Taiwanese Mandarin

Taiwanese Mandarin, frequently referred to as ''Guoyu'' () or ''Huayu'' (), is the variety of Mandarin Chinese spoken in Taiwan. A large majority of the Taiwanese population is fluent in Mandarin, though many also speak a variety of Min Chinese known as Taiwanese Hokkien, which has had a significant influence on the Mandarin spoken on the island.

Mandarin was not a prevalent spoken language in Taiwan before the mid-20th century. Early Chinese immigrants who settled in Taiwan before Japanese rule mainly spoke other varieties of Chinese languages, primarily Hakka and Hokkien. By contrast, Taiwanese indigenous peoples speak unrelated Austronesian languages. Japan annexed Taiwan in 1895 and governed the island as a colony for the next 50 years, introducing Japanese in education, government, and public life. With the defeat of Imperial Japan in World War II, Taiwan was transferred to the Republic of China, ruled by the Kuomintang (KMT), which by 1950 had been expelled from the mainland by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The KMT promulgated Standard Mandarin known as ''Guoyu'' in Taiwan while suppressing non-Mandarin languages in the public sphere. At the same time, the People's Republic of China promoted the same national language as ''Putonghua'' () on the mainland.

''Putonghua'' in mainland China and ''Guoyu'' in Taiwan are highly similar and derive from the same standard based on the phonology of the Beijing dialect of Mandarin Chinese and the grammar of written vernacular Chinese in the early 20th century. Standard ''Guoyu'' pronunciations tend to be based on prescribed dictionaries of the period, whereas Standard ''Putonghua'' integrated colloquial Northern Mandarin pronunciations for some words. Notable characteristics of ''Guoyu'' as is commonly spoken in Taiwan include its somewhat different tonal qualities compared to ''Putonghua'', the lack of the ''erhua'' phenomenon, and the lack of retroflex consonants (with ''zh-'', ''ch-'', ''sh-'' being pronounced like ''z-'', ''c-'', and ''s-'') in most contexts. ''Guoyu'' also incorporates vocabulary from Hokkien and Japanese. Written Chinese in Taiwan generally uses traditional characters, in contrast to the simplified characters used on the mainland. Some grammatical differences also exist, often due to Hokkien influence. The two varieties of Mandarin have diverged in the decades since the political separation of Taiwan and the mainland.

''Guoyu'' spoken in Taiwan exists on a spectrum, from the most formal, standardized variety to the least formal, with the heaviest Hokkien influence. On one end of the spectrum, there is Standard ''Guoyu'' (), an official national language of Taiwan. This variety is taught as the standard in the education system and is employed in official communications and most news media. The core of this standard variety is described in the '' Ministry of Education Mandarin Chinese Dictionary''. Very few people speak purely standard ''Guoyu'', however. Mandarin, as colloquially spoken in Taiwan, can be broadly called "Taiwan ''Guoyu''" (). Taiwan ''Guoyu'' diverges in varying degrees from Standard ''Guoyu'', with some speakers being closer to Standard ''Guoyu'' than others. These divergences are often the result of Taiwan ''Guoyu'' incorporating influences from other languages used in Taiwan, primarily Hokkien, but also Japanese. Like Standard ''Guoyu'', Taiwan ''Guoyu'' is also mutually intelligible with ''Putonghua'', but when compared with Standard ''Guoyu'', Taiwan ''Guoyu'' exhibits greater differences in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar.

Terms and definition

Chinese is not a single language but a group of languages in the Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan family, which includes varieties such as Mandarin, Cantonese, and Hakka. They share a common ancestry and script, Chinese characters, and among Chinese speakers, they are popularly considered dialects ( ''fāngyán'') of the same, overarching language. These dialects are often extremely divergent in the spoken form, however, and not mutually intelligible. Accordingly, Western linguists tend to treat them as separate languages rather than dialects of the same language; citing Yuen Ren Chao, John DeFrancis likened the differences among some dialects as like those between English and Dutch, for example.

Mandarin Chinese is a grouping of Chinese languages that includes at least eight subgroups, often also called dialects. In English, "Mandarin" can refer to any of these Mandarin dialects, which are not necessarily mutually intelligible. However, the term is most commonly used to refer to Standard Chinese, the prestige dialect.

