange 

ideas but is also a device used to claim one's identity in the new class. 

With the political stimuli and the re-evaluated language policy, the speakers of 

Mandarin no longer consider that speaking Taiwanese is low language behavior. On

the contrary, they realize that to speak Taiwanese or to borrow Taiwanese directly into 

Mandarin conversation can create a communicative effect. The role of Taiwanese loan 

words is consequently accepted and Taiwanese loan words have gradually become a 

fashionable communicative device. 

4.2 Pragmatic Functions 

The internal motivation of lexical borrowing involves the nature of the loan and 

recipient languages themselves. There are two linguistic factors operating between 

Taiwanese and Mandarin which induce borrowing, one is to fill in the lexical gap in 

Mandarin, another is, for communicative purposes, to borrow some unique or 

expressive terms, which are, as Tay (1989:413) remarks, considered to be "the most 

colorful, expressive, shortest or most economic way" of expression in the loan 

language. 

It is widely believed that a lexical gap in the recipient language makes it easy to 

induce borrowing. After all, a prefabricated lexical item is far more felicitous than a 

long description is. The borrowings which fill in the lexical gap will make the 

recipient language richer. As for the other loan words which coexist with the original 

native words, these make the recipient language more subtle and expressive than it 

was before.

4.2.1 To Fill in Lexical Gap 

Speakers may occasionally fail to find an appropriate lexical item ready in 

Mandarin to express an idea. In other words, they encounter a lexical gap in Mandarin. 

Whereas a prefabricated Taiwanese lexical item in question is right there to be 

borrowed to fill in the lexical gap. For instance, 摃龜 kon-ku is a loan word from 

Taiwanese meaning a failure in catching fish or any kind of failure, as exemplified by 

the following examples quoted from newspaper headlines. 

(40) Diao you gao-bie gang-gue de ji-jie 

kon-ku 

釣鄂友告別摃龜的季節冫 

'Anglers said good-bye to the unlucky season.' 

(LH, 82/12/05; 20) 

(41) Gang-gue de ying-pian yi-da-due 

kon-ku 

摃龜的影片尴一大堆 

'A lot of films did not place.' 

(ZY, 82/12/05; 18) 

(42) Zhe zhang zhi-piao gang-gue you he-fang 

這張支尟票摃龜又何妨 

kon-ku 

'What matters if the check is not cashable.' 

(LH, 83/05/26; 11)

Without a prefabricated expression like 摃龜 kon-ku 'failure', a Mandarin 

speaker will have to say something like 六合峯彩賭窞輸了 liu-he-cai-du-shu-le 'the 

failure in a lottery game' or 沒釣鄂到魚鄗 mei-diao-dao-yu 'do not catch any fish', as (40) 

or 沒得獎 mei-de-jiang 'lose the prize', as (41) to convey the same message of 摃 

龜 kon-ku 'failure'. 

Instead of using this loan word to express an idea appropriately and perfectly, 

we may have to apply a longer and less felicitous speech such as the above suggestion, 

and that was what the speakers did before Taiwanese loan words like 摃龜 kon-ku 

'failure' entered Mandarin. As Wang (1991) pointed out, for the speaker, a prefab is 

more easy to reach for; and for the hearer, it allows more effective and impressive 

messages to be received. A loan word like 摃龜 kon-ku 'failure' is just like the prefab 

which is ready and effective, while the paraphrase of long expression in Mandarin is 

less economic and impressive. 

According to the theory of propositional and automatic utterances proposed by 

Wang (1991), there are basic units and prefabs, named propositional and automatic 

units respectively, stored separately in our mental cabinet. 

A prefab, the automatic utterance, is formed by some propositional units (which 

in turn is fundamentally formed at a lower level by some basic units). In other words, 

an automatic utterance is a prefabricatedly prepared semi-product ready to be reached 

for. Whereas, with long speech, the propositional utterance is made up solely of 

little and basic units. One would go through a rather laborious process combining the 

basic units to be able to form a proposition. A loan word like 摃龜 kon-ku 'failure' 

is just like the prefab which is prepared and effective, while the paraphrasing

Mandarin long expression like 六合峯彩賭窞輸了 liu-he-cai-du-shu-le 'the failure in a 

lottery game' is less economic and impressive. 

Table 4.1 The Taiwanese Loan Words Borrowed to Fill in the Lexical Gap in 

Taiwanese 

Loan Words 

龜毛尭 gui-mao 

送作堆 

song-zuo-due 

秘雕 bi-diao 

Mandarin 

賭窞爛票 du-lan-piao 

火尰花 huo-hua 

Meaning 

awkward 

to be sent 

together 

a crooked and 

not good 

looking person 

Expression in 

Mandarin 

愛儀挑匿人毛尭病的個積 

性 

在峹未岔經冲雙方尣同峧意僼 

下撮合峯兩人 

其貌不佳又有些 

駝竦背秥的人 

意僼把票投給另屮一 

方尣 

Context 

屆的人很匘龜毛尭,很匘難相厴處 

集體殱送作堆,歡喜鄹樓喜鄹氣 

洋危洋危 (ZG, 01/06/1994; 22) 

右履路殺手尝秘雕女 

(MS, 12/08/1983; 4) 

a unwilling vote 不滿一方尣,而故卂執政十支尟票沒兌現,「賭窞爛 

miff, vexedly 

4.2.2 The Need for Synonym 

心尚中不快又不知 

如崇何是半好崅 

票」給了前共峗黨 

(LH, 12/07/1983; 8) 

這種話叫屭人聽歭了火尰花 

We can find a lot of loan words from Taiwanese which are not borrowed in order 

to fill in any lexical gaps in Mandarin. Nevertheless, these loan words coexist with 

equally delicate Mandarin equivalents. For example, we have 快活卺 kuai-huo, 痛快 

tong-kuai, 爽快 shuang-kuai and 暢快 chang-kuai in Mandarin, but the Taiwanese 

爽 shuang 'very comfortable' is borrowed. Why do speakers borrow the item 爽 

shuang 'very comfortable', when the Mandarin lexical items 快活卺 kuai-huo, 痛快 

tong-kuai, 爽快 shuang-kuai and 暢快 chang-kuai exist?

Words may be borrowed because it is felt that they express an attitude or feeling 

not adequately expressed in any native expression. In other words, a Taiwanese 

lexical item may be borrowed not because there is any lexical gap in Mandarin, but 

because it is felt to be expressive or useful under certain conditions, such as to be able 

to express a touch of local flavor, to create a humorous effect, or simply due to the 

speaker's own preference. 

In the subsequent sections, we will compare the Taiwanese loan words with their 

synonyms in Mandarin in order to investigate the reasons which induced the 

borrowing. 

4.2.2.1 A Denotation of Solidarity 

As Taiwanese is the native language in Taiwan, the local color inherent in the 

language is self-evident (Shih 1993:77). A speaker may use loan words not because he 

lacks equivalent Mandarin words; rather, he deliberately adopts Taiwanese loan words 

to display or claim his identity to the group. This can be best exemplified by the 

campaign speech at the time of a local election. The candidates and their canvassers 

grasp every chance to speak Taiwanese or to use Taiwanese loan words to show a 

touch of local flavor or to denote their provincialism or solidarity since the ability to 

speak Taiwanese has been regarded as highly appealing, especially in local speech. 

We hereby illustrate as follows some loan words that were put into headlines on 

newspapers at the time of election. 

(43) Wu-bo-xiong xuan sheng-zhang, xin-yi ka qing-chu 

吳伯雄選省厲長,心尚意僼卡属清楚儭

'Wu-bo-xiong (personal name, the minister of Interior) wants to join the 

ballot for election of premier. His will is comparatively clear.' 

(LH, 12/01/1993; 3) 

(44) Pu-li xuan-qing qiang-qiang-gun 

埔突里選情強強滾 

'The preelection situation at Pu-li (a place) is boisterous.' 

(MZ, 01/01/1994; 16) 

(45) Xi-wang tai-bei shi-zhang you tai-bei jian-zai xuan 

希望台屲北屙岃長岩台屲北屙囝島仔選 

'It is hoped that the mayor of Taipei is selected out of inhabitants.' 

(ZZ, 12/04/1993; 1) 

(46) Sheng-dang-bu lao-shen-zai-zai 

省厲黨部老神在峹在峹 

'Provincial Party committee remains poised.' 

(LH, 01/30/1994; 3) 

(47) Lin-guang-ming si-zhong Yang-fu-jian 

林光峒銘死忠楊儴福建匔 

'Lin-guang-ming (personal name) is completely devoted to Yang-fu-jien 

(personal name).' 

(MZ, 01/27/1994; 15) 

(48) Xu-yao qian-cheng de ren-xuan 

需要稊「牽成」的人選

'One needs to be helped.' 

(GS, 12/04/1993; 11) 

(49) Zhe-kuan de min-yi-dai-biao 

這款金的民岙意僼代表 

'A representative like this.' 

(ZZ, 12/08/1993; 19) 

(50) SOS man-tian fei, hou-xuan-ren ai-ai-jiao 

SOS 滿天飛稲,候穎選人哀勑哀勑叫屭 

'We can hear SOS wherever the candidates implore the electorate for vote.' 

(MZ, 01/28/1993; 15) 

(51) Zheng-jin-xin zong-bu po-xiang 

鄭竀進興總部「破相厴」 

'The headquarters of Zheng-jin-xin (personal name) was infested.' 

(MZ, 01/25/1993; 4) 

4.2.2.2 Humorous Effect 

Taiwanese loan words are now frequently used to create a humorous or relaxed 

effect, especially when youth chat with each other and students speak with their peers 

in an easy atmosphere. Many Taiwanese expressions are in this circumstance 

translated into Mandarin and established as a loan words, and then spread out from 

one to many speakers, e.g. 虎爛 hu-lan 'trick, lie'. The youth use these loan words 

sometimes just for fun, as a wisecrack.

In a formal speech, the lecturer sometimes employs Taiwanese as a comic 

device in speech. In the speech with the topic 'Be the master of yourself' 做自己的主尾 

人 zuo-zi-ji-de-zhu-ren, the lecturer, Mr. Zhung Si-Jia said, 

(52) Ta fe-chang de tie-chi, yi-dian dou bu-ken ren-cuo 

屆非常的鐵齒竽,一點都不肯認錯 

'He does not confess, he is very closed mouthed.' 

