Taiwanese Hokkien

Taiwanese Hokkien is a variety of Hokkien, a Southern Min language. Like many varieties of Min Chinese, it has distinct literary and colloquial layers of vocabulary, often associated with formal and informal registers respectively. The literary layer can be traced to the late Tang dynasty, and as such is related to Middle Chinese. In contrast, the colloquial layers of Min varieties are believed to have branched from the mainstream of Chinese around the time of the Han dynasty.{{cite journal |last=Mei |first=Tsu-lin |title=Tones and Prosody in Middle Chinese and The Origin of The Rising Tone |journal=Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies |volume=30 |pages=86–110 |year=1970 |jstor=2718766 |doi=10.2307/2718766}}{{cite book |surname=Norman |given=Jerry |chapter=The Mǐn dialects in historical perspective |editor-surname=Wang |editor-given=William S.-Y. |title=Languages and Dialects of China |pages=325–360 |series=Journal of Chinese Linguistics Monograph Series |publisher=Chinese University Press |volume=3 |issue=3 |year=1991b |jstor=23827042 |oclc=600555701}}{{cite journal |surname=Ting |given=Pang-Hsin |title=Derivation time of colloquial Min from Archaic Chinese |journal=Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology |volume=54 |issue=4 |pages=1–14 |year=1983}}{{cite book |surname1=Baxter |given1=William H. |author1-link=William H. Baxter |surname2=Sagart |given2=Laurent |author2-link=Laurent Sagart |title=Old Chinese: A New Reconstruction |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2014 |pages=33, 79 |isbn=978-0-19-994537-5}}

Regional variations within the Taiwanese variant may be traced back to Hokkien variants spoken in Southern Fujian, specifically those from Quanzhou and Zhangzhou, and later from Amoy. Taiwanese also contains loanwords from Japanese and native Formosan languages. Recent work by scholars such as Ekki Lu,{{cite web |last=Ekki H. J. Lu |date=27 March 1997 |title=ON AUSTRO-TAIC TERMS IN HOKLO |url=http://ws.twl.ncku.edu.tw/hak-chia/l/lou-ek-ki/kongpah-oat.htm |access-date=2023-04-03 |website=|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20041022000504/http://ws.twl.ncku.edu.tw/hak-chia/l/lou-ek-ki/kongpah-oat.htm|archive-date= 22 October 2004}} Toru Sakai,{{cite web |last=Sakai |first=Toru (酒井亨) |date=2002 |title=探求 HÖ -LÓ 台語中間 Ê 非漢語語詞--羅馬字寫書寫法 Ê 正當性 |url=http://203.64.42.21/iug/ungian/poj/siausit/2002/2002pojgth/lunbun/a1-sakai.pdf |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20081002014759/http://203.64.42.21/iug/ungian/poj/siausit/2002/2002pojgth/lunbun/a1-sakai.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2008-10-02 }} and Li Khin-hoann,{{cite web |last=Lí Khîn-hoāⁿ |date=15 September 2004 |title=李勤岸博士論文．LEXICAL CHANGE AND VARIATION IN TAIWANESELITERARY TEXTS．ACKNOWLEDGMENT |url=http://ws.twl.ncku.edu.tw/hak-chia/l/li-khin-hoann/phok-su/phok-su.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040915015640/http://ws.twl.ncku.edu.tw/hak-chia/l/li-khin-hoann/phok-su/phok-su.htm |archive-date=15 September 2004}} based on former research by scholars such as Ong Iok-tek, has gone so far as to associate part of the basic vocabulary of the colloquial Taiwanese with the Austronesian and Tai language families; however, such claims are controversial.

The literary form of Hokkien once flourished in Fujian and was brought to Taiwan by early emigrants. Tale of the Lychee Mirror, a manuscript of a series of plays published during the Ming dynasty in 1566, is one of the earliest known works. This form of language is now largely extinct. However, literary readings of the numbers are used in certain contexts, such as reciting telephone numbers (see Literary and colloquial readings of Chinese characters).{{citation needed|date=February 2016}}

{{see also|Hokkien#History}}

During the Yuan dynasty, Quanzhou became a major international port for trade with the outside world.[http://culture.edu.tw/history/smenu_photomenu.php?smenuid=641&subjectid=1264 教育部，歷史文化學習網，《重要貿易港口－泉州》] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725194653/http://culture.edu.tw/history/smenu_photomenu.php?smenuid=641&subjectid=1264 |date=25 July 2011 }} From that period onwards, many people from the Hokkien-speaking regions (southern Fujian) started to emigrate overseas due to political and economic reasons. One of the destinations for the emigrants was the island of Taiwan (formerly Formosa), starting around 1600. They brought their native Hokkien language with them.

During the late Ming dynasty, the political chaos pushed more migrants from southern Fujian and eastern Guangdong to Taiwan. The earliest immigrants involved in Taiwan's development included pirate-merchants Pedro Yan Shiqi and Zheng Zhilong. In 1621, Chinese Peter and his forces, hailing from Zhangzhou, occupied Ponkan (modern-day Beigang, Yunlin) and started to develop Tirosen (modern-day Chiayi). After the death of Peter and another pirate, Li Dan of Quanzhou, Zheng sought to dominate the Strait of Taiwan. By 1628, he had grown so powerful that the Ming court bestowed him the official title, "Patrolling Admiral".{{cite book |last=Andrade |first=Tonio |author-link=Tonio Andrade |title=How Taiwan Became Chinese: Dutch, Spanish, and Han Colonization in the Seventeenth Century |publisher=Columbia University Press |chapter=Chapter 2: A Scramble for Influence |chapter-url=http://www.gutenberg-e.org/andrade/andrade02.html |year=2005 |at=§20-1}}

In 1624, the number of Chinese on the island was about 25,000.{{sfnp|Davidson|1903|p=13}} During the reign of Chongzhen Emperor (1627–1644), there were frequent droughts in the Fujian region. Zheng and a Chinese official suggested sending victims to Taiwan and provide "for each person three taels of silver and for each three people one ox".{{sfnp|Andrade|2005|loc=§26}} Although this plan was never carried out, the Zheng family maintained an interest in Taiwan that would have dire consequences for the Dutch Empire, who ruled Taiwan as Dutch Formosa at the time.

In 1624 and 1626, the Dutch and Spanish forces occupied the Tainan and Keelung areas, respectively. During the 40 years of Dutch colonial rule of Taiwan, the Dutch recruited many Chinese from the regions around Quanzhou and Zhangzhou in southern Fujian to help develop Taiwan.

In the 1661 Siege of Fort Zeelandia, Chinese general Koxinga, marshaling a military force composed of fellow hometown hoklo soldiers of Southern Fujian, expelled the Dutch and established the Kingdom of Tungning. Koxinga originated from the Quanzhou region. Chen Yonghua, who was in charge of establishing the education system of Tungning, also originated from Tong'an county of Quanzhou Prefecture. Because most of the soldiers he brought to Taiwan came from Quanzhou, the prestige variant of Hokkien on the island at the time was the Quanzhou dialect.

In 1683, Chinese admiral Shi Lang, marshaling a military force again composed of fellow hometown hoklo soldiers of Southern Fujian, attacked Taiwan in the Battle of Penghu, ending the Tungning era and beginning Qing dynasty rule (until 1895).

In the first decades of the 18th century, the linguistic differences between the Qing imperial bureaucrats and the commoners were recorded by the Mandarin-speaking first Imperial High Commissioner to Taiwan (1722), Huang Shujing:

{{cquote|In this place, the language is as birdcall – totally unintelligible! For example: for the surname Liú, they say 'Lâu'; for Chén, 'Tân'; Zhuāng, 'Tsng'; and Zhāng is 'Tionn'. My deputy's surname Wú becomes 'Ngô͘'. My surname Huáng does not even have a proper vowel: it is 'N̂g' here! It is difficult to make sense of this.

({{lang|zh-Hant|郡中鴃舌鳥語，全不可曉。如：劉呼「澇」、陳呼「澹」、莊呼「曾」、張呼「丟」。余與吳待御兩姓，吳呼作「襖」，黃則無音，厄影切，更為難省。}})|||Records from the mission to Taiwan and its Strait, Volume II: "On the area around Fort Provintia, Tainan" (臺海使槎錄 卷二 赤嵌筆談)}}

The tone of Huang's message foretold the uneasy relationships between different language communities and colonial establishments over the next few centuries.

During the 200 years of Qing dynasty rule, thousands of immigrants from Fujian arrived yearly; the population was over one million in the middle of the 18th century.{{sfnp|Davidson|1903|p=561}} Civil unrest and armed conflicts were frequent. In addition to resistance against governments (both Chinese and later Japanese), battles between ethnic groups were also significant: the belligerents usually grouped around the language they used. History has recorded battles between Hakka speakers and Hokkien speakers, between these and the aborigines, and even between those who spoke different variants of Hokkien.

In the early 20th century, the Hoklo people in Taiwan could be categorized as originating from modern-day Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, and Zhangpu.{{clarify|reason=Zhangpu is part of Zhangzhou|date=August 2020}}{{sfnp|Davidson|1903|p=591}} People from the former two areas (Quanzhou-speaking) were dominant in the north of the island and along the west coast,"especially in the cities of Koro (Aulang), Taiko (Taika), Giubato (Gumatau), Gosei (Goche), Tokatsukutsu (Thawkakut), and Rokko (Lokiang)." (modern-day Houlong, Dajia, Qingshui, Wuqi, Longjing, and Lukang, respectively.) {{harvp|Davidson|1903|p=591}} whereas people from the latter two areas (Zhangzhou-speaking) were dominant in the south and perhaps the central plains as well.