Standard Chinese in the People's Republic of China (mainland China) is called ''Putonghua'' ( zh, s=, t=普通話, p=Pǔtōnghuà, l=common speech, first=t, labels=no) and in the Republic of China (Taiwan) ''Guoyu'' ( zh, s=, t=國語, p=Guóyǔ, l=national language, first=t, labels=no). Both of these are based on the Beijing dialect of Mandarin and are mutually intelligible, but also feature various lexical, phonological, and grammatical differences. There exists significant variation within ''Putonghua'' and ''Guoyu'' as well. Some scholars have argued that ''Putonghua'' and ''Guoyu'' are artificial standards that, strictly speaking, do not represent the natively spoken language of a significant number of, or even any, people.

''Guoyu'' exists on a continuum from the most standard, formal version of the language to the form most heavily influenced by Hokkien. The former variety can be called Standard ''Guoyu'' (; ''Biāozhǔn Guóyǔ'') in contrast to the less standard Taiwan ''Guoyu'' (; ''Táiwān Guóyǔ''). More formal settings—such as television news broadcasts—tend to feature speakers using Standard ''Guoyu'', which closely resembles mainland ''Putonghua'', but is not generally used as a day-to-day language. Language falling on the less standard side of the ''Guoyu'' spectrum may be stigmatized as uneducated.

This article focuses on the features of both Standard ''Guoyu'', particularly its relationship to ''Putonghua'', as well as non-standard but widespread features of Mandarin in Taiwan, grouped under Taiwan ''Guoyu''.

History and usage

Large-scale Han Chinese settlement of Taiwan began in the 17th century by Hoklo immigrants from Fujian province who spoke Southern Min languages (predominantly Hokkien), and to a lesser extent, Hakka immigrants who spoke their respective language. Taiwanese indigenous peoples already inhabited the island, speaking a variety of Austronesian languages unrelated to Chinese. In the centuries following Chinese settlement, the number of indigenous languages dropped significantly, with several going extinct, in part due to the process of sinicization.

Official communications among the Han were done in Mandarin ( zh, s=, t=官話, p=Guānhuà, l=official language, first=t, labels=no), but the primary languages of everyday life were Hokkien or Hakka. After its defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Qing dynasty ceded Taiwan to the Empire of Japan, which governed the island as an Imperial colony from 1895 to 1945. By the end of the colonial period, Japanese had become the high dialect of the island as the result of decades of Japanization policy.

Under KMT rule

After the Republic of China under the Kuomintang (KMT) gained control of Taiwan in 1945, Mandarin was introduced as the official language and made compulsory in schools, although the local population rarely spoke it at the time. Many who had fled the mainland after the defeat of the KMT by the Communists also spoke non-standard varieties of Mandarin, which may have influenced later colloquial pronunciations. Wu Chinese dialects were also influential due to the relative power of KMT refugees from Wu-speaking Zhejiang, Chiang Kai-shek's home province.

The Mandarin Promotion Council (now called National Languages Committee) was established in 1946 by Chief Executive Chen Yi to standardize and popularize the usage of Mandarin in Taiwan. The Kuomintang heavily discouraged the use of Southern Min and other non-Mandarin languages, portraying them as inferior, and school children were punished for speaking their non-Mandarin native languages. ''Guoyu'' was thus established as a ''lingua franca'' among the various groups in Taiwan at the expense of existing languages.

Post-martial law

Following the end of martial law in 1987, language policy in the country underwent liberalization, but ''Guoyu'' remained the dominant language. Local languages were no longer proscribed in public discourse, mass media, and schools. English and "mother tongue education" (; ''mǔyǔ jiàoyù'') — Hokkien and Hakka — were introduced as elective subjects in primary school in 2001. Greater time and resources are devoted to both Mandarin and English, which are compulsory subjects, compared to mother tongue instruction.

Government statistics from 2020 found that 66.3% of Taiwanese residents use ''Guoyu'' as their primary language, and another 30.4% use it as a secondary language (31.7% used ''Minnanyu''/Hokkien as their primary language, and 54.3% used it as a secondary language). ''Guoyu'' is the primary language for over 80% of people in the northern areas of Taipei, Taoyuan, and Hsinchu. Youth is correlated with use of ''Guoyu'': in 2020, over two-thirds of Taiwanese over 65 used Hokkien or Hakka as their primary language, compared with just 11% of 15–24-year-olds.