The auditors might laugh out loud for the Taiwanese loan words or for the effect 

created, the atmosphere is thus relaxed and the distance between the lecturer and the 

auditors is reduced. The communicative effect of the Taiwanese loan words which 

serve as a device to create a comic or a humorous effect is then achieved. 

4.2.2.3 A Touch of Fashion 

The desire to show being modern or being fashionable may also motivate 

Taiwanese lexical borrowing. The youth are sensitive to fashion. They are always the 

first to be aware of the step of the times, and are never too tired to keep up with the 

current fashion. As we know, to speak or to write Taiwanese loan words has become a 

fashion. The youth surely smell it already, thus, we can hear Taiwanese loan words 

spoken everywhere by the youth, such as 鴨霸 ya-ba 'swank', 鬱氂卒 yu-zu 'gloomy', 

啥米 sha-mi 'what', 打岌拼匳 da-pin 'strive', 好崅家窚在峹 hao-jia-zai 'fortunately' and 有的 

沒有的 you-de-mei-you-de 'anything', etc. 

As for the older generation, Taiwanese loan words might not be so popular in 

their conversation, but still we can find many examples. For instance, the Taiwanese

loan word 時時 shi-shi 'always' occurs frequently in the news on TV. This is 

probably because the loan word has been nativized or it looks very much like 

Mandarin origin so that the anchorman uses it spontaneously and is not aware of the 

fact that it is a borrowing. Nevertheless, it is also possible that the older generation 

uses Taiwanese loan words deliberately to mark their being modern, and to claim their 

identity to a fashionable class. 

4.2.2.4 Expressiveness 

Some Taiwanese lexical items may be borrowed simply because the speakers 

consider that they are vivid, colorful or expressive. There is a commonly held belief 

that the high variety is more beautiful, more expressive, and more logical than the low 

variety (Ferguson 1959). However, each language or language variety can be just as 

beautiful, expressive and logical as any other in different respects. Moreover, it can be 

very subjective to assume a lexical item is being vivid or expressive. That is, there is 

no principle or theoretical ground to determine whether a word is expressive or not. It 

depends only on individual psychological identity. A word which is considered to be 

expressive to speaker A might be considered just normal to speaker B. However, some 

people do have the similar view on certain things. Consequently, Taiwanese 

expressions are borrowed and spread from time to time. 

A speaker might consider a word expressive because the word can ease his tone; 

or, in contrast, reinforce his tone and express a more suitable meaning. For example, 

speakers might find the term 腦筋有問題 nao-jin-you-wen-ti 'to get problem in one's 

mind' too sharp to blame someone who has done something wrong. In the meantime, 

he might feel that the loan word 脫線穑 tuo-xian 'to get problem in one's mind' can

ease his tone and express his meaning in a less serious way. Likewise, a speaker 

might feel the term 做不到 zuo-bu-dao 'cannot do it' or 沒辦法 mei-ban-fa 'cannot 

do it' too sharp to refuse someone, then the loan word 沒法度匓 mei-fa-du 'cannot do 

it' might be able to express his refusal in a rather gentle way 23 . 

Furthermore, a Taiwanese lexical item can be borrowed to replace a taboo word 

in Mandarin, because the loan word conveys a more moderate tone than the 

equivalent Mandarin words does. For example, 落翅仔 luo-chi-zai 'party girl' is 

borrowed to replace 妓女 ji-nu 'prostitute'. 

On the other hand, a speaker might consider that a word is expressive because it 

can be used to reinforce the tone. For instance, one might think that the Taiwanese 

loan word 黑白岭講 hei-bai-jiang 'to talk rot' is expressive because it denotes 

something more than 胡秦說 hu-shuo 'to talk rot' or 亂講 luan-jiang 'to talk rot', and 

that 黑白岭講 hei-bai-jiang 'to talk rot' reinforces his tone of disapproval of someone 

who speaks something carelessly. Likewise, 莫宰窘羊 mo-zai-yang 'do not know' was 

borrowed a long time ago to be used as a synonym of 不知道 bu-zhi-dao 'do not 

know'. One might sometimes use 莫宰窘羊 mo-zai-yang 'do not know' deliberately 

instead of 不知道 bu-zhi-dao 'do not know' in a Mandarin utterance, because he 

thinks that 莫宰窘羊 mo-zai-yang 'do not know' denotes more than 不知道 

pu-zhi-dao 'do not know'. e.g. 雞婆 ji-po 'nosy' is stronger than 好崅管閒事 

hao-guan-xian-shi 'nosy' , 鬱氂卒 yu-zu 'gloomy' is stronger than 心尚情不好崅 

xin-qing-bu-hao 'in the bad mood'. 

It should be noted that whether a loan word can ease or reinforce the tone 

depends on various situations. Loan words like 莫宰窘羊 mo-zai-yang 'do not know', 

________________________ 

23 Examples of this kind can also be used to create a humorous effect (4.2.2.2).

as illustrated in the above paragraph, can reinforce the tone, especially when the 

speaker says it with a strong intonation and adds a particle like 啦 la after 莫宰窘羊 

mo-zai-yang 'do not know', such as 莫宰窘羊啦 mo-zai-yang la 'do not know'. In 

contrast, it can also ease the tone especially when the speaker softens the intonation or 

adds a particle after 莫宰窘羊 mo-zai-yang 'do not know', like 莫宰窘羊 

mo-zai-yang ye 'do not know'. 

To sum up, the internal motivation of borrowing has been roughly grouped into 

two categories in terms of whether or not they have Mandarin equivalents. In the 

discussion where there are equivalents found in Mandarin, synonyms for denoting 

provincialism and creating a humorous effect constitute the main categories. Both of 

them are situational dependent, the former is mostly applied by politicians, and the 

latter is used by general speakers. 

We would like to clarify here that the classification made for the need of 

synonyms may be somewhat subjective, since the speakers' states of mind are hard to 

detect. We have some motivations overlapping, and quite a few loan words are been 

borrowed or used for more than one motivation. One thing we are sure of is that the 

coexistence of a Taiwanese loan word with its equally delicate Mandarin equivalent 

will cause competition between them. Decades later, or even a hundred, or a thousand 

years later, their further coexistence, their shared or different semantic field, and their 

applicability to different styles, can be explained in terms of several interwoven 

factors, such as, again, the expressiveness or social motivation, etc. 

To conclude this chapter, a Taiwanese loan word is borrowed into Mandarin 

under the joint constraint of external and internal motivations. To initiate the process, 

the external political environment plays a major role, along with the speakers' 

awareness of speaking Taiwanese or Taiwanese loan words being no longer a vulgar

language behavior. Additionally, the internal linguistic factors also join to induce 

borrowing. Speakers would borrow Taiwanese expressions to fill in a lexical gap or 

simply because it was felt that the loan words can express an attitude or feeling not 

adequately expressed in the Mandarin equivalent. The Taiwanese loan words then 

appear copiously in Mandarin. Taking the chance of borrowing words from Taiwanese, 

Mandarin metabolizes. Just like reshuffling in a card game, after the shuffle, the cards 

will give a brand-new display. We can predict that a thousand years from now, 

Mandarin will be rejuvenescent and become a brand-new language with the mixture 

of Taiwanese loan words.

5. Sociolinguistic Distribution 

A speaker who speaks Mandarin does not necessarily use Taiwanese loan words 

on a consistent basis. Speakers take social appropriateness into consideration when 

they use Taiwanese loan words. Who employs Taiwanese loan words? Any speaker 

does. A speaker may incorporate loan words depending on whom they are addressing, 

when they are speaking and about what topic. That is, Taiwanese loan words have 

their sociolinguistic distribution. They are used depending on the interwoven social 

situations and social variables. 

5.1 Domains 

Classes of situations are referred to as domains (see 2.5.6), such as family 

domain, religion domain, friendship domain, education domain and employment 

domain, etc. The sociolinguistic distribution of Taiwanese loan words is domain 

allocated. An initial discussion of appropriate usage of Taiwanese loan words in 

each domain will be given as follows. 

Among the domains of family, religion, friendship, education and employment, 

the use of Taiwanese loan words is most often occurred in the domain of education 

and friendship, secondarily for those of family and employment, and least of all in 

the domain of religion. An education domain is where the fashionable and 

creative young people gathered. Thus, the use of Taiwanese loan words is fairly 

popular. While the religion domain is the domain where people listen to the doctrine 

and introspect themselves most of the time. People usually do not tend to employ 

Taiwanese loan words in such a formal locale.

The application of Taiwanese loan words is different to some extent even in the 

same domain. For example, In the family domain, a monolingual family of 

Taiwanese do not use Taiwanese loan words in their conversation. A monolingual 

family of Mandarin may use some Taiwanese loan words, which are popular used, in 

their conversation. While a bilingual family of Mandarin and Taiwanese tend to 

employ many Taiwanese loan words in their conversation. On the other hand, in 

education domain, students tend to use more Taiwanese loan words than their 

teachers do. Whereas in the religion domain, the Catholics tend to employ more 

Taiwanese loan words than the priests do. 

5.2 Social Situation 

Examining the sociolinguistic distribution of Taiwanese loan words more detail 

in terms of three components of domain, we see that the use of Taiwanese loan words 

is dependent upon (1) the settings, whether casual or formal, (2) the 

role-relationships, i.e., the relationship between the participants, and (3) topics that 

the speakers are talking about. In the consequent sections, we are going to discuss 

these three factors accordingly. 

5.2.1 Settings 

'Where' and 'when' the conversation takes place is what we concern in this section. 

To discuss the sociolinguistic distribution of Taiwanese loan words in settings, two 

distinct settings, namely, (1) formal setting, and (2) the casual setting, can be provided.

How to distinguish a setting whether it is formal or casual? An example will help 

illustrate this crucial point. 

Had we compared the settings like office and home, the former is more likely to 

be impersonal than personal, more competitive than non-competitive, more public 

than private, more status oriented than non-status oriented, more formal than informal. 

Therefore, a setting like office is considered to be a formal setting whereas a setting 

like home is a casual setting. The following discussion will provide us the distribution 

of Taiwanese loan words in formal setting and casual setting, respectively. 

5.2.1.1 Formal Settings 

Settings like office, church, classroom, study room, assembly room, etc. are 

considered to be formal settings. Whether the Taiwanese loan words are appropriately 

used by the participants depends crucially on when and where the participants are. 

