Language Loss Phenomenon in Taiwan: a Narrative Inquiry—Autobiography and Phenomenological Study

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Language Loss Phenomenon in Taiwan: a Narrative Inquiry—Autobiography and Phenomenological Study Language Loss Phenomenon in Taiwan: A Narrative Inquiry—Autobiography and Phenomenological Study By Wan-Hua Lai A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Manitoba in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of MASTER OF EDUCATION Department of Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning University of Manitoba, Faculty of Education Winnipeg Copyright © 2012 by Wan-Hua Lai ii Table of Content Table of Content…………………………………………………………………………………………………..……ii List of Tables…………………………………………………………………………………………………..……...viii List of Figures……………………………………………………………………………………………………………ix Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...xi Acknowledgement………………………………………………………………………………………………..…xii Dedication………………………………………………………………………………………………………………xiv Chapter One: Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………….….1 Mandarin Research Project……………………………………………………………………………………2 Confusion about My Mother Tongue……………………………………………………….……………2 From Mandarin to Taigi………………………………………………………………………………………..3 Taiwan, a Colonial Land………………………………………………………………………………………..3 Study on the Language Loss in Taiwan………………………………………………………………….4 Archival Research………………………………………………………………………………………………….4 Chapter Two: My Discovery- A Different History of Taiwan……………………………………….6 Geography…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….7 Population……………………………………………….…………………………………………………….……9 Culture…………………………………………………………………………………………..……………………..9 Society………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………10 Education…………………………………………………………………………………………………….………11 Economy……………………………………………………………………………………….…………….………11 The Colonization of Taiwan……………………………………………………………..………………….12 The Stolen Taiwan…………………………………………………………………………………...….………12 R.O.C. and KMT………………………………………………………………………………….……….………14 Politics of Taiwan…………………………………………………………………………………………………16 Nightmare from China’s Pressure………………………………………………………………..………18 iii When We Lost Our Mother Tongue and Culture…………………………………….……………20 Chapter Three: Literature Review………………………………………………………………….….…….22 What’s a Mother Tongue…………………………………………………………………………..…….….22 A Language or a Dialect………………………………………………………………………………...……25 Language Loss and Language Shift……………………………………………………….……….….…26 Language Maintenance………………………………………………………………………………….……29 Identity and Language………………………………………………………………………….………..……30 Ethnolinguistic Vitality……………………………………………………………………..……………….31 Parent’s Perception…………………………………………………………………………………….………31 Second Language Acquisition………………………………………………………………………………33 Feelings for the Loss of One’s Mother Tongue……………………….…………………………..34 Language Death…………………………………………………………………………………………..………35 All Mother Tongues but Mandarin are Endangered in Taiwan……………………………36 Political Power and Language Development in Taiwan…………………………..……………39 Stockholm Syndrome and Language Attitude………………………………………………………41 Who am I Really? Prehistory Human in Taiwan……………………………………………………42 The earliest human in Taiwan. ………………………………………………………….…………42 Plain Aboriginals and mountain Aboriginals. ……………………………….………………43 Ancestors for plain and mountain Aboriginals……………………………..………………44 If Taiwanese are Chinese, Where did All the Plain Aboriginals Go? ……….…….………46 Sim’s study.………………………………………………………………………………………………….46 Lin’s study. …………………………………………………………………………………….……………50 Aboriginal population in the Dutch regime. ………………………………………..………51 The percentage of Chinese lineage. ………………………………………….…………………52 Estimation from Anthropologists. ………………………………………………….……………53 My calculation. ………………………………………………………………………………………..…53 iv Why I want to know who I am……………………………………………………………………..55 What Language did We Speak?………………………………………………………………………….57 Chapter Four: Methodology …………………………………………………………………………………..59 Theoretical Framework…………….…………………………………………………………………………59 Qualitative Research…………………………………………………………………………………………...59 Narrative Inquiry—Autobiographical Study…………………………………………………………60 Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study…………………………………………………………….…61 Research Questions………………………………………………………………………………………….…62 Research Design………………………………………………………………………………….………………63 Participants………………………………………………………………………………………………...63 Recruitment strategies………………………………………………………………………….….…64 Interview method…………………………………………………………………………..……………64 Field texts………………………………………………………………………………………..……….…65 Field text analysis…………………………………………………………………………..……………65 Writing strategies……………………………………………………………………..…………………66 The Use of Photos and Personal Stories……………………………………..…………..…………..67 Chapter Five: My Autobiography -……………………………………………………………………..……68 My Narrative Beginning…………………………………………………………………………….…………68 Memory in Autobiography……………………………..……………………………………….