A 2004 study found that Mandarin (''Guoyu'') was spoken more fluently by Hakka and Taiwanese aboriginals than their respective mother tongues; Hoklo groups, on average, spoke better Hokkien, but Hoklo under 50 years old still spoke significantly better Mandarin (with comparable levels of fluency to their usage of Hokkien) than the elderly. Overall, while both national and local levels of government have taken some measures to promote the use of non-Mandarin Chinese languages, younger generations generally prefer using Mandarin.

Script

''Guoyu'' employs traditional Chinese characters (which are also used in the two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau), rather than the simplified Chinese characters used in mainland China. Literate Taiwanese can generally understand a text in simplified characters.

Shorthand characters

In practice, Taiwanese Mandarin users may write informal, shorthand characters ( zh, s=, t=俗字, p=súzì, l=customary/conventional characters, first=t, labels=no; also ''sútǐzì'') in place of the full traditional forms. These variant Chinese characters are generally easier to write by hand and consist of fewer strokes. Shorthand characters are often identical to their simplified counterparts, but they may also take after Japanese kanji, or differ from both, as shown in the table below. A few shorthand characters are used as frequently as standard traditional characters, even in formal contexts, such as the ''tai'' in ''Taiwan'', which is often written as , as opposed to the standard traditional form, .

In informal writing, ''Guoyu'' speakers may replace possessive particles ''de'' or ''zhī'' with the Japanese particle ''no'' in hiragana (usually read as ''de''), which serves a nearly identical grammatical role. ''No'' is often used in advertising, where it evokes a sense of playfulness and fashionability, and handwriting, as it is easier to write.

Braille

Taiwanese braille is similar to Mainland Chinese braille, though several sounds are represented by different patterns. Both systems represent the sounds of the language (as do Pinyin and Zhuyin), not Chinese characters themselves.

Transliteration

''Zhuyin Fuhao''

While pinyin is used in applications such as in signage, most ''Guoyu'' users learn phonetics through the ''Zhuyin Fuhao'' ( zh, s=, t=國語注音符號, p=Guóyǔ Zhùyīn Fúhào, l=Guoyu Phonetic Symbols, first=t, labels=no) system, popularly called ''Zhuyin'' or ''Bopomofo'', after its first four glyphs. Taiwan is the only Chinese-speaking polity to use the system, which is taught in schools (often used as ruby characters to aid young learners) and represents the dominant digital input method on electronic devices. (Before the introduction of Hanyu pinyin starting in 1958, it was also used in mainland China, whereas today in the mainland it is used primarily in language education and in some dictionaries.) It has accordingly become a symbol of Taiwanese identity as well.

Romanization

Chinese language romanization in Taiwan somewhat differs from on the mainland, where Hanyu Pinyin is the official standard. A competing system, Tongyong Pinyin, was formally revealed in 1998 with the support of the mayor of Taipei Chen Shuibian. In 1999, however, the Legislative Yuan endorsed a slightly modified version of Hanyu Pinyin, creating parallel romanization schemes along largely partisan lines, with Kuomintang-supporting areas using Hanyu Pinyin, and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) areas using Tongyong Pinyin. In 2002, the Taiwanese government led by the DPP promulgated the use of Tongyong Pinyin as the country's preferred system, but this was formally abandoned in 2009 in favor of Hanyu Pinyin.

In addition, various other historical romanization systems also exist across the island, with multiple systems sometimes existing in the same locality. Following the defeat of the Kuomintang in the Chinese Civil War and their subsequent retreat to Taiwan in 1945, little emphasis was placed on the romanization of Chinese characters, with the Wade-Giles system used as the default. It is still widely used for transcribing people's legal names today. The Gwoyeu Romatzyh method, invented in 1928, also was in use in Taiwan during this time period, albeit to a lesser extent. In 1984, Taiwan's Ministry of Education began revising the Gwoyeu Romatzyh method out of concern that Hanyu Pinyin was gaining prominence internationally. Ultimately, a revised version of Gwoyeu Romatzyh was released in 1986, which was called Mandarin Phonetic Symbols II. However, this system was not widely adopted.

Phonology

Standard ''Guoyu''

Like ''Putonghua'', both Standard and Taiwan ''Guoyu'' are tonal. Pronunciation of many individual characters differs in the standards prescribed by language authorities in Taipei and Beijing. Mainland authorities tended to adopt pronunciations popular in Northern Mandarin areas, whereas Taiwanese authorities prefer traditional pronunciations recorded in dictionaries from the 1930s and 1940s. Some examples of differences are given later in this section.