Taiwanese loan words usually are not used in formal settings like these, especially 

when, for example, working time in the office or school time in a classroom. 

However, there are formal settings where the participants use every opportunity 

available to speak Taiwanese loan words. A local political campaign speech is one of 

these examples. 

A campaign speech is supposed to be formal and solemn for the candidates' to 

speak of their political views and ideals and express how they plan to help the 

community and society in general. Since the ability to speak Taiwanese has been 

regarded as highly appealing, at the campaign speech of local elections, the candidates 

and their canvassers all try their best to show their ability to speak Taiwanese, and

thus their membership in the group. For the candidates who do not speak Taiwanese, 

they employ a lot of Taiwanese loan words in their speech to convey the same 

message. 

Furthermore, an auditorium is also considered to be a formal setting where a 

lecturer conveys his idea and the audience acquire knowledge. If someone needs to 

give a lecture at a university, he is expected to use Mandarin, except when the topic is 

directly related to Taiwanese culture. However, whatever language he applies, 

Taiwanese loan words always serve as a device to create a comic or a humorous effect 

in the lecture. The distance between the lecturer and audience is always reduced by 

the usage of Taiwanese loan words. 

5.2.1.2 Casual Settings 

Settings like bus stop, campus, dining room, coffee shop, etc. are considered to 

be casual settings. Taiwanese loan words are used very often in casual settings when 

the participants are relaxed, trying to relax or whether he is trying to help other 

participants to relax. For example, a coffee shop or campus is a setting where we can 

always hear people or students using Taiwanese loan words, especially at break time 

or after school. They feel relaxed at this time and in this setting. 

In the school domain, students apply Taiwanese loan words more on campus 

than in classrooms; in the family domain, members of the family use Taiwanese loan 

words more in the living room than in the study room; in the work domain, workers 

employ Taiwanese loan words more at the bus stop than in the office. This is so 

because some settings make the speakers feel more at ease than the other. For instance, 

a campus is the setting where students have entertainment rather than study. A bus

stop is where speakers wait for the bus and chat with each other but are not doing 

business. On the contrary, in a setting like a classroom, study room or office, speakers 

focus on such things as discussing lessons or negotiating business. Unless the 

participants deliberately use Taiwanese loan words for creating a casual situation or to 

soften the atmosphere, they may not use any Taiwanese loan words in their 

conversation. 

Fig. 5.1 Setting-governed Adoption of Taiwanese Loan Words 

5.2.2 Role-relationships 

Another factor which governs the sociolinguistic distribution of Taiwanese loan 

words involves identifying who the speaker is and the identity of the addressee, i.e. 

role relationship between the participants of the conversation. This is the first

concern of this section. Meanwhile, under the discussion of the role-relationship 

between the participants, a class of social variables, such as age, sex, status, 

occupation, and so on, which is involved in the participants will also be provided. We 

will investigate separately each social variable and the sociolinguistic distribution of 

Taiwanese loan words (see 5.2.2.1), then the interaction of these social variables and 

the related distribution (see 5.2.2.2). 

The relationships between the participants can be father-son relationship, 

teacher-student relationship, employer-employee relationship, classmate-classmate 

relationship and friend-friend relationship, etc. The participants may employ 

Taiwanese loan words when they are (1) on the same level of the status hierarchy, for 

example, supervisor to supervisor, employee to employee, teacher to teacher, student 

to student, or (2) when the speaker has a higher status than the addressee, for instance, 

supervisor to employee, teacher to student, etc. 

When both the participants are on the same level of the status hierarchy, they 

will employ Taiwanese loan words whenever they want to achieve the pragmatic 

effects (e.g., humorous effect) as mentioned in the last chapter. Examples of this can 

be demonstrated as follows. When students dialogue with their school mates, they 

speak casually with some Taiwanese loan words mixed in. Suppose a student did not 

catch some of the words his school mate said, he could apply a sentence such as 

example (53) to express his question. An expression like this not only makes the 

conversation flow more smoothly but can even improve the friendship between the 

speaker and addressee. The student would not use an expression like (54) which 

sounds too formal and does not fit this situation. Had the speaker used this expression, 

it would be too formal and would make the addressee think that either the speaker is 

angry or there is something wrong with him.

On the other hand, a student will not use Taiwanese loan words when he 

converses with his teacher, since he is supposed to be reverent and use a formal 

language to the teacher. In this case, the student will employ a sentence like (54) 

instead of (53) to express his doubt to the teacher. 

(53) Ni shou sha-mi, Wo tin-mei-you la. 

sia-mi thian-bo 

你說啥米,我聽歭沒有啦! 

'What did you say? I don't understand it.' 

(54) Wu ting bu tai dong, ke bu ke-yi qing ni zai shuo yi bian. 

我聽歭不太懂,可屣不可屣以层請窊您再峘說一遍! 

'I am not quite sure that I understand. Could you please say that again?' 

Example (53) can be used between students, teachers, supervisors, or between 

employees because they have equal social status and are free to select any lexicon 

which they think is appropriate in their conversations. Likewise, it is suitable for a 

speaker of higher status than the addressee to utilize a sentence like (53) to question 

the addressee. Such a case is that of the higher status of a supervisor talking to his 

employees, or a teacher to his students. It is not necessary for them to use the more 

polite term and such a expression might shorten the distance between them. 

Consequently, the application of Taiwanese loan words is free by participants of 

any role relationship. Only a subordinate speaker would feel it inappropriate to use

Taiwanese loan words to converse with a superior addressee. Nevertheless, this 

limitation can be broken by other kind of relationship like intimacy. Intimacy helps to 

melt the rank between the participants. For instance, suppose an employee has worked 

for his company for a long time and has developed a friendship with his employer. 

Neither the employee nor the employer would find it to be inappropriate to use 

Taiwanese loan words in their conversation. 

5.2.2.1 Social Variables 

Other than the above sociolinguistic distribution of Taiwanese loan words 

regarding participants, we can also classify groups of speakers in terms of other social 

variables, e.g., age, sex, occupation, education and locality, to see whether the 

participants of a particular age or certain occupation, etc. are more likely to speak 

Taiwanese loan words. 

Let's first examine speaker's age. As mentioned earlier, speaking Taiwanese loan 

words has become a fashion that the younger speakers always want to catch up with. 

Therefore, we hear Taiwanese loan words spoken everywhere by the youth. Many 

Taiwanese loan words are even developed from youth's conversation, such as 頭路 

tou-lu 'the job', 俗擱大碗冕 su-ge-da-wan 'cheap and with big quantity',鬱氂卒 yu-zu 

'gloomy', 虎爛 hu-lan 'to lie or trick'. While younger speakers are more likely to use 

Taiwanese loan words, older speakers, comparatively, use less Taiwanese loan words. 

Nevertheless, it is also possible that some older speakers will use Taiwanese loan 

words deliberately to mark the fact that they are being modern, and to convey their 

identity to a fashionable class.

The social variable of age is always associated with the status or authority 

existing between interlocutors. This is especially true in a Chinese society like Taiwan. 

We Chinese people respect the aged. We think that the aged deserve higher status at 

least for their being experienced in life. Thus, we discuss status and authority 

alongside of age. Likewise, comparatively, a speaker of higher status or authority do 

not employ as much Taiwanese loan words into their conversation as the speaker of 

lower status or authority does. 

As for sex, either men or women can apply Taiwanese loan words. According to 

Hudson (1980:179), the sex differences on linguistic variables show that men use 

more of the core variants than women. This is confirmed by the sociolinguistic 

distribution of Taiwanese loan words. Men do use Taiwanese loan words more often 

than women. The distribution is especially unmarked in younger speakers. Young 

male speakers employ a good number of Taiwanese loan words with their peers. This 

can be best exemplified by school boys talking on a campus. Wherever we see school 

boys chatting together, we hear Taiwanese loan words. Young female speakers are 

more conservative about using Taiwanese loan words. They do not apply too many of 

them in their speech. 

On the other hand, when a young male speaker converses with a young female 

speaker, he does not employ as many Taiwanese loan words as he does with his male 

peers. We might assume that this is because men apply a casual register when they are 

together but pay more attention to lexical selection while conversing with their female 

friends. 

When discussing one's occupation, participants of any occupation may apply 

Taiwanese loan words into their conversation. This is true whether referring to a

doctor, a white collar worker, a blue collar worker, a secretary, a businessman, etc. 

One phenomenon which is newly developed is that politicians, teachers and students 

who used to speak scarcely Taiwanese are now often speaking with Taiwanese loan 

words. A lot of Taiwanese loan words are even generated by them. 

Our politicians once spoke only Mandarin, at least at public occasions, since 

they represent our country and use the national language. But today things are 

different, even the president, Mr. Li Deng-hui has used Taiwanese loan words into his 

speech even when he travels abroad. One example of this usage was seen when he 

visited South Africa this year. Mr. Li gave a speech to Chinese emigrants to South 

Africa. He said that "all of you shall strive here (大家窚在峹這裡要稊好崅好崅的打岌拼匳 Da-jia 

zai zhe-li hao-hao-de da-pin)" with the Taiwanese loan words 打岌拼匳 da-pin 'to strive' 

adopted in his speech. The reason for this phenomenon is that Taiwanese has received 

high social and political status nowadays, and Taiwanese loan words are now popular. 

The politicians like to show their being on the cutting edge and stake their claim to 

membership in the subordinate group. 

As for the students, they are in school where Mandarin is taught and is used as 

the communicative device to acquire knowledge. Why do students now speak 

Taiwanese loan words multifariously? This phenomenon can be explained by the fact 

that since the students were previously forbidden to speak any dialect in school, it is 

now seen to be a new privilege. After the lifting of political restrictions increased the 

democracy of the schools, the young and sensitive students could not wait to show the 

new fashion - speaking Taiwanese loan words. 

Participants of most education levels use some Taiwanese loan words. Only 

those who are not educated and do not speak Mandarin but only speak dialects, will

seldom if ever use Taiwanese loan words in their daily speech. Likewise, where 

people live (i.e., locality) does not block the usage of Taiwanese loan words. Only 

people who live in rural areas and are not exposed to Taiwanese loan words at all do 

not use any of these words. 

5.2.2.2 The Interaction of Social Variables 

As a matter of fact, some social variables may work together to influence the use 

of Taiwanese loan words. The young (age) male (sex) students (occupation) of 

equal status (status) are most likely to use Taiwanese loan words. The involved 

social variables: age, sex, occupation and status all interact together to induce the 

most application of Taiwanese loan words. 