Although there were conflicts between Quanzhou- and Zhangzhou speakers in Taiwan historically, their gradual intermingling led to the mixture of the two accents. Apart from Lukang city and Yilan County, which have preserved their original Quanzhou and Zhangzhou accents, respectively, almost every region of Taiwan now speaks a mixture of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou Hokkien.{{sfnp|Ang|1987}} A similar phenomenon occurred in Xiamen (Amoy) after 1842, when the mixture of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou Hokkien displaced the Quanzhou dialect to yield the modern Amoy dialect.泉州旅游信息网，[http://fjqz.fj.vnet.cn/travel/talk/right.htm 泉州方言文化] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070301121345/http://fjqz.fj.vnet.cn/travel/talk/right.htm |date=1 March 2007 }}

During the Japanese colonial rule of Taiwan, Taiwan began to hold Amoy Hokkien as its standard pronunciation; the Japanese called this mixture {{nihongo|Taiwanese|臺灣語|Taiwango}}.{{cite book |last1=Iûⁿ |first1=Ún-giân |last2=Tiuⁿ |first2=Ha̍k-khiam |last3=Lu |first3=Bichhin |script-title=zh:台語文運動訪談暨史料彙編 |language=zh |date=2008-03-01 |publisher=國史館 |location=Taipei |isbn=9789860132946 |oclc=813921186}}

Due to the influx of Japanese loanwords before 1945 and the political separation after 1949,{{citation needed|date=April 2016}} Amoy Hokkien and Taiwanese Hokkien began to diverge slightly.

File:Proportion of Taiwanese Language Used in House.svg are shifting to speak Mandarin.]]

Later, in the 20th century, the conceptualization of Taiwanese was more controversial than most variations of Chinese because, at one time, it marked a clear division between the mainlanders who arrived in 1949 and the pre-existing majority native Taiwanese. Although the political and linguistic divisions between the two groups have blurred considerably, the political issues surrounding the Taiwanese have been more controversial and sensitive than for other varieties of Chinese.

After the First Sino-Japanese War, due to military defeat to the Japanese, the Qing dynasty ceded Taiwan to Japan, causing contact with the Hokkien-speaking regions of mainland China to stop. During Japanese rule, Japanese became an official language in Taiwan, and Taiwanese began to absorb a large number of Japanese loanwords into its language. Examples of such loanwords (some which had in turn been borrowed from English) include piān-só͘ from {{nihongo||{{linktext|便所}}|benjo|"toilet"}}, phêng from {{nihongo||{{linktext|坪}}|tsubo|"pyeong", an areal measurement}} (see also Taiwanese units of measurement), ga-suh from {{nihongo||{{linktext|瓦斯}}|gasu|"gas"}}, o͘-tó͘-bái from {{nihongo||{{linktext|オートバイ}}|ōtobai|"autobicycle", motorcycle}}. All of these caused the Taiwanese to deviate from Hokkien used elsewhere.

During Kōminka of the late Japanese colonial period, the Japanese language appeared in every corner of Taiwan. The Second Sino-Japanese War beginning in 1937 brought stricter measures into force, and along with the outlawing of romanized Taiwanese, various publications were prohibited and Confucian-style private schools which taught Classical Chinese with literary Southern Min pronunciation – was closed down in 1939.{{sfnp|Klöter|2005|p=135}} Taiwanese thus was reduced to a common daily language.{{cite book |last1=Ang |first1=Ui-jin |script-title=zh:臺灣方言之旅 |date=1991 |publisher=前衛出版社 |location=Taipei |isbn=9789579512312}} In 1937 the colonial government introduced a concept called "National Language Family" ({{linktext|国語|の|家}}), which meant that families that proved that they adopted Japanese as their daily language enjoyed benefits such as greater access to education.{{cite web|url=http://www.hwsh.tc.edu.tw/ischool/publish_page/106/?cid=4897|title=Hui-Wen High School Taichung, Introduction to the Kominka period|work=www.hwsh.tc.edu.tw}}

After the handover of Taiwan to the Republic of China in 1945, there was a brief cultural exchange with mainland China followed by further oppression. The Chinese Civil War resulted in another political separation when the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party) government retreated to Taiwan following their defeat by the communists in 1949. The influx of two million soldiers and civilians caused the population of Taiwan to increase from 6 million to 8 million. The government subsequently promoted Mandarin while suppressing, but short of banning, the use of written Taiwanese Hokkien (e.g. Pe̍h-ōe-jī, a phonetic rendering of spoken Hokkien using the Latin alphabet) as part of its general policy of political repression.{{cite journal |last=Lin |first=Alvin |issue=89 |title=Writing Taiwanese: The Development of Modern Written Taiwanese |journal=Sino-Platonic Papers |url=http://www.sino-platonic.org/complete/spp089_taiwanese.pdf |year=1999 |oclc=41879041 }} In 1964 the use of spoken Taiwanese Hokkien or Hakka in schools or in official settings was forbidden; violations of the prohibition in schools often resulted in physical punishments, fines, or humiliation.{{cite journal |title=Linguistic capital in Taiwan: The KMT's Mandarin language policy and its perceived impact on language practices of bilingual Mandarin and Taigi speakers |last=Sandel |first=Todd L. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2003 |journal=Language in Society |volume=32 |issue=4 |pages=523–551 |doi=10.1017/S0047404503324030 |jstor=4169285 |s2cid=145703339 }}

Only after the lifting of martial law in 1987 and the mother tongue movement in the 1990s did Taiwan finally see a true revival in Taiwanese Hokkien. Today, there are a large number of Taiwanese Hokkien scholars dedicated to researching the language. Despite this, however, according to census data, the number of people speaking Taiwanese continued to drop.

The history of the Taiwanese variety of Hokkien and its interaction with Mandarin is complex and, at times, controversial, even regarding its name. The language has no official name in Taiwan.{{cite web |title=中華民國文化部-國家語言發展法 |url=https://www.moc.gov.tw/content_275.html |website=www.moc.gov.tw |access-date=24 October 2019 |language=zh |date=10 October 2008 |quote=《國家語言發展法》並未以法律明列各固有族群之語言名稱，即是尊重各族群使用者慣常使用之命名權。 |archive-date=2 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210402055541/https://www.moc.gov.tw/content_275.html |url-status=dead }} Some dislike the name "Taiwanese" as they feel that it belittles other languages spoken on the island such as Mandarin, Hakka, and the indigenous languages. Others prefer the names Southern Min, Minnan or Hokkien as this views Taiwanese as a form of the Chinese variety spoken in Fujian province in mainland China. Others dislike those names for precisely the same reason.{{citation needed|date=March 2016}} In the American Community Survey run by the United States Census Bureau, Taiwanese was referred to as "Formosan" from 2012 to 2015 and as "Min Nan Chinese" since 2016.{{cite web | url=https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/working-papers/2018/demo/SEHSD-WP2018-31.pdf | title=American Community Survey Redesign of Language-Spoken-at-Home Data | date=2016 | first=Christine P. | last=Gambino | work=U.S. Census Bureau}}

{{Commons category|Taiwanese Hokkien}}

{{see also|Help:IPA/Taiwanese Hokkien|Hokkien phonology}}

Phonologically, Hokkien is a tonal language with extensive tone sandhi rules. Syllables consist maximally of an initial consonant, a vowel, a final consonant, and a tone.

{{notelist-lr|refs=

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Unlike many other varieties of Chinese such as Mandarin, Cantonese, Hakka, etc., there are no native labiodental phonemes (i.e. {{IPAblink|f}}, {{IPAblink|v}}, {{IPAblink|ʋ}}, etc.).

1. Coronal affricates and fricatives become alveolo-palatal before {{IPA|/i/}}, that is, {{IPA|/dzi/}}, {{IPA|/tsi/}}, {{IPA|/tsʰi/}}, and {{IPA|/si/}} are pronounced {{IPA|[dʑi]}}, {{IPA|[tɕi]}}, {{IPA|[tɕʰi]}}, and {{IPA|[ɕi]}}.
2. The consonant {{IPA|/dz/}} may be realized as a fricative; that is, as {{IPA|[z]}} in most environments and {{IPA|[ʑ]}} before {{IPA|/i/}}.
3. The voiced plosives ({{IPA|/b/}} and {{IPA|/ɡ/}}) become the corresponding fricatives ({{IPAblink|β}} and {{IPAblink|ɣ}}) in some phonetic contexts. This is similar to begadkefat in Hebrew and a similar allophony of intervocalic plosive consonants and their fricatives in Spanish.

Taiwanese has the following vowels:

The vowel {{angle bracket|o}} is akin to a schwa; in contrast, {{angle bracket|o͘ }} (with dot) or {{angle bracket|oo}} is a more open vowel. In addition, there are several diphthongs and triphthongs (for example, {{angle bracket|iau}}). The consonants {{angle bracket|m}} and {{angle bracket|ng}} can function as a syllabic nucleus and are therefore included here as vowels. The vowels may be either plain or nasal: {{angle bracket|a}} is non-nasal, and {{angle bracket|aⁿ}} or {{angle bracket|ann}} is the same vowel with concurrent nasal articulation. This is similar to French, Portuguese, Polish, and many other languages.