These character-level differences notwithstanding, Standard ''Guoyu'' pronunciation is largely identical to ''Putonghua'', but with two major systematic differences (also true of Taiwan ''Guoyu''):
* Erhua, the rhotacization of certain morphemes with the suffix - ''-er'', is very rare in ''Guoyu'' (and very common in Beijing ''Putonghua'').
* The "neutral tone" ( ''qīngshēng'') does not occur as often, so final syllables generally retain their tone (e.g., ''dànshì'', ''xiānshēng).
** This tendency to retain original tone is not present in words ending noun suffixes such as - -''zi'' or - -''tou''; ''Guoyu'' speakers would not pronounce as *''háizǐ''.

In addition, two other phenomena, while nonstandard, are extremely common across all Mandarin speakers in Taiwan, even the highly educated:
* The retroflex sounds ''zh-'' , ''ch-'' , and ''sh-'' merge into the alveolar consonants (''z-'' , ''c-'' , ''s-'' , respectively).
* The finals ''-ing'' and ''-eng'' have largely merged into ''-in'' and ''-en'' , respectively.

Taiwan ''Guoyu''

Taiwan ''Guoyu'' pronunciation is strongly influenced by Hokkien. This is especially prominent in areas where Hokkien is common, namely, in Central and Southern Taiwan. Many, though not all, of the phonological differences between Taiwan ''Guoyu'' and ''Putonghua'' can be attributed to the influence of Hokkien.

Notable phonological features of Taiwan ''Guoyu'' include:

* In addition to the merger of retroflex sounds into the alveolar consonants mentioned above, utterances in Taiwan ''Guoyu'' may feature retroflexes (in pinyin, ''zh-'', ''ch-'', ''sh-'', and ''r-'') realized as postalveolar consonants: to , to , to , and to . This phenomenon is not unique to Taiwan and can be found in Mandarin dialects across southern China as well as parts of northern China.
** The ability to produce retroflex sounds is considered a hallmark of "good" Mandarin (i.e. Standard ''Guoyu''); some speakers may hypercorrect to pronounce alveolar consonants as their retroflex counterparts when attempting to speak "proper" ''Guoyu''.
* The initial ''f-'' becomes a voiceless bilabial fricative , closer to a light 'h' in standard English (for example, ''fǎn'' → ''huǎn'').
* The syllable written as ''eng'' () after labials (in pinyin, ''b-'', ''p-'', ''m-'', f''-'' and ''w-'') is pronounced ''ong'' (). Thus, ''fēng'' may be pronounced as ''fōng''.
* The semivowel may change, rendering e.g. the surname ''Wēng'' as rather than . The deletion of also happens in colloquial ''Putonghua'', but less frequently.
* The initials ''n-'' and ''l-'' are sometimes interchangeable, particularly preceding nasal finals (i.e. ''-n'', ''-ng''). Thus, ''nán'' may be pronounced ''lán''.
* The nasal finals ''-n'' and ''-ng'' tend to merge, so words like ''zhēng'' and ''zhēn'' may become homophones.
* The endings ''-uo'', ''-ou'', and ''-e'' (when it represents a close-mid back unrounded vowel like in ''hē'') shift to a mid central vowel or merge into the mid back rounded vowel ''-o'' .
* The close front rounded vowel in words such as ''yǔ'' become unrounded, transforming into ''yǐ''.
* The diphthong ''-ei'' and the triphthong ''-ui'' are monophthongized into .

Reduction

The non-standard Taiwanese ''Guoyu'' tends to exhibit frequent, informal elision and cluster reduction when spoken. For example, ''zhè yàngzi'' 'this way, like so' can be pronounced similar to ''jiàngzi'' 'paste, sauce'; wherein the "theoretical" retroflex (so called because it is a feature of Standard ''Guoyu'' but rarely realized in everyday speech, as ''zh-'' is usually pronounced ''z-''; see above section) is assimilated into the palatal glide .

Often the reduction involves the removal of initials in compound words, such as dropping the ''t'' in ''jīntiān'' 'today' or the ''ch'' in ''fēicháng'' 'extremely, very'. These reductions are not necessarily a function of the speed of speech than of register, as it is more commonly used in casual conversations than in formal contexts.