What we suggest here is that (1) age: younger speaker is more likely to apply 

Taiwanese loan words than the older speaker does, (2) sex: male speaker is more 

likely to use Taiwanese loan words than the female speaker does, (3) occupation: 

student is more likely to apply Taiwanese loan words than the speaker of other 

occupation like teacher or employee, and (4) status: interlocutors of the equal status 

tend to employ more Taiwanese loan words than the speaker and addressee of high 

to low or low to high status. When these social variables all involved, we expect 

the most application of Taiwanese loan words. The change of any social variable 

implies the less application of Taiwanese loan words. For example, suppose the 

occupation of the speakers is change from student to teacher, the use of Taiwanese 

loan words would be different, although the other social variables remain unchanged.

5.2.3 Topics 

What the participants are talking about, i.e., the topic of the conversation, is the 

third factor which influences the sociolinguistic distribution of Taiwanese loan words. 

The application of Taiwanese loan words depends on the seriousness of the topic. 

5.2.3.1 Serious Topics 

Any topic which is associated with technical, professional, or sophisticated 

cultural matters is considered to be a serious topic. The interlocutors seldom select 

Taiwanese loan words in their lexicon when they are discussing a serious topic. For 

example, a priest would not employ Taiwanese loan words while he is preaching. 

The parents would not use Taiwanese loan words in their communication while they 

are discussing how to educate their children or while they are making a budget for 

their family. 

5.2.3.2 Casual Topics 

A topic which is concerning cooking, clothing, travelling or entertainment 

would be categorized as casual topics. Any conversation refers to a casual topic is 

likely to trigger the selection of Taiwanese loan words. This is true no matter where 

the setting is located, how different the participants are in rank or how familiar they 

are. An example of this can be exemplified by that a student and professor who 

talked about school subject in classes. They didn't use Taiwanese loan words in their 

conversation. After class, they change the topic and are engaged in

mountain-climbing. They may use Taiwanese loan words in their present conversation, 

although their role-relationship is ranged in the least application of Taiwanese loan 

words. The casual topic makes them no longer view themselves as professor-student 

but as individuals interacting in some other role-relationship. 

Furthermore, a shift in topic may require a shift in lexical selection. Speakers 

do not apply Taiwanese loan words in their conversation when they are in a serious 

topic like negotiating a trade. After the negotiation is done, they shift their topic to 

daily life and may use many Taiwanese loan words in the subsequent conversation. 

Another common example is illustrated by the students. Students may not apply 

Taiwanese loan words in class. However, between classes, they shift their topic from 

the serious topic, the lesson, to more the more casual one, such as picnic. Even they 

still stay in the classroom, they will shift their lexical selection by using a lot of 

Taiwanese loan words in their speech. 

5.2.4 The Interaction of Setting, Role-relationship and Topic 

The application of Taiwanese loan words is governed by the interwoven social 

constraint of setting, role-relationship and topic. We have discussed these three factors 

individually. We will now turn to see the distribution of Taiwanese loan words in 

terms of the interaction of setting, role-relationship and topic. 

First, we keep the setting constant to see the interaction of topic and 

role-relationship. As mentioned above, Taiwanese loan words are seldom used when 

the participants are in a role relationship of superior to subordinate, such as teacher to 

student. However, this limitation can be melted when the participants change their

topic. For example, in an office, a employer and his employees usually talk about 

business subject. However, when the employees invite their employer to join an 

evening party or have dinner together, they may not speak as formally as they usually 

do in the office. At this time, they do not treat each other as employee-employer 

relationship, but more like friends of each other. As a result, they may employ 

Taiwanese loan words in their conversations to create a more casual atmosphere. 

Second, we keep the role-relationship constant to see the interaction of setting 

and topic. The same people present in a party and a lecture. The topics of their talk 

in the two situations are likely to be different; their meeting places and meeting times 

are likely to be different. At party time, they converse with each other casual topics 

and use a lot of Taiwanese loan words in the conversation. At the auditorium, they 

either keep quiet to listen to the lecture or discuss something more serious about the 

lecture. At the moment, they are less likely to use Taiwanese loan words. 

Third, we keep the topic unchanging to see the interaction of setting and 

role-relationship. Suppose the topic, the plan of party or dinner, is discussed by a 

student and his teacher in classroom. The student might apply Taiwanese loan words 

in their discussion. However, on the other hand, he would employ even more 

Taiwanese loan words when he discusses the same topic with his classmate and they 

relocate to a more casual setting - in the campus.

Fig. 5.2 The Model of Lexical Selection 

To sum up the above discussion, the sociolinguistic distribution of Taiwanese 

loan words is defined by the interaction of participants, settings and topics. Across 

various settings, in different role relations of the participants, and when speaking 

about different topics, the incidence of use of Taiwanese loan words may vary 

considerably. Who the speaker and the addressee are is the first factor which governs 

the sociolinguistic distribution of Taiwanese loan words. A general rule can be 

sketched as: the equal status of young male speakers talking about some casual topics 

in a casual setting are most likely to apply Taiwanese loan words in their conversation. 

The change of any component in the general rule may influence the application of 

Taiwanese loan words. However, there is always some other social situation which

can help to increase the use of Taiwanese loan words. For example, on the participants 

part, intimacy forwards the use of Taiwanese loan words even when the speaker is the 

subordinate of the addressee. An event like a political campaign speech, although it 

always takes place in a formal setting and has a serious topic, gives the opportunity to 

the candidates to show their identity to the electorate by using Taiwanese loan 

words. 

Fig. 5.3 The Sociolinguistic Distribution of Taiwanese Loan Words 

(Where '→' means 'influence')

6. Conclusion 

This thesis began with the idea of investigating the Taiwanese loan words in 

terms of their pragmatic and social functions. After classifying our data, we then tried 

to answer the question, "Why do speakers speaking Mandarin borrow lexical items 

from Taiwanese?" and "Who employs Taiwanese loan words to whom and when 

speaking about what topic?" The results are summarized as below. 

6.1 Summary of the Findings 

Types of Taiwanese Loan Words 

Though the written representations of Taiwanese expressions in newspapers are 

in the form of Chinese characters, during the borrowing processes, the meanings of 

these characters are somehow divergent from those originally in Mandarin. This 

caused the lexical structure or the semantic field of Mandarin to vary. After studying 

the data collected, we proposed eleven types of lexical variations in chapter 3. They 

are categorized into two main groups: (1) revivals (2) innovations: new 

word-combination and semantic reinterpretation, including (a) meaning shift, (b) 

grammaticalization, and (c) figurative use. 

Why do Speakers speaking Mandarin Borrow Lexical Items from Taiwanese? 

The copious borrowing from Taiwanese to Mandarin is operated by interwoven 

external and internal factors. External social change primarily stimulated this 

borrowing. Political reformation, along with the awakening of ethnic consciousness, 

has caused the re-evaluation of language policy. People gradually like to speak 

Taiwanese or to borrow Taiwanese expressions into Mandarin.

Pragmatically, a speaker would borrow Taiwanese expressions in order to fill a 

lexical gap in Mandarin, or, with solely personal conception, he simply feels that a 

Taiwanese lexical item expresses an attitude or feeling which is not adequately 

expressed in any Mandarin words. Besides, Taiwanese loan words are a 

communicative device used as the intermediary to create an easy atmosphere in a 

speaker's speeches. They help to reduce the distance between speakers. 

Sociolinguistic Distribution of Taiwanese Loan Words 

The pragmatic and social functions of Taiwanese loan words are always 

interwoven. The sociolinguistic distribution of Taiwanese loan words is defined by the 

interaction of participants, settings and topics. In a social situation like the following, 

Taiwanese loan words are most likely to be used: the young male speakers of equal 

status talking about some casual topics in a casual setting are most likely to apply 

Taiwanese loan words in their conversations. The change of any component in the 

general rule may influence the application of Taiwanese loan words. Nevertheless, 

there is always some other social situation which can help to increase the use of 

Taiwanese loan words. For instance, intimacy forwards the use of Taiwanese loan 

words no matter how different the participants are in rank. The pragmatic functions of 

Taiwanese loan words, such as showing solidarity, make candidates feel the necessity 

to use Taiwanese loan words in a setting as formal as a political campaign speech. 

As observed in the borrowings from Taiwanese, we see that the Mandarin in 

Taiwan has a strong tendency of downward convergence nowadays. This is obviously 

different from that of western languages. What this informs us of is that some 

linguistic principles proven by western languages could be different in a language like

Chinese. A linguist who is a native speaker of Chinese might think it is necessary to 

pay attention to his own language. 

The Prediction of Language Change in Taiwan 

The interaction between Mandarin and Taiwanese in Taiwan is changing (see 

Figure 6.1). The borrowing from Taiwanese to Mandarin was in earlier times not 

notable, and is now becoming vigorous due to the change of political policy and the 

speakers' identity. As proposed, the lexicon of Mandarin is varying by the affection of 

copious loan words from Taiwanese. If the present borrowing phenomenon 

continues, we might predict that a new language, with the mixture of Mandarin and 

Taiwanese, is going to generate in Taiwan. 

Fig. 6.1 The Mechanism of Language Change 

l

6.2 Suggestions for Further Studies 

As we collected and investigated our data, we perceived that, besides semantic 

change, the phonological and morphosyntactic levels of Mandarin are all effected by 

copious loan words from Taiwanese. In the morphosyntactic aspect, for example, 

reduplication like 準兓準兓準兓 zhun-zhun-zhun 'spot-on' (MS, 12/01/1993) and 差窭差窭差窭

cha-cha-cha 'very bad' (GS, 2/08/1993; 27) found in newspaper headlines. This is a 

Taiwanese effected word formation since a Taiwanese adjective can be reduplicated in 

form of AAA type, but a Mandarin adjective can not. Other than reduplication, affix is 

also effected. A prefix like 阿 a as in 阿扁匯 a-bian 'Shui-bian Chen, a legislator's 

name', 阿港釛伯 a-gang-bo 'Yang-gang Lin, President of Judicial Yuan' and 阿媽僬 

a-ma 'grandmother', etc. is now used popularly in every day conversation and in mass 

media. Examples like these caused a morphological change in Mandarin and 

gradually nativized into Mandarin. In the phonological aspect, mergers like /zh/ and 

/z/, and splits like /f/ and /h/ are widely observed effects of lexical borrowing and 

deserve further study.

