Taiwanese

Taiwanese may refer to:

Taiwanese Hokkien

Taiwanese Hokkien (Chinese: 臺灣閩南語; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tâi-oân Bân-lâm-gí / Tâi-oân Bân-lâm-gú; Tâi-lô: Tâi-uân Bân-lâm-gí / Tâi-uân Bân-lâm-gú), commonly known as Taiwanese (Tâi-oân-oē 臺灣話 or Tâi-gí / Tâi-gú 臺語), is a variant of Hokkien spoken by about 70% of the population of Taiwan. The largest linguistic group in Taiwan, in which Hokkien is considered a native language, is known as Hoklo or Hō-ló. The correlation between language and ethnicity is generally true, though not absolute, as some Hoklo speak Hokkien poorly while some non-Hoklo speak Hokkien fluently. Pe̍h-ōe-jī (POJ) is a popular orthography for this variant of Hokkien.

Taiwanese Hokkien is generally similar to Quanzhou dialect, Zhangzhou dialect, and Amoy, but differences occur in terms of vocabulary and various pronunciations of words, in many cases significantly enough to be unintelligible among each other. However, due to the mass popularity of Hokkien entertainment media from Taiwan, Taiwanese has become a prominent variety of Hokkien, especially since the 1980s.

Taiwanese people

Taiwanese people (Chinese: 臺灣儂; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tâi-oân-lâng; /Tai uan laŋ/; traditional Chinese: 臺灣人; simplified Chinese: 台湾人; pinyin: Táiwān rén; Wade–Giles: Thai2-wan1-jen2; /tʰaɪ wän ʐən/) are people from Taiwan who share a common Taiwanese culture and speak Chinese or Aboriginal languages as a mother tongue, made out of two ethnic groups, Han Chinese, who make up 98% of the population, and Aboriginals, who make up the remaining 2%. Taiwanese people may also refer to individuals who either claim or are imputed cultural identity focused on Taiwan or areas under the control of the Government of the Republic of China since 1945, including Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu islands (see Taiwan Area). At least three competing (occasionally overlapping) paradigms are used to identify someone as a Taiwanese person: nationalist criteria, self-identification (including the concept of "New Taiwanese") criteria, and socio-cultural criteria. These standards are fluid, and result from evolving social and political issues. The complexity resulting from competing and evolving standards is compounded by a larger dispute regarding Taiwan's identity, the political status of Taiwan, and its potential de jure Taiwan independence or political integration with China.