Tone quality

Like all varieties of Mandarin, ''Guoyu'' is a tonal language. ''Putonghua'' as spoken in the mainland has five tones, including the neutral tone. Tones in ''Guoyu'' differ somewhat in pitch and contour.

Research suggests that speakers of ''Guoyu'' articulate the second and third tones differently from the standards of Beijing Mandarin. The precise nature of the tonal differences is not well attested, however, as relevant studies often lack a sufficiently large variety of speakers. Tones may vary based on age, gender, and other sociolinguistic factors and may not even be consistent across every utterance by an individual.

In general, for ''Guoyu'' speakers, the second tone does not rise as high in its pitch, according to Jeroen Wiedenhof, and the third tone does not "dip" back up from the low, creaky voice range. Overall, ''Guoyu'' speakers may exhibit a lower and more narrow pitch range than speakers of the Mandarin of Beijing. Acoustic analysis of 33 Mandarin speakers from Taiwan in 2008 also found that for many speakers, the second tone tends to have a dipping contour more akin to that of the prescriptive third tone.

Standard pronunciations compared to ''Putonghua''

In addition to differences in elision and influence from Hokkien, which are not features that are codified in the standard ''Guoyu'', there are differences in pronunciation that arise from conflicting official standards in Taiwan and the mainland.

Quantification of the extent of pronunciation differences between ''Guoyu'' and ''Putonghua'' varies. Estimates from graduate-level research include a 2008 study based on the 7,000 characters in the ''List of Commonly Used Characters in Modern Chinese'', which found approximately 18% differed between ''Guoyu'' and ''Putonghua'', and 13% for the 3,500 most commonly used characters. A 1992 study, however, found differences in 22.5% of the 3,500 most common characters.

Much of the difference can be traced to the preferences of linguistic authorities on the two sides; the mainland standard prefers popular pronunciations in northern areas, whereas the Taiwanese standard prefers those documented in dictionaries in the 1930s and 1940s. The Taiwanese formal standards may not always reflect actual pronunciations commonly used by actual Taiwanese speakers of ''Guoyu''.

The following is a table of relatively common characters pronounced differently in ''Guoyu'' and ''Putonghua'' in most or all contexts (''Guoyu''/''Putonghua''):

Note that many of the above include tonal differences where a first tone in ''Putonghua'' is pronounced second tone in ''Guoyu''.
Some pronunciation differences may only appear in certain words. The following is a list of examples of such differences (''Guoyu''/''Putonghua''):
* 'and' — ''hé'', ''hàn'' / ''hé''. In ''Guoyu'', the character may be read as ''hàn'' when used as a conjunction, whereas it is always read ''hé'' in ''Putonghua''. This pronunciation does not apply in contexts outside of as a conjunction, e.g. compound words like ''hépíng'' 'peace'.
* 'to expose' — ''pùlù'' / ''bàolù''. The pronunciation ''bào'' is used in all other contexts in ''Guoyu''.
* () 'mass; quality' — ''zhíliàng'' / ''zhìliàng''. is pronounced ''zhí'' in most contexts in ''Guoyu'', except in select words like ''rénzhì '''hostage' or ''zhìyā'' 'to pawn'. ''Zhíliàng'' means 'mass' in both ''Guoyu'' and ''Putonghua'', but for ''Guoyu'' speakers it does not also mean 'quality' (instead preferring ''pǐnzhí'' for this meaning).
* () 'unhurried, calm' — ''cōngróng'' / ''cóngróng''. ''cóng'' is only pronounced ''cōng'' in this specific word in ''Guoyu''.
* 'stutter' — ''kǒují'' / ''kǒuchī''. is only read ''jí'' when it means 'to stammer' (as opposed to 'to eat', the most common meaning).

Vocabulary differences from mainland ''Putonghua''

''Guoyu'' and ''Putonghua'' share a large majority of their vocabulary, but significant differences do exist. The lexical divergence of ''Guoyu'' from ''Putonghua'' is the result of several factors, including the prolonged political separation of the mainland and Taiwan, the influence of Imperial Japanese rule on Taiwan until 1945, and the influence of Hokkien. The ''Cross Strait Common Usage Dictionary'' categorizes differences as "same word, different meaning" ( ''tóngmíng yìshí'' — homonyms); "same meaning, different word" ( ''tóngshí yìmíng''); and "Taiwan terms" ( ''Táiwān yòngyǔ'') and "mainland terms" ( ''dàlù yòngyǔ'') for words and phrases specific to a given side.