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Appendix 1. Innovations of New Word-Combinations 

Lexicon 

Innovative 

Meaning 


好崅家窚在峹 hao-jia-zai fortunately 好崅家窚在峹!下雨了,否則水尯庫窰都乾了 

好崅佳哉勔 hao-jia-zai 

好崅采頭 hao-cai-tou 

fortunately 

good fortune 

我好崅佳哉勔有這張第一名峮的成續單酀 

(TW, 03/01/1994; 2) 

開春卆嚐甜頭,年年好崅采頭 

(ZG, 01/12/1994; 26) 

好崅彩頭 hao-cai-tou good fortune 新儡春卆好崅彩頭 (TX, 03/01/1994; 16) 

好崅料的 hao-liao-de nosh-up 好崅料的飯盒 (LH, 12/02/1983; 36) 

好崅康 hao-kang profit 牽猴仔還有好崅康 (ZZ, 12/04/1983; 20) 

好崅裡家窚在峹 

hao-li-jia-zai 

好崅年冬屐 

hao-nian-dong 

fortunately 

a bumper harvest 

能夠逃過一劫,真是半好崅裡家窚在峹 

幼岆秀 you-xiu meticulous 她崆看厶起來很匘幼岆秀 

古層錐 gu-zhui cute 這個積小孩匀真古層錐 

有夠 you-gou 

有影嘸 

you-ying-wu 

有聽歭沒有懂 

you-tin-mei-you-dong 

死忠 si-zhong 

very, extremely 

Is it true 

to have heard 

but not get it 

completely 

devoted 

這款金發表會優,有夠鄉土 

(LH, 11/30/1983; 22) 

買金幣送鈔票有影嘸?(LH,12/08/1983; 4) 

你說什麼?我有聽歭沒有懂 

一迷死忠的歌迷 (ZY, 01/13/1994; 18) 

米酒頭 mi-jiu-tou rice wine 屆買了一瓶米酒頭 

岄袋戲 bu-dai-xi 

水尯噹笋噹笋 

shui-dang-dang 

puppet show 

very prett 


(ZG, 12/05/1983; 41) 

第二波周年慶水尯噹笋噹笋 (JJ, 12/09/1983; 15) 

代誌 dai-zhi matter 記錄了台屲東的「代誌」(ZG, 12/05/1983; 15) 

出屒師窯 chu-shi 

to have learned 

something 

successfully and 

is able to be 

independent 

B嫂僯出屒師窯了 (LH, 01/15/1994; 22)

出屒頭天 chu-tou-tian 

to rise in the 默默耕耘者應會優「出屒頭天」 (ZY, 01/25/1994; 

world 

12) 

日尤頭 ri-tou the sun 中國新儡繪事日尤頭將出屒山 (ZY, 12/08/1983;; 

赤查卟某協 chi-cha-mou 

an overbearing 

woman 

查卟某協 cha-mou woman 

查卟甫 cha-po man 

赤爬爬 chi-pa-pa 

恰匦北屙北屙 qia-bei-bei 

overbearing and 

rude, blame a 

catamaran 

overbearing and 

rude, blame a 

catamaran 

天公 tian-gong the sky 希望天公庇祐 (TX, 02/19/1994; 5) 

夭壽 yao-shou 

一元捶醟捶醟 

yi-yuan-chui-chui 

abort, detestable 

24) 

有人大罵穘調窏查卟單酀位「夭壽」 

(LH, 04/03/1994; 14) 

foolish 屆真是半一元捶醟捶醟 

人客匄 ren-ke guest 唱一首稴「人客匄的要稊求」(ZG, 12/08/1983; 21) 

* 24 三八 san-ba trifling 

三不五時 

san-bu-wu-shi 

上界厢 shang-jie 

frequently, 

always 

most, very much 

尚介 shang-jie most, very much 

咱勡司屫法界厢乎屁人的印峣象上界厢差窭 

(TW, 02/20/1994; 2) 

土沙 tu-sha sands 逼稻農去屢呷土沙 (LH, 12/01/1983; 11) 

大水尯 da-shui flood 大水尯過後匝,科叅隆無恙窷 (ZG, 01/28/1994; 33) 

大車拚 da-che-ping 

大姊頭 da-jie-tou 

to compete 

keenly 

the female leader 

of a group 

春卆節冫前旺季車商大車拚 

(JJ, 01/09/1994; ;6) 

不把「大姊頭」擺在峹眼裡 

(ZU, 03/01/1994; 2) 

大俗賣窠 da-su-mai rummage sale 西裝瘋狂大俗賣窠 (MZ, 01/16/1994; 20) 

不同峧款金 bu-tong-kuan 

different 

歌迷的偶像情結不同峧款金 

(MZ, 01/19/1994; 28) 

不爽 bu-shuang uncomfortable 不爽!不旅遊!不投資 (TW, 04/13/1994; 2) 

________________________ 

24 Where asterisk '*' means a doubtful example.

不輪窶轉 bu-lun-zhuan not fluently; not 

round 

李翊君的台屲語「不輪窶轉」 

(LH, 12/08/1983; 22) 

五四屶三 wu-si-san the trifle 講那些五四屶三的 

切仔麵 chhet-la-mi kind of popular 

少年吔 

siau-len-e 

noodles in 

Taiwan 

you young man 

少年吔偷機車多峿到記不得 

(LH, 12/02/1983; 14) 

心尚內 xin-nei inner 打岌開心尚內的門窗 (LH, 03/30/1994; 44) 

月尦娘窊 yue-niang the moon 

歹尪名峮聲 

dai-ming-sheng 

disreputable 

歹尪命 dai-min bad fate 我真是半歹尪命 

打岌拼匳來甩開這個積歹尪名峮聲(TW, 02/20/1994; 2) 

歹尪勢僄 dai-shi shy 劉德華又緊張又歹尪勢僄 (ZG, 10/10/1983; 38) 

歹尪路 dai-lu the wrong path 

古層早 gu-zao in ancient time 古層早歌聲聽歭阮唱來 (ZG, 10/10/1983; 21) 

古層厝穧 gu-cuo an old house 古層厝穧‧童顏 (LH, 12/08/1983; 34) 

平岅平岅 pin-pin same 平岅平岅是半騙,哪穸會優心尚肝好崅歹尪差窭嗟僇多峿 

平岅常時 

pin-chang-shi 

打岌死不退 

da-si-bu-tue 

岪種岪 jia-chong-jia 

usually 

persistent in 

pursuance and 

will not shrink 

back even to 

death 

the best 

白岭賊七 bai-zei-qi a liar 


(TW, 04/13/1994; 2) 

購物狂喜鄹,打岌死不退 (ZG, 01/25/1994; 37) 

形容窞屆自己是半「岪種岪的男人」 

(ZU, 03/01/1994; 2) 

白岭賊 bai-zei lying 屆講白岭賊話,以层後匝要稊如崇何自圓僙其說 

交岾關 jiao-guan to purchase 

囝島仔 gin-a 

the child 

在峹地峸人 zai-di-ren locals 

安崎啦 an-la no problem, 

有型勨有款金 

you-xin-you-kuan 

don't worry 

with type and 

look 

希望台屲北屙岃長岩「台屲北屙囝島仔」選 

(ZZ, 12/04/1983; 1) 

老步數 lao-bu-shu an old game 又是半老步數 

吃峰皮岮蛋安崎啦 (ZH, 12/02/1983; 6) 

瞧她崆們穆一身有型勨有款金(MS, 12/04/1983; 9)

老神在峹在峹 

lao-sheng-zai-zai 

肉腳 jou-jiao to be unable to 

行船人 

xing-chuan-ren 

to be poised 省厲黨部老神在峹在峹 (LH, 01/30/1994; 3) 

do things well 

the sailor 

行路 xing-lu to walk 薔薇行路 (ZG, 01/25/1994; 35) 

西西念 xi-xi-nian to chatter alone; 

伴手尝 ban-shou gift 

作大水尯 zuo-da-shui flood 

monologue 

作岨 zuo-tian to farm 

作伙峃 zuo-huo to be together (LH, 10/31/1983; 4) 

做伙峃 zuo-huo to be together 做伙峃來逗牛尶,真趣窦味呢 (TW, 03/02/1994; 2) 

作夥 zuo-huo to be together 大家窚作夥來屏匈東地峸方尣法院 

免殭 mian-jing 

妖嬌 yao-jiao charm 

don't be afraid 

孝姑 xiao-gu to eat (with 

抓狂 zhua-kuang 

抓到鬼 

zhua-dao-gue 

scornful tone) 

to go crazy 

參加展專責報酒關員穵人資格測釱驗殯,免殭! 

(GS, 12/06/1983; 21) 

抓狂? 郝柏卡村祭出屒所謂台屲獨密件峋 

(TW, 03/19/1994; 1) 

to find the worm 證據笱難找,但只屯要稊有心尚,一定可屣以层抓到鬼 

out 

抓龍 zhua-long to massage 

沒法度匓 mei-fa-du unable 

(ZG, 12/01/1983; 3) 

無法度匓 wu-fa-du unable 透過高階警官仍無法度匓 (ZY, 01/13/1994; 5) 

罕慢 han-man blunt; dull 

角頭 jiao-tou gang leader of a 

local district 

什麼角頭 

豆油 dou-you soy sauce 菜脯搵豆油 (LH, 12/06/1983; 36) 

豆花 dou-hua (a Taiwanese 

那會優按匲呢 

na-e-a-ne 

snack made with 

soybean) tou-hua 

How come? 那會優按匲呢 (MZ, 01/15/1994; 22) 

來這套窆 lai-zhe-tao Give me this! 觀毢見醫學笞? 來這套窆!(LH, 12/06/1983; 34)

兩光峒 liang-guang bad skill or bad 

quality 

店頭 dian-tou store 金牌轉戰笫店頭 (LH, 01/15/1994; 18) 

顧人怨匤 gu-ren-yuan annoying (LH, 06/01/1983; 36) 

招人怨匤 

zhao-ren-yuan 

抱喜鄹 bao-xi 

卯屠死 bau-si 

annoying 作品勜逼真反而招人怨匤 

to get profits 

undeservedly or 

accidentally 

to get profits 

undeservedly or 

accidentally 

旺來 wang-lai pineapple, 

直直落 zhi-zhi-luo 

fortune comes 

to keep on 

falling down 

(MS, 12/04/1983; 8) 

