Taiwanese Prestige Dialect (Hokkien)

The above News Broadcaster speaks Taiwanese Prestige Dialect (Hokkien). All Hokkien media and entertainment in Taiwan are based on Taiwanese prestige dialect, which is generally similar to Amoy (Xiamen) Hokkien. Both Amoy and Taiwanese prestige dialect are considered "Standard Hokkien". Within Taiwan, there are however variations in Hokkien accent. The north tends to incline towards Amoy and Quanzhou Hokkien, while the south tends to incline towards Zhangzhou Hokkien.

The 4 main variants of Hokkien dialects within Greater China are: Quanzhou Hokkien, Zhangzhou Hokkien, Amoy (Xiamen) Hokkien and Taiwanese Prestige Dialect.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Taiwanese
• Taiwanese Prestige Dialect
• Taiwanese Hokkien
• Hokkien
• 'Taiwanese
• language
• News

[yhjow]

@justmine4me Initially, ROC implemented Standard Mandarin based on Beijing accent in Taiwan. But over 60 years of separation from the mainland and due to influence from other dialects such as Hokkien and Wu-Chinese, Taiwanese Mandarin accent has developed to be different from Putonghua. The current Standard Taiwanese Mandarin (中華民國國語 / 台灣的標準國語) is based on Taipei accent. Taipei Mandarin (台北國語） is adopted as the Standard Refined Mandarin used in Taiwan.

[justmine4me]

@yhjow Thank you so much for answering my questions! :) Now, where in Taiwan is the Standard Taiwanese Mandarin (台灣的標準國語) speech based on?

[yhjow]

@justmine4me Taiwanese prestige dialect is based on Tainan accent. It's 100% mutually intelligible with Amoy Hokkien. There is only about 5% difference in the use of vocabulary. Taipei accent is generally very similar to Amoy accent.

[justmine4me]

Very interesting!

So, which accent is the Taiwanese Prestige Dialect based on? The Tainan or Taipei accent? Or some other region's accent?

Also, on a scale of 0 to 100 (0 being unintelligible, 100 being exactly identical), how much of a difference is there between Taiwanese prestige dialect vs. Xiamen (Amoy) Standard Hokkien?

[yhjow]

There is a Taiwanese Hokkien proverb illustrated in the news:

一人擔一擔, 嘛會疊成山

tsi̍t lâng tann tsi̍t tann, ma ē tiap sing suann

Translated as "If each person carry on the burden one by one, it will slowly form a mountain". In short, each person's effort is important. With each person showering the burden, it will build a strong unity and strength.