There are two pronunciations of vowel {{angle bracket|o}}. In the south (e.g., Tainan and Kaohsiung) it is {{IPAblink|ɤ}}; in the north (e.g., Taipei) it is {{IPAblink|o}}. Due to the development of transportation and communication, both pronunciations are common and acceptable throughout the country.

{{IPAslink|i}} is a diphthong [iɪ] before -k or -ng ({{lang-zh|poj=ek, eng|tl=ik, ing}}), and is slightly shortened and retracted before -p or -t to something more like [í̞]. Similarly, {{IPAslink|u}} is slightly shortened and retracted before -t or -n to something more like [ʊ].{{cite web|title=Tâigí Phonics 3 - Single Vowels - YouTube|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Muv_Rx7OXg0 |access-date=2021-02-06|website=YouTube| date=2 April 2020 }}

Image:Taiwanese tones.png

In the traditional analysis, there are eight "tones", numbered from 1 to 8. Strictly speaking, there are only five tonal contours. But as in other Sinitic languages, the two kinds of stopped syllables are also considered to be tones and assigned numbers 4 and 8. Words of tone 6 have merged into either tone 2 or tone 7 in most Taiwanese variants, and thus tone 6 is duplicated in the count. Here the eight tones are shown, following the traditional tone class categorization, named after the tones of Middle Chinese:

:

{{Listen|filename=Taiwanese-8Tones.ogg|title=Eight tones of Taiwanese|description=Demonstration of the tones of Taiwanese: {{zh|c=衫|tl=sann|out=tl|labels=no}}, {{zh|c=短|tl=té|out=tl|labels=no}}, {{zh|c=褲|ptl=khòo|out=tl|labels=no}}, {{zh|c=闊|tl=khuah|out=tl|labels=no}}, {{zh|c=人|tl=lâng|out=tl|labels=no}}, {{zh|c=矮|tl=é|out=tl|labels=no}}, {{zh|c=鼻|tl=phīnn|out=tl|labels=no}}, {{zh|c=直|tl=ti̍t|out=tl|labels=no}}. Tone sandhi rules do not apply in this sentence. (This demonstration is popular but misleading in the use of {{zh|c=矮|tl=é|out=tl|labels=no}} as an example for tone 6. Despite alternations in its vowel quality, this word belongs in tone 2 in all Southern Min varieties, including those distinguishing tone 6 from other tones.)}}

See (for one example) the modern phonological analysis in {{harvp|Chiung|2003}}, which challenges these notions.

For tones 4 and 8, a final consonant {{angle bracket|p}}, {{angle bracket|t}}, or {{angle bracket|k}} may appear. When this happens, it is impossible for the syllable to be nasal. Indeed, these are the counterpart to the nasal final consonants {{angle bracket|m}}, {{angle bracket|n}}, and {{angle bracket|ng}}, respectively, in other tones. However, it is possible to have a nasal 4th or 8th tone syllable such as {{angle bracket|siahⁿ}} or {{angle bracket|siahnn}}, as long as there is no final consonant other than {{angle bracket|h}}.

In the dialect spoken near the northern coast of Taiwan, there is no distinction between tones number 8 and number 4 – both are pronounced as if they follow the tone sandhi rules of tone number 4.

Tone number 0, typically written with two consecutive hyphens (--a) or a point (·a) before the syllable with this tone, is used to mark enclitics denoting the extent of a verb action, the end of a noun phrase, etc. A frequent use of this tone is to denote a question, such as in {{lang|nan-Latn|Chia̍h-pá--bōe?}} or {{lang|nan-Latn|Tsia̍h-pá--būe?}} ({{lit|Have you eaten yet?}}). This is realized by speaking the syllable with either a low-falling tone (3) or a low stop (4). The syllable prior to the {{angle bracket|--}} maintains its original tone.

Although uncommon in written Taiwanese, there is a ninth tone which is used for three main purposes: contractions, triplicated adjectives, and loan words.{{Cite web |last=Taiwanese |first=Bite-size |date=2019-12-20 |title=Ep06: The Ninth Tone Bite-size Taiwanese |url=https://bitesizetaiwanese.com/ep06-the-ninth-tone/ |access-date=2024-11-20 |website=Bite-size Taiwanese |language=en-US}} The writing conventions for this tone vary, but the most common are with a breve accent (U+0306, ⟨◌̆⟩) in POJ and with a double acute accent (U+030B, ⟨◌̋⟩) in Tai-lo.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2yObzaDr4I&t=69s |title=Tâigí Phonics 9 - Rethinking tones in stereo, and 9th tone |date=Jul 29, 2020 |type=Video |access-date=November 20, 2024 |quote=...and we write it with this little symbol down here which is called a breve accent it's uh it's round at the bottom...}}

A syllable requires a vowel (or diphthong or triphthong) to appear in the middle. All consonants can appear at the initial position. The consonants {{angle bracket|p, t, k}} and {{angle bracket|m, n, ng}} (and some consider {{angle bracket|h}}) may appear at the end of a syllable. Therefore, it is possible to have syllables such as {{angle bracket|ngiau}} ("(to) tickle") and {{angle bracket|thng}} ("soup").

File:Taiwanese Hokkien Tone Sandhi 01.svg

Taiwanese has extremely extensive tone sandhi (tone-changing) rules: in an utterance, only the last syllable pronounced is not affected by the rules.{{cite web|url=http://uegu.blogspot.com/2015/01/blog-post_16.html|script-title=zh:台語好多聲|trans-title=The Many Tones of Taiwanese|author=麻瓜先生|date=January 2015|quote={{lang|zh-tw|台語裡有個變調系統，細說分明需要時間，但最大的規則就是「最後一個字不要變！其他變變變！」}}|access-date=21 March 2019}} What an 'utterance' (or 'intonational phrase') is, in the context of this language, is an ongoing topic for linguistic research, but some general rules apply:{{cite book|author=Philip T. Lin|title=Taiwanese Grammar: A Concise Reference|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QlExBwAAQBAJ|date=31 January 2015|publisher=Greenhorn Media|isbn=978-0-9963982-1-3}}

The following syllables are unaffected by tone sandhi:

• The final syllable in a sentence, noun (including single syllable nouns, but not pronouns), number, time phrase (i.e., today, tomorrow, etc.), spatial preposition (i.e., on, under), or question word (i.e., who, what, how).
• The syllable immediately preceding the possessive particle 的 (ê) or a neutralized tone. In POJ and TL, this is the syllable before a double hyphen, e.g., {{zh|c=王先生|poj=Ông--sian-siⁿ|out=poj|labels=no}} or {{lang-zh|tl=Ông--sian-sinn|labels=no}}.
• Some common aspect markers: {{zh|c=了|tl=liáu|out=tl|labels=no}}, {{zh|c=好|tl=hó|out=tl|labels=no}}, {{zh|c=完|poj=oân|out=poj|labels=no}} or {{lang-zh|tl=uân|labels=no}}, {{zh|c=煞|poj=soah|out=poj|labels=no}} or {{lang-zh|tl=suah|labels=no}}

The following rules, listed in the traditional pedagogical mnemonic order, govern the pronunciation of tone on each of the syllables affected (that is, all but those described according to the rules listed above):

• If the original tone number is 5, pronounce it as tone number 3 (Quanzhou/Taipei speech) or 7 (Zhangzhou/Tainan speech).
• If the original tone number is 7, pronounce it as tone number 3.
• If the original tone number is 3, pronounce it as tone number 2.
• If the original tone number is 2, pronounce it as tone number 1.
• If the original tone number is 1, pronounce it as tone number 7.
• If the original tone number is 8 and the final consonant is not h (that is, it is p, t, or k), pronounce it as tone number 4.
• If the original tone number is 4 and the final consonant is not h (that is, it is p, t, or k), pronounce it as tone number 8.
• If the original tone number is 8 and the final consonant is h, pronounce it as tone number 3.
• If the original tone number is 4 and the final consonant is h, pronounce it as tone number 2.

An example of the normal tone sandhi rule is:

: 老老 lao lao: 7 + 7 = 7 + 3

: 拍拍 phah phah: 4 + 4 = 2 + 4

There are a number of a single syllable words that undergo double tone sandhi, that is, they follow the tone change rule twice and are pronounced according to the second tone change. These syllables are almost always a 4th tone ending in -h, and include the words 欲 (beh), 佮 (kah), 閣 (koh), 才 (chiah/tsiah), as well as the 3rd tone verb 去 khì. As a result of following the tone change rule twice, these syllables are all pronounced as tone number 1.