已具備鄠資格參加展「報酒喜鄹、抱喜鄹」活卺動 

(ZG, 12/04/1983; 48) 

包屗銷竉中石岳化官股,京華卯屠死 

(GS, 05/25/1994; 21) 

水尯位直直落,距呆水尯位僅剩鄫廿尗公分 

(LH, 01/08/1994; 5) 

知影 zhi-ying to know 無奈的心尚黨甘岤會優知影 (TW, 03/18/1994; 2) 

芭樂 ba-le guava 芭樂票集團九人被捕 (ZY, 12/08/1983; 5) 

虎爛 hu-lan to lie 畫虎爛 (LH, 04/03/1994; 11) 

金紙 jin-zhi 

paper money to 

be burnt for the 

dead 

阿公店 a-gong-dian (a place name) 

Grandpa store 

燒金紙惹儁的禍(LH, 01/15/1994; 14) 

阿母岘 a-mu mother 阿母岘我永岛遠愛儀你 (LH, 11/30/1983; 22) 

阿娘窊 a-niang 

mother 

此行須珍厜重稥不比尬阿娘窊邊 

(LH, 12/03/1983; 7) 

阿媽僬 a-ma grandmother 阿媽僬參加展抗議 (MZ, 01/27/1994; 4) 

阿兵哥穮 a-bing-ge soldier 阿兵哥穮殭什麼 (LH, 12/04/1983;36) 

阿呆 a-dai booby; goof 一個積阿呆 (ZG, 12/06/1983; 39) 

阿里不達 a-li-bu-da freakish, 

crackpot 

阿莎力 a-sa-li lucid, crisp 

亭仔腳 tin-zai-jiao veranda 人來人往的亭仔腳 (LH, 07/17/1983; 36) 

便所 bian-suo toilet 

保庇 bao-bi 

please give 

someone 

blessedness 

(LH, 06/12/1983; 36)

俗又大塊僣 

su-you-da-kuai 

俗閣大碗冕 

su-ge-da-wan 

俗擱大碗冕 

su-ge-da-wan 

cheap and with 

big quantity 


big quantity 


big quantity 

剃頭店 ti-tou-dian barbershop 

哀勑哀勑叫屭 ai-ai-jiao 

to implore 

愛儀火尰雞俗又大塊僣 (LH, 12/02/1983; 37) 

(ZG, 10/31/1983; 16) 

法拍骨董「俗擱大碗冕」 

(LH, 04/03/1994; 18) 

SOS 滿天飛稲候穎選人哀勑哀勑叫屭 

(MZ, 01/28/1994; 15) 

怨匤嘆 yuan-tan complain 女人不必岊太怨匤嘆 (ZH, 12/04/1983) 

拜匰天公 

bai-tian-kong 

拜匰拜匰 bai-bai 

to worship the 

god 

to worship 

拜匰天公祈叁福 (TX, 02/19; 5) 

福忠宮窜明天建匔醮大拜匰拜匰 

(MS, 12/05/1983; 20) 

按匲那 an-na how 共峗產黨是半按匲那起家窚? (TW, 04/07/1994; 2) 

按匲呢 an-ne such 偷吃峰一下就酧按匲呢 (TW, 03/22/1994; 2) 

按匲怎匣 an-zen why, how 是半按匲怎匣會優被偷 (TW, 03/05/1994; 2) 

啥咪勛 sha-mi what EFI 噴射窠引尙擎是半啥咪勛 (LH, 12/02/1983; 13) 

歪卩哥穮 wai-ge 

corrupt 

遏阻父尲母岘官歪卩哥穮最鄦好崅天天選舉 

(TU, 12/06/1983; 16) 

甭厠戇 meng-han Don't be silly 甭厠戇! 怪自己 (JJ, 01/28/1994; 11) 

風稱飛稲沙 feng-fei-sha 

the wind- 

blowing dust 

倒穅彈 dao-tan intolerable 

倒穅頭栽 dao-tou-zai to fall upside 

down 

通宵窝風稱飛稲沙嚴重稥 (ZG, 01/12/1994; 16) 

厝穧邊 cuo-bian neighborhood 厝穧邊新儡聞 (LH, 07/17/1983; 36) 

哭穴飫 ku-yao 

to cry for being 

hungry; what the 

hell are you 

doing 

眠夢 mian-meng to dream 

破格 puo-ge deformed 

破病 puo-bing ill 

秘雕 bi-diao 

哭穴飫,半屜路認老父尲 (TW, 04/10/1994; 2) 

a crooked person 右履路殺手尝秘雕女 (MS, 12/08/1983; 4) 

臭火尰乾 chou-huo-gan scorched 快點! 快要稊臭火尰乾了

臭屁 chou-pi fetid fart; sniffy 

臭酸 chou-suan stink 

臭樣 chou-yang haughty 

草地峸人 cao-di-ren countryman 

衰尾 cue-wei misfortune 

討海人 tao-hai-ren fishermen 

雞母岘皮岮 ji-mu-pi blotch 

送作堆 song-zuo-due 

to be sent 

together 

集體殱送作堆,歡喜鄹樓喜鄹氣洋危洋危 

(ZG, 01/06/1994; 22) 

鬥陣 dou-zheng to be together 歡迎您鬥陣來猜 

鬥嘴鼓 dou-zui-gu spat 鬥嘴鼓?沒興趣窦 (TW, 03/15/1994; 15) 

假仙届 jia-xian to pretend 

做醮 zuo-jiao a big worship 做醮宴窛請窊黑白岭兩道 (LH, 12/08/1983; 34) 

參詳 can-xiang to consult 

(不)夠力 

(bu) gou-li 

強強滾 

qiang-qiang-gun 

(not) able 

盤出屒特色,土城勬還很匘夠力 

(ZZ, 01/25/1994; 12) 

boisterous 埔突里選情強強滾 (MZ, 01/01/1994; 16) 

惦惦 dian-dian to be silent 這擺咱勡決定惦惦 (TW, 04/13/1994; 2) 

斬節冫 zhan-jie to moderate; to 

淹腳目岰 yan-jiao-mu 

爽歪卩歪卩 

shuang-wai-wai 

abstain 

to cover the 

ankle 

extremely 

comfortable 

二十四屶本岓著作疊武起來才只屯能「淹腳目岰」 

(ZG, 12/08/1983; 17) 

爽歪卩歪卩 (TW, 03/03/1994; 2) 

牽成 qian-cheng to forward 亟待匙政十府來牽成 (GS, 12/04/1983; 11) 

牽拖 qian-tuo implicate; 

組頭 zu-tou 

involve; blame 

the leader of 

savings group 

脫線穑 tuo-xian muggins 

六合峯彩愈儃玩愈儃賠窙組頭逢冬屐不勝鄭寒酡 

(LH, 12/05/1983; 14) 

莫法度匓 muo-fa-du unable 查卟核人員穵也「莫法度匓」(ZR, 12/08/1983; 10) 

莫宰窘羊 muo-zai-yiang not know 多峿數對愛儀滋釵仍莫宰窘羊 (MS, 12/04/1983; 34) 

蚵仔煎党 o-a-chen oyster omelette 

這款金 zhe-kuan this kind of 這款金的民岙意僼代表 (ZZ, 12/08/1983; 19) 

這味的 zhe-wei suchlike 這味的 (TW, 03/24/1994; 2) 

這聲 zhe-sheng now, this way 這聲發了 (TW, 03/02/1994; 23)

這擺 zhe-bai this time 這擺咱勡決定惦惦 (TW, 04/13/1994; 2) 

適窺配 shi-pei to fit 文尠化美秙容窞這裡最鄦適窺配 (ZG, 12/06/1983; 40) 

速配 su-pei to fit 包屗裝才與機械須速配 (JJ, 01/27/1994; 27) 

速沛 su-pei to fit 

透天 tou-tian one-family- 

透天厝穧 tou-tian-cuo 

owned 

one-family- 

owned storeyed- 

house 

透早 tou-zao early in the 

morning 

透天別墅好崅賣窠 (JJ, 01/09/1994; 6) 

透天厝穧越來越精緻穋 (MZ, 01/16/1994; 20) 

博鄯士博鄯 po-shi-po jack-ofall-trades 博鄯士博鄯不是半蓋的 (LH, 12/22/1983; 4) 

朝醹直 zhao-zhi straight 

番顛 fang-dian inconsistent; 

等路 deng-lu gift 

wayward 

菜岃仔 cai-shi-zai a food market 保證不是半去屢菜岃仔買的 (TW, 03/19/1994; 2) 

菜頭 cai-tou turnip 

黑白岭講 hei-bai-jiang talk rot 

黑輪窶 hei-lun a Taiwanese 

媽僬祖 ma-zu 

snack which is 

made from fish 

and flour 

Matsu, Goddess 

of the Sea 

愛儀睏 ai-kun sleepy 

搓儐圓僙仔湯釭 

cuo-yuan-zi-tang 

搞儒怪 gao-guai 

to make 

dumpling soup; 

to offer a payoff 

to dissuade 

someone from 

joining the ballot 

vagarious; way- 

out 

媽僬祖的形樣 (ZH, 12/03/1983; 11) 

黑道對「搓儐圓僙仔湯釭」虎視眈眈 

(MZ, 01/23/1994; 14) 

搞儒怪暴發戶尜(LH, 07/17/1983; 36) 

搬儖演 ban-yan to play 多峿次搬儖演紅秒樓夢 (MS, 12/08/1983; 38) 

*會優腳 hei-jiao 

the member of a 

savings group 

萬冠一那個積會優腳跑了 (LH, 07/26/1983; 15)

跟會優 gen-hui 

to join savings 

group 

碗冕公 wang-gong big bowl 

落山風稱 luo-shan-feng 

落雨 luo-yu to rain 

以层現金跟會優 (LH, 07/26/1983; 15) 

落雨天 luo-yu-tian a rainy day 有一天的落雨天 (LH, 11/30/1983; 22) 

落翅仔 luo-chi-zai young prostitute 

賊仔 chhat-la the thief 是半您裝鎖要稊乎屁賊仔開 (JJ, 01/28/1994; 11) 

路用 lu-yong application 

嘛也通 ma-e-thong it also works 地峸熱發電嘛也通! (MZ, 01/24/1994; 8) 