Same meaning, different word

The political separation of Taiwan and mainland China after the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949 contributed to many differences in vocabulary. This is especially prominent in words and phrases which refer to things or concepts invented after the split; thus, modern scientific and technological terminology often differs greatly between ''Putonghua'' and ''Guoyu''. In both ''Guoyu'' and ''Putonghua'', for example, () ''tōngguò'' means 'to pass (a bill or inspection)' or 'to pass through' and () ''tòuguò'' means 'to penetrate,' but also means 'by means of' or 'via' only in ''Guoyu'', while using to express such meanings is only present in ''Putonghua''.

The differences may be prevalent enough to hinder communication between ''Guoyu'' and ''Putonghua'' speakers unfamiliar with each other's respective dialects. For instance, Zhang (2000) selected four hundred core nouns from computer science and found that while 58% are identical in Standard and Taiwanese Mandarin, 22% were "basically" or "entirely" different.

As cross-strait relations began to improve in the early 21st century, direct interaction between mainland China and Taiwan increased, and some vocabulary began to merge, especially by means of the Internet. For example, the words () ''píngjǐng'' 'bottleneck' and ''zuòxiù'' 'to grandstand, show off' were originally unique to ''Guoyu'' in Taiwan but have since become widely used in mainland China as well. ''Guoyu'' has also incorporated mainland phrases and words, such as ''qúdào'', meaning 'channel (of communication)', in addition to the traditional ''Guoyu'' term, ''guǎndào''.

Words may be formed from abbreviations in one form of Mandarin but not the other. For example, in Taiwan, bubble tea, ''zhēnzhū nǎichá'', is often abbreviated ''zhēnnǎi'', but this is not common on the mainland. Likewise, traffic rules/regulations, () ''jiāotōng guīzé'', is abbreviated as ''jiāoguī'' on the mainland, but not in Taiwan.

Same word, different meaning

Some identical terms have different meanings in ''Guoyu'' and ''Putonghua''. There may be alternative synonyms which can be used unambiguously by speakers on both sides.

}
, -
, () ''gōngchē'') is an unambiguous term for bus in both dialects. , , bus , , government or official vehicle
, -
, () ''àirén'' , , lover, , spouse
, -

The same word carry different connotations or usage patterns in ''Guoyu'' and ''Putonghua'', and may be polysemous in one form of Mandarin but not the other. For example, () ''kuāzhāng'' means 'to exaggerate,' but in Taiwan, it can also be used to express exclamation at something absurd or overdone, a meaning absent in ''Putonghua''. () ''lǒngluò'' in ''Guoyu'' means 'to convince, win over', but in ''Putonghua'', it carries a negative connotation (cf. 'beguile, coax'). Another example is ''xiǎojiě'', meaning 'miss' or 'young lady', regularly used to address young women in ''Guoyu''. On the mainland, however, the word is also a euphemism for a prostitute and is therefore not used as a polite term of address.

Differing usage or preference

''Guoyu'' and ''Putonghua'' speakers may also display strong preference for one of a set of synonyms. For example, both ''lǐbài'' () and ''xīngqí'' (''xīngqī'' in ''Putonghua'') are acceptable words for 'week' in ''Guoyu'' and ''Putonghua'', but is more common in Taiwan.

''Guoyu'' tends to preserve older lexical items that are less used in the mainland. In Taiwan, speakers may use a more traditional ''zǎo'ān'' to say 'good morning', whereas mainland speakers generally default to ''zǎoshang hǎo'', for instance. Both words are acceptable in either dialect.

Likewise, words with the same literal meaning in either dialect may differ in register. ''éryǐ'' 'that's all, only' is common both in spoken and written ''Guoyu'', influenced by speech patterns in Hokkien, but in ''Putonghua'' the word is largely confined to formal, written contexts.

Preference for the expression of modality often differs among northern Mandarin speakers and Taiwanese, as evidenced by the selection of modal verbs. For example, Taiwanese Mandarin users strongly prefer ''yào'' and ''búyào'' over ''děi'' and ''bié'', respectively, to express 'must' and 'must not', compared to native speakers from Beijing. However, ''yào'' and ''búyào'' are also predominantly used among Mandarin speakers from the south of the mainland. Both pairs are grammatically correct in either dialect.