:

{{Wiktionary pipe|仔#Usage notes|the rules for tone sandhi before '仔' (-á) with examples}}

Apart from the normal tone sandhi rules described above, there are two special cases where a different set of tone sandhi apply.[https://aclweb.org/anthology/Y/Y05/Y05-1011.pdf Iunn Un-gian. "A Study on Implementation of Southern-Min Taiwanese Tone Sandhi System." (2005).] In a noun with the noun suffix '{{linktext|lang=zh|仔}}' ({{linktext|á}}), the penultimate syllable is governed by the following rules:

• If the original tone number is 5, pronounce it as tone number 7.
• If the original tone number is 7, pronounce it as tone number 7.
• If the original tone number is 2 or 3, pronounce it as tone number 1.
• If the original tone number is 1, pronounce it as tone number 7.(same as normal)
• If the original tone number is 8 and final consonant is not h (that is, it is p, t, or k), pronounce it as tone number 4.(same as normal)
• If the original tone number is 4 and final consonant is not h (that is, it is p, t, or k), pronounce it as tone number 8.(same as normal)
• If the original tone number is 8 and final consonant is h, pronounce it as tone number 7.
• If the original tone number is 4 and final consonant is h, pronounce it as tone number 1. (same as double)

:

Finally, in the case of a single-syllable adjective triplication (for added emphasis), the first syllable is governed by the following rules (the second syllable follows the normal tone sandhi rules above):

• If the original tone number is 5, pronounce it as tone number 5.
• If the original tone number is 7, pronounce it as tone number 1.
• If the original tone number is 3, pronounce it as tone number 2 (same as normal).
• If the original tone number is 2, pronounce it as tone number 1 (same as normal).
• If the original tone number is 1, pronounce it as tone number 5.
• If the original tone number is 8 and the final consonant is not h (that is, it is p, t, or k), pronounce it as tone number 4 (same as normal).
• If the original tone number is 4 and the final consonant is not h (that is, it is p, t, or k), pronounce it as tone number 8 (same as normal).
• If the original tone number is 8 and the final consonant is h, pronounce it as tone number 5.
• If the original tone number is 4 and the final consonant is h, pronounce it as tone number 2 (same as normal).{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAplvoyF_lA&t=206s|title=Taiwanese - Pronunciation 5 - Tone Change Rules|date=1 February 2016|via=YouTube}}

:

See {{harvp|Tiuⁿ|2001}}, {{harvp|Chiung|2003}} and the work of Robert L. Cheng (鄭良偉; Tēⁿ Liông-úi or Tēnn Liông-úi){{cite web |date=2003 |publisher=Center for Chinese Studies, University of Hawaii |title=Robert L. Cheng |url=http://www.chinesestudies.hawaii.edu/community/faculty/cheng_robert.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070624085539/http://www.chinesestudies.hawaii.edu/community/faculty/cheng_robert.html |archive-date=2007-06-24}} for modern linguistic approaches to tones and tone sandhi in Taiwanese.

{{see also|Hokkien#Vocabulary}}

Modern linguistic studies (by Robert L. Cheng and Chin-An Li, for example) estimate that most (75% to 90%) Taiwanese words have cognates in other Sinitic languages. False friends do exist; for example, cháu/tsáu ({{Lang|zh-tw|走}}) means "to run" in Taiwanese, whereas the Mandarin cognate, zǒu, means "to walk". Moreover, cognates may have different lexical categories; for example, the morpheme phīⁿ/phīnn ({{Lang|zh-tw|鼻}}) means not only "nose" (a noun, as in Mandarin bí) but also "to smell" (a verb, unlike Mandarin).

Among the apparently cognate-less words are many basic words with properties that contrast with similar-meaning words of pan-Chinese derivation. Often the former group lacks a standard Han character, and the words are variously considered colloquial, intimate, vulgar, uncultured, or more concrete in meaning than the pan-Chinese synonym. Some examples: lâng ({{Lang|zh-tw|人}} or {{Lang|zh-tw|儂}}, person, concrete) vs. jîn (人, person, abstract); {{linktext|cha-bó͘}}/tsa-bóo ({{linktext|查某}}, woman) vs. lú-jîn (女人, woman, literary). Unlike the English Germanic/Latin contrast, however, the two groups of Taiwanese words cannot be as strongly attributed to the influences of two disparate linguistic sources.

Extensive contact with the Japanese language has left a legacy of Japanese loanwords, with 172 recorded in the Ministry of Education's Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan.{{cite web |url=http://twblg.dict.edu.tw/holodict_new/index/fulu_wailaici.jsp |script-title=zh:臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典-外來詞 |year=2011 |trans-title=Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan - Loanwords |publisher=Ministry of Education, R.O.C. |language=zh |access-date=8 July 2011}} Although a very small percentage of the vocabulary, their usage tends to be high-frequency because of their relevance to modern society and popular culture. Examples are: o͘-tó͘-bái/oo-tóo-bái from {{nihongo||オートバイ|ōtobai|"autobike"/motorcycle}} and pháng from {{nihongo||{{linktext|パン}}|pan|"bread", itself a loanword from Portuguese}}. Grammatical particles borrowed from Japanese, notably te̍k/ti̍k from {{nihongo||的|teki}} and ka from {{nihongo||か|ka}}, show up in the Taiwanese of older speakers.

Whereas Mandarin attaches a syllabic suffix to the singular pronoun to make a collective form, Taiwanese pronouns are collectivized through nasalization. For example, i (he/she/it) and goá/guá (I) become in (they) and goán/guán (we), respectively. The -n thus represents a subsyllabic morpheme. Like all other varieties of Chinese, Taiwanese does not have true grammatical plurals.

Unlike English, Taiwanese has two first-person plural pronouns. This distinction is called inclusive, which includes the addressee, and exclusive, which excludes the addressee. Thus, goán/guán means we excluding you, while lán means we including you (similar to pluralis auctoris). The inclusive lán may be used to express politeness or solidarity, as in the example of a speaker asking a stranger "Where do we live?" while implicitly asking "Where do you live?".

{{see also|Hokkien#Grammar}}

{{listen|filename=Tai JintianDaoJiaKanWo.ogg|title=Kin-á-ji̍t hit ê cha-bó͘ gín-á lâi góan tau khòaⁿ góa./Kin-á-ji̍t hit ê tsa-bóo gín-á lâi gúan tau khùann gúa.|description=An audio sample for a simple sentence, meaning "Today that little girl came to our house to see me".}}

The syntax of Taiwanese is similar to southern Sinitic languages such as Hakka and Yue. The subject–verb–object sequence is typical as in, for example, Mandarin, but subject–object–verb or the passive voice (with the sequence object–subject–verb) is possible with particles. Take a simple sentence for example: 'I hold you.' The words involved are: goá/guá ('I' or 'me'), phō ('to hold'), lí ('you').

• Subject–verb–object (typical sequence): The sentence in the typical sequence would be: Goá phō lí./Guá phō lí. ('I hold you.')
• Subject–kā–object–verb: Another sentence of roughly equivalent meaning is Goá kā lí phō/Guá kā lí phō., with the slight connotation of 'I take you and hold' or 'I get to you and hold'.
• Object–hō͘/hōo–subject–verb (the passive voice): Then, Lí hō͘ goá phō/Lí hōo guá phō means the same thing but in the passive voice, with the connotation of 'You allow yourself to be held by me' or 'You make yourself available for my holding'.

The word hō͘/hōo also has other uses, such as to introduce an embedded clause: Goá hō͘ lí chúi lim/Guá hōo lí tsúi lim ('I give water for you to drink': chúi/tsúi means 'water'; lim is 'to drink').

{{Main|Written Hokkien}}

File:Holo bunhak chokphin.JPG

Until the late 19th century, Taiwanese speakers wrote mostly in Classical Chinese,{{sfnp|Klöter|2005|p=29}} although songbooks using Han characters are attested from the 1820s.{{sfnp|Klöter|2005|p=71-73}} Among many systems of writing Taiwanese using Latin characters, the most used is called Pe̍h-ōe-jī (POJ) and was developed in the 19th century, while the Taiwanese Romanization System (Tâi-lô) has been officially promoted since 2006 by Taiwan's Ministry of Education. (For additional romanized systems, see references in "Orthography in Latin characters", below.) Nonetheless, Taiwanese speakers nowadays most commonly write in Mandarin, though many of the same characters are also used to write Taiwanese.

In most cases, Taiwanese speakers write using the script called Han characters as in Mandarin, although there are a number of special characters which are unique to Taiwanese and which are sometimes used in informal writing. Where Han characters are used, they are not always etymological or genetic; the borrowing of similar-sounding or similar-meaning characters is a common practice. Bilingual speakers of both Mandarin and Taiwanese sometimes attempt to represent the sounds by adopting similar-sounding Mandarin Han characters. For example, the Han characters of the vulgar slang 'khoàⁿ sáⁿ-siâu' or 'khuánn sánn-siâu' ({{linktext|lang=zh|看|三小}}, substituted for the etymologically correct {{linktext|lang=zh|看|啥潲}}, meaning 'What the hell are you looking at?') has very little meaning in Mandarin and may not be readily understood by a Taiwanese monolingual, as knowledge of Mandarin character readings is required to fully decipher it.

In 2007, the Ministry of Education in Taiwan published the first list of Taiwanese Southern Min Recommended Characters, a list of 300 Han characters standardized for the use of writing Taiwanese and implemented the teaching of them in schools.[http://www.nownews.com/2007/05/30/327-2104243.htm 教育部公布閩南語300字推薦用字　卡拉OK用字也被選用 (Ministry of Education in Taiwan announces 300 recommended Hokkien words, Karaoke words are also selected)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724212916/http://www.nownews.com/2007/05/30/327-2104243.htm |date=24 July 2011 }}; [http://www.edu.tw/mandr/news.aspx?news_sn=707&pages=6 「臺灣閩南語推薦用字（第1批）」已公布於網站，歡迎各界使用 (Announcement of recommended words for Taiwanese Hokkien)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718144143/http://www.edu.tw/mandr/news.aspx?news_sn=707&pages=6 |date=18 July 2011 }} In 2008, the ministry published a second list of 100 characters, and in 2009 added 300 more, giving a total of 700 standardized characters used to write uniquely Taiwanese words. With increasing literacy in Taiwanese, there are currently more Taiwanese online bloggers who write Taiwanese online using these standardized Chinese characters. Han characters are also used by Taiwan's Hokkien literary circle for Hokkien poets and writers to write literature or poetry in Taiwanese.