對不住 due-bu-zhu sorry 

歌仔戲 ge-zai-xi 

漏風稱 lou-fong to flatten in 

speaking 


(ZG, 12/05/1983; 41) 

講話漏風稱 

熊熊 xiong-xiong suddenly 你熊熊這樣問我,我怎匣麼回峵答 

瘋狗浪 

fong-gou-lang 

big wave 

*福氣啦 fu-qi-la blessedness 英秺國文尠學笞家窚,福氣啦 (ZZ, 12/06/1983; 10) 

憂頭結面稫 

you-tou-jie-mian 

woebegone 

爬出屒來的顛倒穅憂頭結面稫 (TW, 03/18/1994; 2) 

誰窐人 shei-ren who 誰窐人講我不醨打岌老虎 (TW, 02/25/1994; 2) 

豬窘公 zhu-gong male pig 

豬窘哥穮 zhu-ge swine; luster, 

賭窞爛票 du-lan-piao 



鬧竱熱滾滾 

nao-re-gun-gun 

goat 

a unwilling vote 


iron board; 

rebuffed 

boisterously 

撿笶角 jian-jiao washed-up 

擔笸仔麵 dan-zai-mian kind of famous 

noodles in 

Tainan 

執政十支尟票沒兌現,「賭窞爛票」給了前共峗黨 

(LH, 12/07/1983; 8) 

中共峗在峹港釛踢窪到鐵板 (TU, 12/06/1983; 2) 

霸王尸別姬窏首稴映午鬧竱熱滾滾 

(MS, 12/09/1983; 10) 

中視主尾管親自煮擔笸仔麵宴窛客匄 

(ZG, 01/19/1994; 22)

燒金 shao-jin 

to burn the paper 

money for the 

dead 

燒酒 shao-jiu wine 

燒金紙惹儁的禍 

(LH, 06/12/1983; 36) 

燒滾滾 shao-gun-gun boiling hot 春卆節冫旅遊岃場酏燒滾滾 (JJ, 01/09/1994; 8) 

燕頭 yan-tou thick-headed; dull 

膨風稱 phong-hong 

辦桌 ban-zhuo 

gasconade 

the big treat 

頭毛尭 tou-mao the hair 

手尝工製出屒香稵茗,被定名峮為厉「膨風稱」 

(ZG, 10/17/1983; 16) 

政十大「辦桌」好崅滋釵味供不應求 

(ZR, 12/06/1983; 5) 

頭家窚 tou-jia boss 頭家窚圓僙熟練穉達 (JJ, 01/19/1994; 11) 

頭殼釖 tou-ke 

頭殼釖頂鄕 tou-ke-ding 

頭殼釖壞去屢 

tou-ke-huai-qu 

the head, the 

skull 

the top of the 

head 

screwy 

頭殼釖壞去屢了,死人棺醺木尧也要稊偷 

(TW, 03/07/1994; 6) 

起碼也要稊寫到蓋過「頭殼釖頂鄕」吧 

(ZG, 12/08/1983; 17) 

頭殼釖壞去屢了,死人棺醺木尧也要稊偷 

(TW, 03/07/1994; 6) 

頭路 tou-lu the job 東洋危女香稵江找頭路 (LH, 05/27/1994; 38) 

鴨霸 ya-ba 

swank 

鴨母岘 ya-mu the duck 

龍背秥 long-bei discomfiture, 

panic-stricken 

龜毛尭 gui-mao awkward, 

quibble, jinx 

嚇嚇叫屭 xia-xia-jiao throbbing of the 

嗄嗄叫屭 xia-xia-jiao 

head, amazing 

throbbing of the 

head, amazing 

擱再峘來 ge-zai-lai come again 

講古層 jiang-gu to tell a story 

「鴨霸」電信局屉人難恭窼維 

(MZ, 01/26/1994; 5) 

一曲「苦秳海女神龍」嗄嗄叫屭 

(LH, 12/08/1983; 22) 

禮數 li-shu de rigueur 歡喜鄹吃峰乎屁爽,贈品勜夠禮數 (TW, 04/03/1994; 1) 

藏鏡人 cang-jin-ren 

a notorious 

character of a 

puppet show 

雞婆 ji-po nosy, inquisitive 

不當兹「藏鏡人」(ZY, 01/27/1994; 3)

攏嘛是半咱勡的 

long-ma-si-lan-e 

霧煞入煞入 wu-sha-sha 

鹹魚鄗翻身 

xian-yu-fan-shen 

all is ours 

misty, fogbound 

reverse from a 

disadvantageous 

situation 

鐵牛尶車 tie-niou-che the power tiller 

鐵齒竽 tie-chi not give in to 

歡喜鄹甘岤願 

huan-xi-gan-yuan 

willing, gladly 

聽歭無 tin-wu don't understand 

聽歭沒有 tin-mei-you do not 

殭三小 jin-san-xiao 

殭得要稊死 

jin-de-yao-si 

鬱氂卒 yu-zu 

蚋仔 la-a 

摃龜 kon-ku 

爌肉飯 

kuang-rou-fan 

understand 

what are you 

afraid of (with 

scornful tone) 

almost scared to 

death 

gloomy; blue 

clam 

skunk, to be 

totally defeated 

A popular 

Taiwanese food 

made with 

cooked rice and 

a piece of spiced 

meat 

香稵港釛、大陸鄊、東南勌亞...攏嘛是半咱勡的天下 

(LH, 12/08/1983; 43) 

建匔城勬百十週年如崇何慶祝,岃民岙「霧煞入煞入」 

(ZY, 04/25/1994; 9) 

荷莉韓特「鹹魚鄗翻身」 

(ZG, 01/06/1994; 21) 

不是半我歡喜鄹甘岤願的 (TW, 03/12/1994; 2) 

大丈夫殭三小 (TW, 02/24/1994; 20) 

吳伯雄皺眉厵唱情網鬱氂卒誰窐人知 

(LH, 01/30/1994; 5) 

撈蚋仔一家窚大小樂無窮稽 

(LH, 12/08/1983; 15) 

摃龜的影片尴一大堆 (ZY, 12/05/1983; 18) 

啥人 sha-ren who 啥人跟我筆? (ZG, 01/19/1994; 35) 

啥米 sha-mi what 行政十院長殭啥米 (TW, 02/23/1994; 2) 

一世尺人 yi-shi-ren lifelong 

八珍厜 ba-zhen trifling 

大小目岰 da-xiao-mu to treat some 

people 

interestedly

大車拼匳 da-che-pin 

不殭不殭 

bu-jin-bu-jin 

to compete 

keenly 

don't be afraid 

五四屶三 wu-si-san something and 

nothing 

白岭目岰 bai-mu tactless 

吃峰好崅到相厴報酒 chi- 

hao-dao-xiang-bao 

好崅康 hao-kang 

tell others if it 

tastes good 

profit, good 

thing 

大車拼匳 V.S.錢來也 (TW, 04/23/1994; 25) 

好崅康到! (LH, 04/29/1994; 36) 

好崅勢僄 hao-shi well 清理好崅勢僄,冷氣閣開放 (TW, 04/23/1994; 2) 

有影沒影 

you-ying-mei-ying 

true or not 

老芋頭 lao-yu-tou old unmarried 

免孝想僿 

mian-xiao-xiang 

man 

孝呆 xiao-dai stupid 

don't dream of it 

來轉 lai-zhuan to go back 

凍穛酸 dong-suan penny-pinching 

免孝想僿,想僿要稊賣窠地峸,除非我死了 

(TW, 04/23; 26) 

*破功屖 puo-gong to hurt oneself 抓走私老是半破功屖 (LW, 05/17/1994; 7) 

得猴 de-hou out of mind 

醩赤人 san-chi-ren poor people 

*熱天 re-tian summer 

錢來也 qian-lai-ye 

a character of a 

well-known 

puppet show, 

whose name 

denotes 'money 

is coming' 

大車拼匳 V.S.錢來也 

(TW, 04/23/1994; 25)

Appendix 2. Questionnaires 

一、個積人資料 

您會優講: 

台屲語借穃詞普醭及程度匓問卷調窏查卟表 

輔大語言學笞研厼究所謝菁玉岡 

_____________系所_______年級 □男 □女 

二、請窊勾選 

1. 屆很匘鹹 

國語 □好崅 □普醭通 □會優一點(不太靈母光峒) □完全峖不會優 

台屲語 □好崅 □普醭通 □會優一點(不太靈母光峒) □完全峖不會優 

客匄語 □好崅 □普醭通 □會優一點(不太靈母光峒) □完全峖不會優 

聽歭過別人把畫若秵上題答"是半",那麼請窊問若秵聽歭過,但 

線穑部分夾雜在峹畫線穑部分是半以层國語來發音稯國語發音稯不 

國語中說嗎僋嗎僋同峧,則請窊寫 

出屒該發音稯(任峌 

何標法皆可屣) 

= 屆很匘吝嗇働 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

2. 卡属好崅看厶 

= 比尬較好崅看厶 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

3. 屆很匘死忠 

= 屆對某協事或某協人忠心尚不移 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

4. 這是半古層早的事了 

= 這是半很匘早以层前的事了 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

5. 屆很匘臭樣 

= 屆很匘傲 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

6. 你要稊嗎僋?要稊就酧夾去屢配吧 

= 你要稊嗎僋?要稊就酧拿竊去屢用吧 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

7. 別雞婆了 

= 別管閒事了 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

8. 這麼肉麻鄜,我都起雞母岘皮岮了 

= 這麼肉麻鄜,我都起雞皮岮疙瘩了 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

9. 我幫你抓龍 

= 我幫你按匲摩按匲摩 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

10.這話叫屭人聽歭了很匘熱銷竉

= 這話叫屭人聽歭了生岥氣/討厭 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 ___________ 

11.你熊熊這樣問,我怎匣麼回峵答 

= 你突种然這樣問,我怎匣麼回峵答 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 ___________ 

12.穿秌這樣真是半阿里不達 

= 穿秌這樣真是半怪里怪氣 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 ___________ 

13.這是半我的鐵馬 

= 這是半我的腳踏窫車 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 ___________ 

14.別鐵齒竽了 

= 別嘴硬了 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 ___________ 

15.少澎風稱了 

= 少吹牛尶了 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 ___________ 

16.我的狗是半我的心尚肝 

= 我的狗是半我的寶貝 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 ___________ 

17.帶個積等路來 

= 帶個積禮物來 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 ___________ 

18.屆是半一隻軟腳蝦究 

= 屆沒什麼用 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 ___________ 

19.別對我大小聲 

= 別對我大聲吼 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 ___________ 

20.說什麼?聽歭無啦 

= 說什麼?聽歭不懂 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 ___________ 

21.你真是半顧人怨匤 

= 你真是半討人厭 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 ___________ 

22.真是半夭壽 

= 真是半糟糕/壞 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 ___________ 

23.把你們穆送作堆 

= 促成你們穆的好崅事 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 ___________ 

24.別搞儒怪了 

= 別作怪了 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 ___________ 

25.別牽拖到我這裡來 

= 別牽扯到我這裡來 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 ___________ 

26.看厶屆一付屃破病的樣子 

= 看厶屆一付屃生岥病的樣子 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 ___________ 

27.作大水尯了,快跑! 