………….70 Stage One: Immersed in Taigi Environment and Mastered Taigi………………….……….70 Stage Two: Moving Symbolized the End of Taigi Environment………………………..……87 Stage Three: Long Hours at School and Isolation in Family toward Mandarin Monolingual………………………………………………………………………………………………..………90 Stage Four: A Beginning Search of My Identity and Awareness of Taigi Loss..………94 University……….……………………………………………………………………………………………94 Oversea………….………………………………………………………………………………………….98 v Return home……………………………………………………………………………………………100 Stage Five: New Understanding on the Past of Taiwan………………………………………103 Stage Six: Formation of a New Identity and Connections to My Taigi Loss…………107 Final stage: My Reflection and Feelings…………………………………………………………….112 Chapter Six: Stories of My Participant Families ……………………….………………………...…114 Mofan’s Family………………………………………………………………………………………………….114 Dafu and Daisy’s Family………………………………………………………..…………………………..118 Gigi and Jade’s Family…………………………………………………………………………………..…..123 Chapter Seven: Field Text Analysis and Interpretation………………………………………..…129 Comparative Analysis……………………………………………………………..…………………………129 Feature one: Complete Taigi loss at fourth generation. …………..………………..129 Feature two: Similar Taigi loss process in comparison to Valdes’ illustration…………………………………………………………………………………………………130 Feature three: In contrast with UG Theory, Taigi competence was not “steady”. …………………………………………………………………………………..……………...133 Feature four: From first, second and third generations to see critical period hypothesis. …………………………………………………………………………………………….…133 Feature five: The better parents’ Mandarin competence is, the worse their children’s Taigi competence is. ………………………………………………….………………134 Feature six: Peer influence also played a role on Taigi loss. …………………….…134 Feature seven: Gender influences language choice and attitude on language maintenance. ……………………………………………………………………………………………135 Feature eight: Age represents a specific socio-political era which imperatively influenced language development across generations. ……………….……………135 Feature nine: Parents’ education and social status as factors of children’ language loss.………………………………………………………………………………..……….…136 vi Feature ten: Region of original family indicates the critical mass of language population which is another important factor of language choice. ……………137 Thematic Analysis………………………………………………………………………………………..……138 Theme one: Second generation parents’ ignorance due to financial factors……………………………………………………………………………………………………….139 Theme two: Accepting Taigi’s disappearance across generations……………….141 Theme three: Government role on parent attitude. ……………………………….…143 Theme four: Third generation parents comply with environment………....….145 Theme five: Parents’ attitude across generations. …………………………………… 146 Theme six: Pervasive mother tongue confusion and identity loss..…………….147 Theme seven: Depreciate Taiwan in society. ……………………………………………..149 Theme eight: Political power and mother tongue loss. ……………………………..151 Theme nine: All third generation participants punished for Taigi speaking..………………………………………………………………………………………………..155 Theme ten: KMT’s control in memory………………………………………………………..157 Theme eleven: Confidence on Taigi’s everlasting.………………………………………159 Interpretation……………………………………………………………………….…..….…………………..160 Understanding and interpretation as a qualitative researcher. ……………….…..160 Learning through listening. …………………………………………………………………….…..161 Resonances between my autobiography and their stories…..………………………162 Chapter Eight: Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………….…..……….164 Who I am…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..164 What Our Mother Tongues are………………………………………………………………………....164 Taigi Loss in Taiwan …………………………………………………………………………………………..165 We are losing Taigi…………………………….………………………………………………………….165 Similar process compared to immigrant community…………………………………….165 vii Factors of Taigi loss ………………………………………………………………………………………165 Educational control and identity loss……………………………………………………………166 Socially devalued Taigi and social hierarchy. ………………………………………………. 166 Economic factors on parents’ attitude. ………………………………………………………..167 Parents’ attitude influenced by other factors. ………………………………………………167 Physical genocide. …………………………………………………………………………………….…168 Survival mentality on language attitude. ……………………………………………………..169 Different regimes on our language outcome……………………………………………..…169 Future Research Directions……………………………………………..…………………………….….170 A big scale survey on mother tongues in Taiwan…………………………………..……..170 Revitalization………………………………………………………………………………………………..170 Government policy and involvement……………………………………………………………171 My Journey from Chinese to Taiwanese and My Taigi Loss……………………………...171 References..……………………………………………………………………………………………………..…..173 Appendix A Interview Questions (parents) 家長問卷…………………………………………..189 Appendix B Interview Questions (grandparents) 祖父母問卷………………………………191 Appendix C Consent Letter (For
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