Image:Kauhoe.jpg, first published by Presbyterian missionaries in 1885. This was the first printed newspaper in Taiwan, and was written in Taiwanese, in the Latin orthography Pe̍h-ōe-jī.]]

There are several Latin-based orthographies, the oldest being Pe̍h-ōe-jī (POJ, meaning "vernacular writing"), developed in the 19th century. Taiwanese Romanization System (Tâi-ôan lô-má-jī, Tâi-lô) and Taiwanese Language Phonetic Alphabet (TLPA) are two later adaptations of POJ. Other 20th-century innovations include Daighi tongiong pingim (DT), Ganvsig daiuuan bhanlam ghiw tongiong pingimv (GDT), Modern Literal Taiwanese (MLT), Simplified MLT (SMLT), Phofsit Daibuun (PSDB). The last four employ tonal spelling to indicate tone without use of diacritic symbols, but letters instead.

In POJ, the traditional list of letters is

:a b ch chh e g h i j k kh l m n ng o o͘ p ph s t th (ts) u

Twenty-four in all, including the obsolete {{angle bracket|ts}}, which was used to represent the modern {{angle bracket|ch}} at some places. The additional necessities are the nasal symbol {{angle bracket|ⁿ}}  (superscript {{angle bracket|n}}; the uppercase form {{angle bracket|^N}} is sometimes used in all caps texts,Tè Khái-sū (1999) [https://archive.org/details/Tpsurvey Writing Latinized Taiwanese Languages with Unicode] such as book titles or section headings), and the tonal diacritics.

POJ was developed first by Presbyterian missionaries and later by the indigenous Presbyterian Church in Taiwan; they have been active in promoting the language since the late 19th century. Recently there has been an increase in texts using a mixed orthography of Han characters and romanization, although these texts remain uncommon.

In 2006, the National Languages Committee (Ministry of Education, Republic of China) proposed its Taiwanese Romanization System (Tâi-ôan Lô-má-jī pheng-im, Tâi-Lô). This alphabet reconciles two orthographies, TLPA and POJ.{{Cite web|url=http://tlh.de-han.org/untong/2006/0929TaiLo.pdf|title=臺灣閩南語羅馬字拼音方案 (Orthographic system for the Minnan language in Taiwan, 'Tâi-ôan Lô-má-jī')}} The changes for the consonants involved using {{angle bracket|ts}} for POJ's {{angle bracket|ch}} (reverting to the orthography in the 19th century), and {{angle bracket|tsh}} for {{angle bracket|chh}}. For the vowels, {{angle bracket|o͘}} could optionally be represented as {{angle bracket|oo}}. The nasal mark {{angle bracket|ⁿ}} could also be represented optionally as {{angle bracket|nn}}. The rest of the alphabet, most notably the use of diacritics to mark the tones, appeared to keep to the POJ tradition. One of the aims of this compromise was to curb any increase of 'market share' for Daighi tongiong pingim/Tongyong Pinyin.[http://203.64.42.21/TG/khinhoaN/other/TLsoatthiap.pdf 教育部國語推行委員會: 關於閩南語拼音整合工作相關問題說帖 (National Languages Committee: On the integration of Minnan orthographies), 2006-10-16] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071128050052/http://203.64.42.21/TG/khinhoaN/other/TLsoatthiap.pdf |date=28 November 2007 }} It is unclear whether the community will adopt this new agreement.

Image:Japanese-Taiwanese Dictionary.jpg

{{Main|Taiwanese kana|Taiwanese Phonetic Symbols}}

There was an orthography of Taiwanese based on the Japanese kana during Japanese rule. The Kuomintang government also tried to introduce an orthography in bopomofo.

Here the different orthographies are compared:

{{Hokkien phonetic table}}

File:Pa-khek-le Kau-hoe.jpg commemorating Thomas Barclay.]]

Many keyboard layouts and input methods for entering either Latin or Han characters in Taiwanese are available. Some of them are free of charge, and some are commercial.

The Min Nan dialect group is registered per {{IETF RFC|3066}} as [https://www.iana.org/assignments/lang-tags/zh-min-nan zh-min-nan].{{cite web|url=http://www.evertype.com/standards/iso639/iana-lang-assignments.html|title=Evertype|website=www.evertype.com}} Taiwanese Min Nan can be represented as 'zh-min-nan-TW'.

When writing Taiwanese in Han characters, some writers create 'new' characters when they consider it is impossible to use directly or borrow existing ones; this corresponds to similar practices in character usage in Cantonese, Vietnamese chữ nôm, Korean hanja and Japanese kanji. These are usually not encoded in Unicode (or the corresponding ISO/IEC 10646: Universal Character Set), thus creating problems in computer processing.

All Latin characters required by Pe̍h-ōe-jī can be represented using Unicode (or the corresponding ISO/IEC 10646: Universal character set), using precomposed or combining (diacritics) characters.

{{Main|O͘}}

Prior to June 2004, the vowel {{IPA|[ɔ]}} akin to but more open than ⟨o⟩, written with a 'dot above right', was not encoded. The usual workaround was to use the (stand-alone; spacing) character 'middle dot' (U+00B7, ⟨·⟩) or, less commonly, the combining character 'dot above' (U+0307). As these are far from ideal, since 1997, proposals have been submitted to the ISO/IEC working group in charge of ISO/IEC 10646 – namely, [https://web.archive.org/web/20070628163947/http://anubis.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC2/wg2/ ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2] – to encode a new combining character 'dot above right'. This is now officially assigned to U+0358 (see documents [http://www.evertype.com/standards/la/taioan.html N1593], [https://web.archive.org/web/20070311082219/http://anubis.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC2/WG2/docs/n2507 N2507], [https://web.archive.org/web/20060928065416/http://anubis.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC2/WG2/docs/n2628 N2628],

[http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n2699 N2699] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310101201/http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n2699 |date=10 March 2021 }}, and [http://std.dkuug.dk/JTC1/sc2/wg2/docs/N2770r.pdf N2770] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308175456/http://std.dkuug.dk/JTC1/sc2/wg2/docs/N2770r.pdf |date=8 March 2021 }}). Font support has followed: for example, in Charis SIL.

File:Taiwanese Hokkien Map.svg |year=2013 |journal=Language and Linguistics |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=315–369|language=zh-hant |url=http://www.ling.sinica.edu.tw/Files/LL/Docments/Journals/14.2/LL14.2-04-Ang%20121227.pdf}} Map 5, p. 355.

{{legend|#ff8080|Quanzhou dialect predominant}}

{{legend|#8080ff|Zhangzhou dialect predominant}}

{{legend|#ff80ff|Both Quanzhou and Zhangzhou dialects}}

]]

The prestige variant of Taiwanese Hokkien is the southern speech found in Tainan and Kaohsiung. Other major variants are the northern speech, the central speech (near Taichung and the port town of Lukang), and the northern (northeastern) coastal speech (dominant in Yilan).

The distinguishing feature of the coastal speech is the use of the vowel {{angle bracket|uiⁿ}} or {{angle bracket|uinn}} in place of {{angle bracket|ng}}. The northern speech is distinguished by the absence of the 8th tone, and some vowel exchanges (for example, {{angle bracket|i}} and {{angle bracket|u}}, {{angle bracket|e}} and {{angle bracket|oe}} or {{angle bracket|ue}}). The central speech has an additional vowel {{IPA|[ɨ]}} or {{IPA|[ø]}} between {{angle bracket|i}} and {{angle bracket|u}}, which may be represented as {{angle bracket|ö}}. There are also a number of other pronunciation and lexical differences between the Taiwanese variants; the online Ministry of Education dictionary specifies these to a resolution of eight regions on Taiwan proper, in addition to Kinmen and Penghu.{{cite web|url=http://twblg.dict.edu.tw/holodict_new/index/fulu_fangyan_level2.jsp?condition=cuankho|script-title=zh:方言差"語音差異表|trans-title=Table of Pronunciation Differences|year=2011|work=臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典|publisher=Ministry of Education, R.O.C.|language=zh|access-date=8 July 2011|archive-date=6 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006055549/http://twblg.dict.edu.tw/holodict_new/index/fulu_fangyan_level2.jsp?condition=cuankho|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://twblg.dict.edu.tw/holodict_new/index/fulu_fangyan_level2.jsp?condition=cuankho_p|script-title=zh:方言差"詞彙差異表|trans-title=Table of Vocabulary Differences|year=2011|work=臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典|publisher=Ministry of Education, R.O.C.|language=zh|access-date=8 July 2011|archive-date=6 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006055529/http://twblg.dict.edu.tw/holodict_new/index/fulu_fangyan_level2.jsp?condition=cuankho_p|url-status=dead}}

Concerning the fifth (rising) tone in normal sandhi patterns, the Quanzhou/Coastal/Northern dialects change to the seventh (mid-level) tone, whereas the Zhangzhou/"Mixed"/Southern dialects change to the third (low falling) tone.