= 鬧竱水尯災了,快跑! □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 ___________ 

28.有影嗎僋? 

= 真的嗎僋? □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 ___________ 

29.做人真甘岤苦秳

= 做人真辛苦秳 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

30.拿竊去屢吧,少假仙届了 

= 拿竊去屢吧,少裝了 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

31.落雨了 

= 下雨了 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

32.她崆長的水尯噹笋噹笋 

= 她崆長的很匘漂亮 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

33.這是半什麼傲古層東西 

= 這是半什麼爛東西 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

34.屆很匘古層意僼 

= 屆很匘老實 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

35.她崆很匘幼岆秀 

= 她崆很匘秀氣做作 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

36.屆很匘勇 

= 屆很匘壯 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

37.昨卌天真是半有夠衰 

= 昨卌天真是半倒穅霉站 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

38.蓋好崅 

= 很匘好崅 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

39.屆拿竊一些有的沒有的給我 

= 屆拿竊一些瑣瑣碎冓碎冓的東西給我 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

40.屆是半個積大ㄎㄨ呆 

= 屆很匘肥 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

41.作伙峃去屢看厶電影 

= 一起去屢看厶電影 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

42.她崆真是半赤爬爬 

= 她崆真是半潑辣 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

43.屆很匘朝醹直 

= 屆很匘忠厚勎老實 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

44.頭毛尭掉好崅多峿 

= 頭髮端掉好崅多峿 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

45.屆三不五時來看厶我 

= 屆偶爾/時常來看厶我 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

46.夏窅天吃峰冰峙!爽歪卩歪卩 

= 夏窅天吃峰冰峙!真痛快 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

47.壞心尚肝的巫婆 

= 壞心尚腸的巫婆 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

48.這麼兩光峒

= 這麼差窭 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

49.酒喝鄶多峿了會優捉兔子 

= 酒喝鄶多峿了會優吐峩 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

50.真漏氣 

= 真洩厃氣 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

51.屆講話漏風稱 

= 屆講話口齒竽不清 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

52.屆這個積人很匘龜毛尭 

= 屆這個積人脾氣/做事很匘怪 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

53.撿笶角 

= 沒用 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

54.你真肉腳 

= 你真礙手尝礙腳 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

55.你真燕頭 

= 你真傻 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

56.有什麼好崅康的嗎僋 

= 有什麼好崅事嗎僋 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

57.屆真罕慢 

= 屆真沒用 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

58.拿竊去屢孝姑吧 

= 拿竊去屢吃峰吧 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

59.你虎爛 

= 你唬人 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

60.聽歭了叫屭人火尰花 

= 聽歭了屉人生岥氣 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

61.別空了 

= 別傻楞儷楞儷的了 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

62.快點!要稊臭火尰乾了 

= 快點!要稊燒焦了 □是半 □否 □是半 □否 □不一定 __________ 

三、請窊寫出屒您能想僿出屒的類似詞彙僸 

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四屶、您對本岓問卷的意僼見是半 

_____________________________________________________________________ 

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謝謝您的合峯作!

一、基本岓資料 

您可屣與屆人溝兊通的語言 

□ 客匄語 

□ 台屲語 

□ 國語 

二、台屲語資料部份峏 

報酒社編穏輯夾用台屲語漢字崉的現象 

□ 其屆 ___________ 

輔仁大學笞語言學笞研厼究所謝菁玉岡 

A、請窊將您認為厉意僼義相厴同峧的連起來(一對一) 

閩南勌語意僼義 

1.不時奮笛鬥 

2.心尚適窺有架卖式、大方尣 

3.正岗港釛少許、一點點 

4.四屶配經冲常、常常 

5.後匝生岥趣窦味、有趣窦 

6.打岌拼匳心尚情好崅 

7.小可屣手尝環 

8.扒岎癢匹配 

9.大辦抓癢、搔儙癢 

10.手尝袂真正岗 

兒子 

衣袖 

11.生岥理陌稩生岥、生岥疏 

12.好崅康生岥意僼 

13.清氣謊話 

14.安崎呢討錢 

15.路用好崅事、對本岓身有利的事 

16.生岥份峏浪費 

17.有時陣如崇此、這樣

18.白岭賊有本岓事 

19.斟儠酌用途、用處 

20.討債仔細 

乾淨 

安崎心尚 

21.序大米條(一種長圓僙形的米食稳) 

22.大漢作奸崃犯岟科叅 

23.作穡人在峹一起 

24.米篩目岰農夫 

25.作伙峃高大、長大 

26.使弄自討沒趣窦 

27.沒討趁按匲摩 

28.抓龍沒賺錢 

29.破病生岥病 

30.老歲儿仔挑匿撥離間 

老人 

長輩窴 

31.澎風稱角落、幫派卼 

32.破格神氣、驕殂傲 

33.足揚醤身體殱 

34.角勢僄我家窚 

35.阮兜丟岹臉 

36.呵咾讚毮美秙、稱讚毮 

37.姑不將骯髒殄、不乾淨 

38.垃圾不得已 

39.身軀說不吉峥利的話 

40.卸面稫子年長者 

吹牛尶 

垃圾 

41.哈勞肺地峸方尣 

42.泅水尯處變殤不殭 

43.阿里不達游釜泳 

44.青仔欉螞蟻 

45.所在峹一個積地峸方尣之名峮稱 

46.定定不像樣

47.拋拋走不解風稱情的人 

48.後匝殮打岌哈勞欠尨 

49.狗蟻後匝火尰車站 

50.知影經冲常 

二、請窊回峵答以层下的問題 

知道 

四屶處閒逛 

1.您會優將以层上的台屲語漢字崉用在峹報酒紙編穏輯上嗎僋? 

□會優 

□不一定 

□不會優 

2.在峹您的編穏輯工作,印峣象最鄦深或是半您覺得用得很匘妙的台屲語漢字崉有 

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3.您認為厉報酒上使用台屲語 (可屣複窀選) 

□是半大勢僄所趨 

□是半個積人偏好崅 

□因峴台屲語提醚供了國語所沒有的字崉彙僸 

□可屣吸引尙讀歲者的注意僼力、增加展報酒紙的可屣看厶性 

□使版面稫更生岥動、活卺潑 

□可屣拉近與讀歲者間的距離 

□是半製造幽匑默感僾的一種方尣式 

□是半製造親和力的一種方尣式 

□是半製造鄉土味的一種方尣式 

□並不需要稊,原穦因峴是半 

4.您如崇何選用合峯適窺的漢字崉來寫台屲語? (可屣複窀選) 

□參考其屆媒酜體殱(如崇電視、刊屔物)所用的字崉。 

□查卟看厶台屲語字崉典 

字崉典名峮稱___________________________________________________________ 

□自己選擇笳最鄦接近該台屲語音稯的國字崉 

□自己選擇笳最鄦接近該台屲語意僼思匠的國字崉 

其屆_______________________________________________________________

5.您覺得有沒有必岊要稊跟同峧事共峗同峧討論窑台屲語漢字崉選用的標準兓,甚原至編穏出屒一本岓編穏輯人 

員穵常用台屲語字崉手尝冊屏? 

□需要稊 

□不一定需要稊 

□不需要稊 

□已在峹進行中 

6.您對此問卷的意僼見___________________________________________________ 

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Index 

Borrowing 4, 5, 6, 9, 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, Loan word 4, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 15, 23, 24, 25, 26, 

20, 21, 22, 25, 26, 29, 30, 32, 33,36, 29, 30, 36, 38, 39, 41, 46, 47, 49, 50, 51, 

37, 38, 46, 49, 50, 56, 57, 62, 63, 64, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58 

69, 71, 72,74, 79, 80, 82, 86, 89, 90, 

92, 93, 110, 111, 112, 114 

Broadening 56, 60, 61, 62 Neologism 77, 79 

Church Romanization 15, 17 Pinyin 16, 17 

Code-mixing 19, 26, 30, 31, 32, 33 Revivals 36, 37, 40, 110 

Code-switching 26, 30, 31, 32, 33 Role relationship 35, 98, 99, 100, 106 

Degeneration 56, 57, 58 Pragmatic 12, 82, 99, 110, 111 

Domain 9, 34, 94, 95, 97 Setting 12, 95, 97, 98, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 

Euphemism 50 Social situation 12, 33, 34, 94, 95, 108, 111 

Expressive 29, 80, 82, 86, 90, 91, 92 Social variable 34, 94, 99, 101, 102, 104 

Figurative use 12, 51, 65, 67, 110 Socialinguistic 12, 19, 32, 34, 94, 95, 98, 99, 

Heterogeneity 20, 21 Solidarity 86, 111 

111 

101, 102, 105, 108, 109, 111 

Humorous 86, 87, 89, 92, 97, 99 Synonym 80, 81, 86, 91, 92 

Innovation 12, 14, 33, 36, 37, 41, 42, 43, 46, Transliteration 4, 5, 6, 49, 50, 68, 69, 70, 71, 

49, 59 72, 73,79 

Language change 14, 19, 20, 21, 23, 28, 29, Taboo 50, 70, 91 

32, 33, 113 

Language contact 20, 21, 26, 29, 30, 32, 33 Topic 12, 33, 34, 36, 89, 94, 95, 97, 105, 106, 

Language interaction 14, 20, 21, 26, 28 

Lexical gap 12, 32, 80, 82, 83, 85, 86, 93, 111 

Lexical selection 102, 106, 107 

Loan translation 4, 5, 6, 18, 49, 68, 72, 73, 

74, 79 

107, 108, 109, 110, 111

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