Which Camp Are You in: A Study on the Language Choice in Two Major Call-in TV Talk Shows in Taiwan

Abstract

Grounded on the fact that language use differs in divergent camps, this study probed into how the language is differently generated by people of two distinct political identities in Taiwan, namely, the near-pan-green political stances and the near-pan-blue political stances. The pan-green group encompasses two political parties viz. DPP and TSU, in which the members and supporters regard themselves as the 'locals'. On the contrary, they treat people of the near-pan-blue political stances, including KMT and PFP, as outsiders or mainlanders even though the overwhelming majority of them are also born in Taiwan. The confronting position results in long conflicts in daily life and is easily observed in language use. In order to examine the discrepancies, the study collected data from speech given by callers from two major political call-in TV talk shows, Da Hua Xin Wen, which is regarded as a medium speaking for the pan-green group, and Quan Min Kai Jiang, which is considered as a medium speaking for the neutral and pan-blue group. The criterion of judging the camp each show belongs to is the camp of guests they invited. The data was analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. By utilizing T-test and Chi-square statistic analyses, significant differences in code-switching, address, reported speech and discourse markers between the two camps were found. Regarding code-switching, people of near-pan-green political stances use Taiwanese mixed with Mandarin Which Camp Are You in: A Study on the Language Choice in Two Major Call-in TV Talk Shows in Taiwan to express their ideas most frequently. By contrast, most people of neutral or near-pan-blue political stances adopt Mandarin to deliver their speech, while code-switching to Taiwanese is the second priority. The result of code-switching is also compatible with the result of greeting. People of near-pan-green political stances greet the host in Taiwanese most frequently followed by Mandarin. To address the host, however, almost all people of both political stances adopt Mandarin. As for reported speech, people of near-pan-green political stances generate more direct quotes and indirect quotes than those of the other group. In addition, some nonverbal discourse markers, including ho and a, and some verbal discourse markers, including duia 'yes' and duibudui 'yes or no', are of significant difference between the two groups.