Taiwan is linguistically rich, particularly with its Austronesian languages. Given that Taiwanese is a Sinitic language, what makes its study particularly significant? (Questions about Taiwanese; part 5)

Honestly, the Austronesian languages in Taiwan are super valuable globally. But the claim from some people that Taiwanese isn't "Taiwanese enough" is just off base. Some folks think only indigenous stuff counts as genuinely Taiwanese, which I find kind of silly. You don't really see that kind of thinking elsewhere.

For example, Spanish isn't originally from Spain. It, along with other several languages there, comes from Latin way back in Italy. As far as I know, Basque is the only truly indigenous language in Spain. But should that mean we only care about Basque? Would anyone argue that just Basque is genuinely Spanish and that Spanish, a Romance language, doesn't play a vital role in Spain's culture, history, and who they are?

Likewise, English wasn't originally from Britain. It's a Germanic language brought over by immigrants way back when. The real indigenous languages are the Celtic ones like Welsh and Cornish. But nobody questions that English is super crucial for British culture, literature, theater, and history, right?

So for me, the Taiwanese language, it's really the heart of Taiwan—I mean the heart of Taiwan’s traditional culture, literature, theater, and history. It's surprising how some colleagues in Taiwan studies miss that point.

So, think about it this way. Without the Korean language, would we really see Korean traditional music, architecture, clothing, festivals, and food as distinct from Chinese ones? The differences between their traditions are pretty subtle, honestly, sometimes even less obvious than regional variations within China itself. It's really the language that sets Korean culture apart, right?

Basically, Taiwan's population is primarily made up of people whose ancestors came from today’s China, similar to how the UK's population is mostly descended from people from today’s Germany and the Nordic regions, not the original indigenous peoples in Britain. Just like studying English is crucial in Britain, understanding Taiwanese is super important for anyone looking at Taiwanese culture and society. Anyway, it's the language of the biggest ethnic group and lingua franca of this island.