Certain new north–south distinctions have appeared in recent decades.{{citation needed|date=November 2016}}{{Cite journal|author1-link=Jack C. Richards|last=Richards|first=Jack C.|date=1977-01-01|title=Variation in Singapore English |jstor=43135170|journal=Interlanguage Studies Bulletin |volume=2|issue=2|pages=131–151}} The fourth and eighth tones tend to be reversed in the north and south.{{cite web |url=http://pages.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/resources/PronouncingTaiwanese.html|title=Jordan: Pronouncing Romanized Taiwanese Hokkien |website=pages.ucsd.edu}}{{better source needed|date=November 2016}}

Hokkien immigrants to Taiwan originated from Quanzhou prefecture (44.8%) and Zhangzhou prefecture (35.2%).{{citation needed|date=February 2015}} The original phonology from these regions was spread around Taiwan during the immigration process. With the advanced development of transportation and greater mobility of the Taiwanese population, Taiwanese speech has steered itself towards a mixture of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou speech, known as Chiang–Chôan-lām/Tsiang–Tsûan-lām (漳泉濫, in Mandarin Zhāng–Quán làn).{{sfnp|Ang|1987}} Due to different proportions of the mixture, some regions are inclined more towards the Quanzhou accent, while others are inclined more towards the Zhangzhou accent.

In general, the Quanzhou accent is more common along the coastal region and is known as the hái-kháu accent; the Zhangzhou accent is more common within the mountainous region of Taiwan and is known as the lāi-po͘/lāi-poo accent. The regional variation within Taiwanese may be attributed to variations in the mixture of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou accents and/or lexicons. It ranges from Lukang accent (based on Quanzhou accent) on one end to the northern coastal Yilan accent (based on Zhangzhou accent) on another end. Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Taitung accents, on the other hand, are closest to the prestige accent.

{{center|Variations in Taiwanese Hokkien accents}}

Recent research has found a need for new terminology of Taiwanese dialects, mainly because the Quanzhou and Zhangzhou dialects in Taiwan developed independently from those in Fujian. Thus, some scholars (i.e., Klöter, following {{lang|zh-tw|董忠司}}) have divided Taiwanese into five subdialects, based on geographic region:{{sfnp|Klöter|2005|p=4}}

1. hái-kháu ({{lang|zh-tw|海口腔}}): west coast, based on what was formerly referred to as Quanzhou dialect (represented by the Lukang accent)
2. phian-hái ({{lang|zh-tw|偏海腔}}): coastal (represented by the Nanliao ({{lang|zh-tw|南寮}}) accent)
3. lāi-po͘/lāi-poo ({{lang|zh-tw|內埔腔}}): western inner plain, mountain regions, based on the Zhangzhou dialect (represented by the Yilan accent)
4. phian-lāi ({{lang|zh-tw|偏內腔}}): interior (represented by the Taibao accent)
5. thong-hêng/thong-hîng ({{lang|zh-tw|通行腔}}): common accents (represented by the Taipei (spec. Datong) accent in the north and the Tainan accent in the south)

Both phian-hái and phian-lāi are intermediate dialects between hái-kháu and lāi-po͘/lāi-poo, these also known as thong-hêng/thong-hîng ({{lang|zh-tw|通行腔}}) or "{{lang|zh-tw|不泉不漳}}". In some ways this mixed dialect is similar to the Amoy dialect, which itself is a blend of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou speech. The common dialect refers to that which can be heard on radio, television, official announcements, etc.{{citation needed|date=November 2016}}

A great majority of people in Taiwan can speak both Mandarin and Hokkien, but the degree of fluency varies widely. There are, however, small but significant numbers of people in Taiwan, mainly but not exclusively Hakka and Mainlanders, who cannot speak Taiwanese fluently. A shrinking percentage of the population, mainly people born before the 1950s, cannot speak Mandarin at all or learned to speak Mandarin later in life, though some of these speak Japanese fluently. Urban, working-class Hakkas, as well as younger, southern-Taiwan Mainlanders, tend to have better, even native-like fluency. Approximately half of the Hakka in Taiwan do speak Taiwanese. There are many families of mixed Hakka, Hoklo, and Aboriginal bloodlines. There is, however, a large percentage of people in Taiwan, regardless of their background, whose ability to understand and read written Taiwanese is greater than their ability to speak it. This is the case with some singers who can sing Taiwanese songs with native-like proficiency but can neither speak nor understand the language.

Which variant is used depends strongly on the context, and in general, people will use Mandarin in more formal situations and Taiwanese in more informal situations. Taiwanese tends to get used more in rural areas, while Mandarin is used more in urban settings. Older people tend to use Taiwanese, while younger people tend to use Mandarin. In the broadcast media where Mandarin is used in many genres, soap opera, variety shows, and even some news programs can also be found in Taiwanese.

Chhit-jī-á/Tshit-jī-á (literally, "that which has seven syllables") is a poetic meter where each verse has 7 syllables.

There is a special form of musical/dramatic performance koa-á-hì/kua-á-hì: the Taiwanese opera; the subject matter is usually a historical event. A similar form pò͘-tē-hì/pòo-tē-hì (glove puppetry) is also unique and has been elaborated in the past two decades into impressive televised spectacles.

See Taiwanese cuisine for names of several local dishes.

{{See also|Bible translations into the languages of Taiwan#Taiwanese}}

File:Bibles in Taiwanese.jpg

As with many other languages, the translations of the Bible in Taiwan marked milestones in the standardization attempts of the language and its orthography.

The first translation of the Bible in Amoy or Taiwanese in the Pe̍h-ōe-jī orthography was by the first missionary to Taiwan, James Laidlaw Maxwell, with the New Testament Lán ê Kiù-chú Iâ-so͘ Ki-tok ê Sin-iok published in 1873 and the Old Testament Kū-iok ê Sèng Keng in 1884.

File:Taiwanese Bible Chim-gian 1933.jpg

The next translation of the Bible in Taiwanese or Amoy was by the missionary to Taiwan, Thomas Barclay, carried out in Fujian and Taiwan.{{cite web |url=http://www.biblesociety-tw.org/native.htm |script-title=zh:本土聖經 |access-date=2008-07-14 |language=zh |archive-date=14 June 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080614052448/http://www.biblesociety-tw.org/native.htm |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url = http://www32.ocn.ne.jp/~sunliong/lunwen-12j.htm |script-title=ja:書評『聖經－－台語漢字本』 |access-date=2008-07-14 |language=ja |url-status=dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080120005258/http://www32.ocn.ne.jp/~sunliong/lunwen-12j.htm|archive-date=20 January 2008}} A New Testament translation was completed and published in 1916. The resulting work containing the Old and the New Testaments, in the Pe̍h-ōe-jī orthography, was completed in 1930 and published in 1933 as the {{ill|Amoy Romanized Bible|nan|Sin-kū-iok ê Sèng-keng}} ({{Lang-zh|c=|s=|t=|poj=Sin-kū-iok ê Sèng-keng|tl=Sin-kū-iok ê Sìng-kìng|links=no}}). 2000 copies of the Amoy Romanized Bible were confiscated by the Taiwan Garrison from the Bible Society of Taiwan in 1975. This edition was later transliterated into Han characters and published as {{ill|Sèng-keng Tâi-gí Hàn-jī Pún|nan}} ({{Lang-zh|c=|s=|t=聖經台語漢字本|labels=no|scase=}}) in 1996.{{cite web |url = http://tailo.fhl.net/Godspeak/Godspeak26.html |title=台語信望愛 - 4.1.4 《台語漢字本》|website=tailo.fhl.net |language=zh-TW }}

File:Ang-phoe Seng-keng te-571-bin.jpg

The Ko–Tân (Kerygma) Colloquial Taiwanese Version of the New Testament (Sin-iok) in Pe̍h-ōe-jī, also known as the {{Interlanguage link|Red Cover Bible|nan|Âng-phoê Sèng-keng|WD=}} ({{Lang-zh|c=|s=|t=|poj=Âng-phoê Sèng-keng|tl=Âng-phuê Sìng-king|labels=no}}), was published in 1973 as an ecumenical effort between the Protestant Presbyterian Church in Taiwan and the Roman Catholic mission Maryknoll. This translation used a more modern vocabulary (somewhat influenced by Mandarin), and reflected the central Taiwan dialect, as the Maryknoll mission was based near Tâi-tiong. It was soon confiscated by the Kuomintang government (which objected to the use of Latin orthography) in 1975.

A translation using the principle of functional equivalence, "{{ill|Today's Taiwanese Romanized Version|nan|Hiān-tāi Tâi-gú E̍k-pún}}" ({{Lang-zh|t=現代台語譯本|poj=Hiān-tāi Tâi-gú E̍k-pún|tl=Hiān-tāi Tâi-gú I̍k-pún|labels=no}}), containing only the New Testament, again in Pe̍h-ōe-jī, was published in 2008{{cite web |url=http://www.peopo.org/chuniok/post/12934|title=現代台語新約羅馬字聖經 出版感謝e話 |website=www.peopo.org }} as a collaboration between the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan and the Bible Society in Taiwan; a parallel-text version with both Han-character and Pe̍h-ōe-jī orthographies was published in 2013.{{Cite web |url=https://bstwn.org/bstwn/dm/10.pdf|title=現代台語新約附詩箴2013漢羅版}} A translation of the Old Testament following the same principle was completed and the whole Bible was published in 2021 as a parallel-text volume.{{cite web|url=http://www.biblesociety-tw.org/translation/Taiwanese.htm|title=台語聖經|website=www.biblesociety-tw.org|language=zh-TW|access-date=16 April 2008|archive-date=10 September 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120910024231/http://www.biblesociety-tw.org/translation/Taiwanese.htm|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web |title=現代台語譯本 漢羅版(路得記) by bstwn |url=https://issuu.com/bstwn/docs/taiwanesebible |website=Issuu |date=3 August 2021 }}

Another translation using the principle of functional equivalence, "Common Taiwanese Bible" ({{Lang-zh|c=|s=|t=|poj=Choân-bîn Tâi-gí Sèng-keng|tl=Tsuân-bîn Tâi-gí Sìng-king|labels=no}}), with versions of Pe̍h-ōe-jī, Han characters and Ruby version (both Han characters and Pe̍h-ōe-jī) was published in 2015, available in printed and online.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}

=== Politics ===

File:Banning of POJ.gif

Until the 1980s, the use of Taiwanese Hokkien, along with all varieties other than Mandarin, was discouraged by the Kuomintang through measures such as banning its use in schools and limiting the amount of Taiwanese broadcast on radio and television. These restrictions were lifted by the 1990s, and the Taiwanese became an emblem of localization. Mandarin remains the predominant language of education, but Taiwanese schools have a "mother tongue" language requirement which can be satisfied with students' choice of the mother tongue: Taiwanese, Hakka, or indigenous languages.