Words specific to ''Guoyu''

Some words in ''Putonghua'' may not exist in ''Guoyu'' and vice versa. Authors of the ''Dictionary of Words Which Differ Across the Taiwan Strait'' () estimate there are about 2,000 words unique to ''Guoyu'', around 10% of which come from Hokkien. Additionally, many terms unique to ''Guoyu'' were adopted from Japanese as a result of Taiwan's status as a Japanese colony during the first half of the 20th century.

Some of the vocabulary differences stem from different social and political conditions, which gave rise to concepts that were not shared between the mainland and Taiwan, e.g. ''fúcǎi'', a common abbreviation for the China Welfare Lottery of the People's Republic of China, or ''shíbāpā'', which refers to the 18% preferential interest rate on civil servants' pension funds in Taiwan. ( ''pā'' as "percent" originates from Japanese ''pāsento''. This usage is also unique to ''Guoyu''.)

Particles

Modal particles convey modality, which can be understood as a speaker's attitude towards a given utterance (e.g. of necessity, possibility, or likelihood that the utterance is true). Modal particles are common in Chinese languages and generally occur at the end of sentences, and so are commonly called sentence-final particles or utterance-final particles.

''Guoyu'' employs some modal particles that are rare in ''Putonghua''. Some are entirely unique to spoken, colloquial Taiwan ''Guoyu'', and identical particles may also have different meanings in ''Putonghua'' and ''Guoyu''. Conversely, particles that are common in ''Putonghua'' — particularly northern ''Putonghua'', such as that spoken in Beijing — are very rare in ''Guoyu''. Examples include () ''bei'', ''me'', and () ''bàle''.

''lā'' is a very common modal particle in ''Guoyu'', which also appears in ''Putonghua'' with less frequency and always as a contraction of ''le'' and ''a''. In ''Guoyu'', it has additional functions, which Lin (2014) broadly defines as "to mark an explicit or implicit adjustment" by the speaker to a given claim or assessment. In more specific terms, this use includes expression of impatience or displeasure (a, below); an imperative, such as a suggestion or order, especially a persistent one (b), and rejection or refutation (c).

Wu (2006) argues ''lā'' is influenced by a similar ''la'' particle in Hokkien. (Unlike in ''Putonghua'', ''Guoyu'' speakers will use ''lā'' immediately following ''le'', as seen in (a).)

: (a) Impatience or displeasure
::！！
:: Go to sleep already! ouhave to go to class tomorrow!

: (b) Suggestion or order
:: A: ！ I'm so full!
:: B: ，！ Don't be so polite, have another bowl!

: (c) Rejection or refutation
:: A: ，。 He married so early, it has to be ecause ofa pregnancy.
:: B: 。 There's no way.

Taiwan ''Guoyu'' has functionally adopted some particles from Hokkien. For example, the particle ''hoⁿh'' [] functions in Hokkien as a particle indicating a question to which the speaker expects an affirmative answer (cf. English "..., all right?" or "..., aren't you?"). Among other meanings, when used in Taiwan ''Guoyu'' utterances, it can indicate that the speaker wishes for an affirmative response, or may mark an imperative.

Loan words and transliteration

Loan words may differ between ''Putonghua'' and ''Guoyu''. Different characters or methods may also be chosen for transliteration (phonetic or semantic), and the number of characters may differ. In some cases, words may be loaned as transliterations in one dialect but not the other. Generally, ''Guoyu'' tends to imitate the form of Han Chinese names when transliterating foreign persons' names.

From Hokkien

''Guoyu'' has borrowed words from Hokkien, such as ''fānshǔ'' 'sweet potato' and 拜拜 ''bàibài'' 'to worship'. In Hokkien, the prefix ''a'' (''Guoyu'': ''ā'') carries an affection or intimate tone when referring to people, and this has been adopted into ''Guoyu''. Thus, words like ''āmèi'' 'younger sister' may be used instead of the standard ''mèimèi'', and public figures like Tsai Ing-wen may be referred to as ''Āyīng''.

