Abstract
'Tâi-gi' the ethnolinguistic name for Taiwanese has been used for more than one hundred years in Taiwan. However, it has not always been politically and officially approved by the government, the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan. In contrast, 'Southern Min' is officially adopted by the ROC to refer to the language Taiwanese. 'Min' is the abbreviation of Hokkien province in China. In addition, it is a pejorative name with the meaning 'barbarians with snake origin,' according to Chinese classical dictionaries. In response to ROC's racial discrimination against Taiwanese-speaking people, around 40 Taiwanese organizations protested against the ROC in July 2009. The purpose of this paper is to survey the controversy over the term 'Tâi-gi' from the perspective of sociolinguistics and political science. It is suggested that 'Southern Min' be replaced by 'Taiwanese' when referring to varieties spoken in Taiwan, and by 'Lan-lâng-ōe' when referring to all varieties spoken in China, Taiwan, and Southeast Asian countries.
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