Although the use of Taiwanese Hokkien over Mandarin was historically part of the Taiwan independence movement, the linkage between politics and language is not as strong as it once was. Some fluency in Taiwanese Hokkien is desirable for political office in Taiwan for both independence and unificationist politicians. At the same time, even some supporters of Taiwan's independence have played down its connection with the Taiwanese in order to gain the support of the Mainlanders and Hakka people.

James Soong restricted the use of Taiwanese Hokkien and other local tongues in broadcasting while serving as Director of the Government Information Office earlier in his career, but later became one of the first politicians of Mainlander origin to use it in semi-formal occasions.{{synthesis inline|date=August 2016}} Since then, politicians opposed to Taiwanese independence have used it frequently in rallies, even when they are not native speakers. Conversely, politicians who have traditionally been identified with Taiwan's independence have used Mandarin on formal occasions and semi-formal occasions such as press conferences. An example of the latter is former President Chen Shui-bian, who uses Mandarin in all official state speeches but uses mainly Taiwanese in political rallies and some informal state occasions such as New Year greetings. Former President Tsai Ing-wen was criticized by some of her supporters for not using Taiwanese in speeches.{{cite web |url=http://www.newtaiwan.com.tw/bulletinview.jsp?bulletinid=80826 |access-date=12 October 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210304195859/https://www.webcitation.org/5dPfuafUb?url=http://www.newtaiwan.com.tw/bulletinview.jsp%3Fbulletinid=80826 |archive-date=4 March 2021 |script-title=zh:蔡英文不說台語 高雄人涼了半截 |trans-title=Tsai Ing-wen doesn't speak Taiwanese; The people in Kaohsiung feel half-disappointed |language=zh}} Her predecessor Ma Ying-jeou spoke in Taiwanese during his 2008 Double Ten Day speech when he was talking about the state of the economy in Taiwan.

In the early 21st century, there are few differences in language usage between the pro-unification leaning Pan-Blue Coalition and the independence leaning Pan-Green Coalition. Both tend to use Taiwanese at political rallies and sometimes in informal interviews, and both tend to use Mandarin at formal press conferences and official state functions. Both also tend to use more Mandarin in Northern Taiwan and more Taiwanese in Southern Taiwan. However, at official party gatherings (as opposed to both Mandarin-leaning state functions and Taiwanese-leaning party rallies), the DPP tends to use Taiwanese while KMT and PFP tend to use Mandarin. The Taiwan Solidarity Union, which advocates a strong line on Taiwan independence, tends to use Taiwanese even in formal press conferences. In speaking, politicians will frequently code switch. In writing, almost everyone uses vernacular Mandarin which is further from Taiwanese, and the use of semi-alphabetic writing or even colloquial Taiwanese characters is rare.{{Cite thesis|first=Katsuhiro J. |last=Ota|date=2005 |title=An investigation of written Taiwanese |url=http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/11520 |degree=MA|language=en-US|publisher=University of Hawaii at Manoa |hdl=10125/11520}}{{cite web|last=Mair|first=Victor |title=Taiwanese, Mandarin, and Taiwan's language situation |url=http://pinyin.info/readings/mair/taiwanese.html|access-date=2020-08-06|website=pinyin.info}}

In 2002, the Taiwan Solidarity Union, a party with about 10% of the Legislative Yuan seats at the time, suggested making Taiwanese Hokkien a second official language.{{cite news |last=Lin |first=Mei-chun |title=Hokkien should be given official status, says TSU |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2002/03/10/0000127068 |work=Taipei Times|date=10 March 2002 |page=1 }} This proposal encountered strong opposition not only from Mainlander groups but also from Hakka and aboriginal groups who felt that it would slight their home languages, as well as others including Hoklo who objected to the proposal on logistical grounds and on the grounds that it would increase ethnic tensions. Because of these objections, support for this measure is lukewarm among moderate Taiwan independence supporters, and the proposal did not pass.

In 2003, there was a controversy when parts of the civil service examination for judges were written in characters used only in Taiwanese Hokkien.{{cite news|author=Ko Shu-ling|title=Control Yuan sets rules for future examinations |page=2 |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2004/09/20/2003203606 |work=Taipei Times|date=20 September 2004}} After strong objections, these questions were not used in scoring. As with the official-language controversy, objections to the use of Taiwanese came not only from Mainlander groups but also Hoklo, Hakka, and aborigines. The Control Yuan later created a rule that only allowed Standard Mandarin characters on civil service exams. According to public opinion surveys in 2008, more people supported making English a second official language than Taiwanese.{{cite book |author1=Gijsen, Johan |author2=Liu Yu-Chang |chapter=Chapter 8: The Quest for a New Civic and Linguistic Identity: Mandarin and English Encroachment upon the Taiwanese Language |title=Critical Perspectives on Language and Discourse in the New World Order|editor1-last=Abdullah|editor1-first=Faiz Sathi|editor2-last=Abdullah|editor2-first=Mardziah Hayati|editor3-last=Hoon|editor3-first=Tan Bee|date=2008|publisher=Cambridge Scholars|location=Newcastle|isbn=9781847183408|page=156}}

{{further information|Languages of Taiwan}}

Taiwanization developed in the 1990s into a 'mother tongue revival movement' aiming to save, preserve, and develop the local ethnic culture and language of Holo (Taiwanese), Hakka, and aborigines. The effort to save declining languages has since allowed them to revive and flourish. In 1993, Taiwan became the first country in the world to implement the teaching of Taiwanese Hokkien in schools. By 2001, Taiwanese languages such as Taiwanese Hokkien, Hakka, and indigenous languages were taught in all Taiwanese schools.{{cite web|url=http://www.nhu.edu.tw/~society/e-j/45/45-16.htm|author=許嘉文|date=15 March 2005|language=zh|script-title=zh:台灣鄉土教育發展史|trans-title=The education history of local Taiwanese languages}}{{failed verification|date=March 2016}}{{dubious|date=March 2016}} Since the 2000s, elementary school students are required to take a class in either Taiwanese, Hakka or aboriginal languages.{{sfnp|Lin|2002}}{{dubious|date=March 2016}} In junior high this is usually an available elective.{{cite web|url=https://www.ey.gov.tw/AnnoucePage2.aspx|title=行政院全球資訊網|website=www.ey.gov.tw|access-date=2018-12-05}} Taiwan also has its own literary circle whereby Hokkien poets and writers compose poetry and literature in Taiwanese on a regular basis.

As a result of the mother tongue movement, Taiwan has emerged as a significant cultural hub for Hokkien in the world in the 21st century. It also plans to be the major export center for Hokkien culture worldwide in the 21st century.{{cite web|url=https://www.npf.org.tw/11/4118 |title=馬英九 {{!}} 馬蕭文化政策 {{!}} 國家政策研究基金會 {{!}} 公共政策的理性思辯與對話平台！|website=國家政策研究基金會|language=zh-TW|access-date=2018-12-05}}

{{Expand Chinese|topic=cult|section=yes|date=August 2020}}

• Lady Rainicorn for Adventure Time broadcast by Cartoon Network Taiwan used Taiwanese Hokkien for Li Hanfei ({{lang|zh-tw|李涵菲}})

Klöter's Written Taiwanese (cited below) has been described as "the most comprehensive English-language study of written Taiwanese".{{sfnp|Snow|2004|p=261}}

{{Portal|Taiwan|Languages}}

• Languages of Taiwan
• Min Nan Wikipedia
• Speak Hokkien Campaign
• Taiwanese literature movement
• Bân-lâm-gí Gí-giân Lêng-le̍k Jīn-chèng (Taiwanese Hokkien Test) {{in lang|nan}}