Whether these loans are pronounced with their Hokkien or ''Guoyu'' reading varies. In general, as a loan becomes more commonly recognized, it is more likely to be read as ''Guoyu''. This may involve the transformation of characters into their ''Guoyu'' counterparts. For example, the Hokkien ''oo‑pe̍h kóng'' 'to talk nonsense' now exists in ''Guoyu'' as ''hēibáijiǎng'' (both literally translate as 'to talk black and white'; is 'black' in Hokkien, corresponding to in ''Guoyu''). Some words may not be represented by well known characters and are instead written with English letters, such as Q, from the Hokkien word 𩚨 ''khiū'', referring to a soft, chewy texture in foods. Some compound words or phrases may combine characters representing Hokkien and ''Guoyu'' words.

From Japanese

Japanese in the early 20th century had a significant influence on modern Chinese vocabulary. The Japanese language saw the proliferation of neologisms to describe concepts, and terms learned through contact with the West in the Meiji and Taishō eras. Thus, the creation of words like ''minshu'' 'democracy', ''kakumei'' 'revolution' and ''saimin'' 'hypnotize', which were then borrowed into Chinese and pronounced as Chinese words. Both ''Guoyu'' and ''Putonghua'' retain these words today.

''Guoyu'' was also further influenced by Japanese. As a result of Imperial Japan's 50-year rule over Taiwan until 1945, Hokkien (and Hakka) borrowed extensively from Japanese, and ''Guoyu'' in turn borrowed some of these words from Hokkien, such that Japanese influence can be said to have come via Hokkien. For example, the Hokkien word ( Peh-oe-ji: ''kòngku''; ) 'to lose completely', which has been borrowed into ''Guoyu'', originates from Japanese ''sukonku'' (, 'skunk'), with the same meaning. Other examples of ''Guoyu'' loans from Japanese via Hokkien include ''yùnjiàng'', 'driver, chauffeur', from ''unchan'' and ''ōubāsāng'', 'elderly woman', from おばあさん ''obāsan''.

In general, Japanese loanwords are more widespread in ''Guoyu'' than ''Putonghua''. ''Guoyu'' continues to borrow words from Japanese in the 21st century, especially among youth, for whom Japanese culture is particularly attractive.

Grammar

The grammar of ''Guoyu'' is largely identical to ''Putonghua''. As is the case with lexicon and phonology described above, salient grammatical differences from ''Putonghua'' often stem from the influence of Hokkien.

Perfective 有 ''yǒu''

To mark the perfect verbal aspect, ''Guoyu'' employs (''yǒu'') where (''le'') would be used in the strictly standard form of the language. For instance, a ''Guoyu'' speaker may ask "" ("Have you seen a doctor?") whereas a ''Putonghua'' speaker would prefer "". This is due to the influence of Hokkien grammar, which uses (''ū'') in a similar fashion.

In both ''Guoyu'' and ''Putonghua'', ''yǒuméiyǒu'' can precede a verb phrase to mark a perfective question, as in (1), and in ''Guoyu'', this can be split (2):
:(1) ("Did you apply for a visa?")
:(2) (''Guoyu'' only)

Auxiliary verbs

Another example of the influence of Hokkien grammar on ''Guoyu'' is the use of ''huì'' as "to be" (a copula) before adjectives, in addition to the usual meanings "would" or "will". Compare typical ways to render "Are you hot?" and "I am not hot" in ''Putonghua'', ''Guoyu'', and Hokkien:

The use of to express "will" — as in ''Tā huì lái ma?'' 'Will he come?' — is also a notable feature of ''Guoyu''. It is not necessarily considered ungrammatical in ''Putonghua'', but is very rare. Sanders (1992), analyzing speech by groups of Mandarin speakers from Taipei and Beijing, found that the latter group never used to mean 'will' in this manner spontaneously (preferring instead ''Tā lái ma?''). For them, speakers of Mandarin from Taiwan may be perceived as overusing .

Compound (separable) verbs

Speakers of ''Guoyu'' may frequently avoid splitting separable verbs, a category of verb + object compound words that are split in certain grammatical contexts in standard usage. For example, the verb ''bāngmáng'' 'to help; to do a favor', is composed of ''bāng'' 'to help, assist' plus ''máng'' 'to be busy; a favor'. The word in ''Guoyu'' can take on a direct object without separation, which is ungrammatical in ''Putonghua'': () 'I help him', acceptable in ''Guoyu'', must be rendered as (). This is not true of every separable verb in ''Guoyu'', and prescriptive texts still opt to treat these verbs as separable.

Notes

Citations

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Languages of Taiwan
Mandarin Chinese
Culture of Taiwan