{{notelist}}

{{notelist-ur}}

{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book |last=Ang |first=Ui-jin |author-link=Ang Ui-jin |script-title=zh:臺灣河佬語聲調研究 |year=1987 |edition=4 |publisher=自立晚報 |location = Taipei |language= zh-Hant |isbn=9789575960353 |oclc=813713530 }}
• {{cite journal|last=Chiung |first=Wi-vun Taiffalo |date=2003 |title=Tone Change in Taiwanese: Age and Geographic Factors |journal=University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics |volume=8 |issue=1 |url=http://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol8/iss1/5 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303035733/http://uibun.twl.ncku.edu.tw/chuliau/lunsoat/english/tchange/tonechange-v.pdf |archive-date=3 March 2012 |url-status=dead }}
• {{cite book |last=Davidson |first=James W. |author-link=James W. Davidson |title = The Island of Formosa, Past and Present : history, people, resources, and commercial prospects : tea, camphor, sugar, gold, coal, sulphur, economical plants, and other productions |year=1903 |publisher=Macmillan |url = https://archive.org/details/islandofformosap00davi |location=London and New York |ol=6931635M |oclc=1887893 }}
• {{cite book |last = Klöter |first = Henning |title=Written Taiwanese |year = 2005 |publisher=Harrassowitz |location=Wiesbaden |isbn=9783447050937 }}
• {{cite book |last = Snow |first = D. |title=Cantonese as Written Language: The Growth of a Written Chinese Vernacular |year = 2004 |publisher=Hong Kong University Press |location=Hong Kong |isbn=9789622097094 }}
• {{cite book |last=Tiuⁿ |first=Jū-hông |year=2001 |trans-title=Principles of Pe̍h-ōe-jī or the Taiwanese Orthography: an introduction to its sound-symbol correspondences and related issues |script-title=zh:白話字基本論 : 臺語文對應&相關的議題淺說 |language=zh |place=Taipei |publisher=Crane |isbn=957-2053-07-8 }}
• {{cite book |last=Wu |first=Soli |author-link=:zh-min-nan:Ngô͘ Siú-lé |year=2000 |script-title=zh:國臺對照活用辭典 |trans-title=Mandarin-Taiwanese Comparative Living Dictionary |language=zh-TW, zh-min-nan |publisher=Yuan-Liou |location=Taipei |isbn=9789573240884 |oclc=45990089}}

{{refend}}

(As English language material on Taiwanese learning is limited, Japanese and German books are also listed here.)

; English textbooks & dictionaries

• {{cite book |author=李勤岸 |trans-title=Harvard Taiwanese 101 |script-title=zh:哈佛臺語101 |translator-last1=Yeh |translator-first1=Chieh-Ting |translator-last2=Lee |translator-first2=Marian |publisher=開朗 |place=Tainan |year=2005 |isbn=9789868160811 |language=en,zh |type=paperback & CD }}
• Su-chu Wu, Bodman, Nicholas C.: Spoken Taiwanese with cassette(s), 1980/2001, {{ISBN|0-87950-461-7}} or {{ISBN|0-87950-460-9}} or {{ISBN|0-87950-462-5}}
• {{cite book |last=Campbell |first=William |author-link=William Campbell (missionary) |title=A Dictionary of the Amoy Vernacular, spoken throughout the prefectures of Chin-chiu, Chiang-chiu and Formosa |year=1913 |publisher=Taiwan Church Press |location=Tainan |url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000072254844;view=1up;seq=28 |oclc=867068660}}
• {{cite book |last=Campbell |first=William |title=A Dictionary of the Amoy Vernacular, spoken throughout the prefectures of Chin-chiu, Chiang-chiu and Formosa |year=1923 |edition=2nd |orig-year=1913 |publisher=Fukuin Print. Co. |location=Yokohama |oclc=43655590 |url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015056044533;view=1up;seq=1 |others=Preface by Thomas Barclay}}
• Iâu Chèng-to: Cheng-soán Pe̍h-ōe-jī (Concise Colloquial Writing). Tainan, Taiwan: Jîn-kong (an imprint of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan). 1992.
• Tân, K. T: A Chinese-English Dictionary: Taiwan Dialect. Taipei: Southern Materials Center. 1978.
• Maryknoll Language Service Center: English-Amoy Dictionary. Taichung, Taiwan: Maryknoll Fathers. 1979.

; Japanese publications

• Higuchi, Yasushi (樋口 靖 Higuchi Yasushi): 台湾語会話, 2000, {{ISBN|4-497-20004-3}} (Good and yet concise introduction to the Taiwanese language in Japanese; CD: {{ISBN|4-497-20006-X}})
• Zhao, Yihua (趙 怡華 Zhào Yíhuá): はじめての台湾語, 2003, {{ISBN|4-7569-0665-6}} (Introduction to Taiwanese [and Mandarin]; in Japanese).
• Zheng, Zhenghao (鄭 正浩 Zhèng Zhènghào): 台湾語基本単語2000, 1996, {{ISBN|4-87615-697-2}} (Basic vocabulary in Taiwanese 2000; in Japanese).
• Zhao, Yihua (趙 怡華 Zhào Yíhuá), Chen Fenghui (陳 豐惠 Chén Fēnghuì), Kaori Takao (たかお かおり Takao Kaori), 2006, 絵でわかる台湾語会話. {{ISBN|978-4-7569-0991-6}} (Conversations in Taiwanese [and Mandarin] with illustrations; in Japanese).

;Others

• Katharina Sommer, Xie Shu-Kai: Taiwanisch Wort für Wort, 2004, {{ISBN|3-89416-348-8}} (Taiwanese for travellers, in German. CD: {{ISBN|3-8317-6094-2}})

; Articles and other resources

• {{cite journal |last=LÎM |first=Chùn-io̍k |year=2014 |title=The Common Taiwanese Bible: A Means of Seeking to Affirm the Selfhood and Integrity of Taiwanese and Their Language |journal=Journal of Taiwanese Vernacular |volume=6 |number=2 |pages=106–9 |doi=10.6621/JTV.2014.0602.05}}
• {{cite web |last=Tan-Tenn |first=Henry H. |date=2001 |title=Taiwanese learning resources |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050418075331/http://lomaji.com/poj/faq/ITASA_2001_Resources.pdf |archive-date=2005-04-18 |url=http://lomaji.com/poj/faq/ITASA_2001_Resources.pdf}}

{{InterWiki|code=zh-min-nan}}

; On the language

• {{cite web |last=Cannings |first=Michael |url=http://tailingua.com/ |title=Introducing the Taiwanese Language |website=Tailingua}}
• [http://johangijsen.blogspot.com/ Blog on the Taiwanese language and language education in Taiwan]
• {{cite web|url=http://www.pinyin.info/readings/mair/taiwanese.html|title=How to Forget Your Mother Tongue and Remember Your National Language|last=Mair|first=Victor H. |author-link=Victor H. Mair |date=2003 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania|access-date=2 July 2011}}
• Sino-Tibetan Swadesh lists

; Dictionaries

• {{cite web|script-title=zh:臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 |trans-title=Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan |url=http://twblg.dict.edu.tw/holodict_new/index.html |publisher=Ministry of Education, R.O.C. |date=2011 |language=zh}}
• {{cite web |author=Iûⁿ, Ún-giân |script-title=zh:台語-華語線頂辭典 |trans-title=Taiwanese-Mandarin Online Dictionary |language=nan-tw, zh, en |url=http://210.240.194.97/iug/Ungian/soannteng/chil/Taihoa.asp |access-date=13 February 2015 |archive-date=6 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006113321/http://210.240.194.97/iug/Ungian/SoannTeng/chil/Taihoa.asp |url-status=dead }}
• {{cite web |author=Iûⁿ, Ún-giân |url=http://210.240.194.97/TG/jitian/tgjt.asp |script-title=zh:台語線頂字典 |trans-title=Taiwanese Online Character Dictionary |language=zh |access-date=7 February 2012 |archive-date=25 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225061147/http://210.240.194.97/TG/jitian/tgjt.asp%20 |url-status=dead }}
• {{cite web |script-title=zh:臺灣本土語言互譯及語音合成系統 |trans-title=Taiwanese languages translation and speech synthesis system |language=zh, nan-tw, hak |url=http://nlg.csie.ntu.edu.tw/systems/TWLLMT/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061008180132/http://nlg.csie.ntu.edu.tw/systems/TWLLMT/index.html |archive-date=8 October 2006}}
• {{cite web |website=Maryknoll Language Service Center |url=http://taiwanesedictionary.org/ |title=Maryknoll Taiwanese-English Dictionary and English-Amoy Dictionary|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327084043/http://taiwanesedictionary.org/|archive-date=2019-03-27}}

; Learning aids

• [http://taiwanesegrammar.wordpress.com/ Intermediate Taiwanese grammar (as a blog)]
• [http://taiwanesevocabulary.wordpress.com/ Taiwanese vocabulary: word of the day (blog)]
• [http://edu.ocac.gov.tw/lang/taiwanese/ Taiwanese teaching material] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180207220903/http://edu.ocac.gov.tw/lang/taiwanese/ |date=7 February 2018 }}: Nursery rhymes and songs in Han characters and romanization w/ recordings in MP3
• [http://travlang.com/languages/cgi-bin/langchoice.cgi?page=main&lang1=english&lang2=holooe Travlang (language resources for travellers): Hō-ló-oē] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170518234153/http://travlang.com/languages/cgi-bin/langchoice.cgi?page=main&lang1=english&lang2=holooe |date=18 May 2017 }}
• [http://speaktaiwanese.com/spoken-hokkien/ Spoken Hokkien] - a beginner's e-textbook, with audio, for English-speaking learners of conversational Taiwanese.
• {{cite web |url=http://daiwanway.dynip.com/ |title=Daiwanway - Tutorial, dictionary, and stories in Taiwanese. Uses a unique romanization system, different from Pe̍h-ōe-jī. Includes sound files |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070429232228/http://daiwanway.dynip.com/ |archive-date=2007-04-29}}

; Other

• [http://www.dmoz.org/World/Taiwanese/ Open Directory (dmoz): World: Taiwanese]

{{Sino-Tibetan languages}}

{{Languages of Taiwan}}

{{Min Chinese}}

{{Chinese language}}

Category:Languages of Taiwan

Category:Hokkien-language dialects

Category:Culture of Taiwan