Cover not available
Part of
World Englishes in their Local Multilingual Ecologies
Edited by Peter Siemund, Gardy Stein and Manuela Vida-Mannl
[Hamburg Studies on Linguistic Diversity 9] 2025
► pp. 317–335

Chapter 14
Discourse-pragmatic like in East Asian Englishes

Focus on Taiwan

 | University of Regensburg
 | University of Bayreuth
The multilingual ecology of Taiwan includes the official language Mandarin, the vernaculars Hokkien and Hakka, as well as several aboriginal Austronesian languages. In this context, English has emerged as an important additional language, not least in the education system. Research on English in Taiwan has thus far largely been restricted to the educational setting (Chen 2006; Chien 2014; Kao & Tsou 2017; Wi & Lau 2019) or to the function of English as an international language (Chen 2006). Some, such as Seilhamer (2015; 2019), have focused on the sociolinguistic realities of English on the island, bringing the issue of language ‘ownership’ to the foreground. This, combined with recurring proposals to elevate English to co-official status (Chen, Shih, Yeh & Lee 2018), suggests considerable societal importance attached to the language. However, much less is known about the actual form and structure of Taiwanese English. In this chapter, we present data from a 76,000-word pilot version of the Taiwanese Spoken English corpus (TASE, see Rüdiger, Leimgruber & Tseng 2023). Taking previous studies of spoken South Korean English into account (Rüdiger 2019; 2021; Rüdiger, Leimgruber & Tseng 2023), we present a case study of discourse-pragmatic uses of like by Taiwanese speakers of English. Our findings suggest that the functional range of like is similar in Taiwan and South Korea and that discourse-pragmatic like also forms part of Taiwanese English speakers’ repertoire.
Keywords: Asian Englishes, discourse-pragmatics, Expanding Circle Englishes, like, Taiwan
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.English in Taiwan
  • 3.Data
  • 4.Analysis
    • 4.1Use of like across functional categories
    • 4.2Discourse-pragmatic uses of like
    • 4.3Quotative like
  • 5.Discussion and conclusion
  • Author queries
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
References (45)
References
Anthony, Laurence. 2018. AntConc 3.5.7. Tokyo: Waseda University. [URL] (12 October 2024).
Bosher, Susan & Joel Stocker. 2015. Nurses’ narratives on workplace English in Taiwan: Improving patient care and enhancing professionalism. English for Specific Purposes 38: 109–120. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chen, Ai-hua. 2013. An evaluation on primary English education in Taiwan: From the perspective of language policy. English Language Teaching 6(10): 158–165. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chen, Cheryl Wei-Yu. 2006. The mixing of English in magazine advertisements in Taiwan. World Englishes 25(3–4): 467–478. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chen, Christie, Hsiu-chuan Shih, Joseph Yeh & Hsin-Yin Lee. 2018. Government offers vision of English as official language in Taiwan. Taiwan News. [URL] (26 January 2023).
Chen, Su-Chiao. 2006. Simultaneous promotion of indigenisation and internationalisation: New language-in-education policy in Taiwan. Language and Education 20(4): 322–337. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chen, Suchiao & Yachin Tsai. 2012. Research on English teaching and learning: Taiwan (2004–2009). Language Teaching 45(2): 180–201. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chien, Chin-Wen. 2014. Integration of school features into Taiwanese elementary school new English curriculum. Education 3–13 42(6): 589–600. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chou, Chuing Prudence & James K. S. Yuan. 2011. Buxiban in Taiwan. The Newsletter 56: 15.Google Scholar
Chou, Mu-Hsuan. 2015. Impacts of the Test of English Listening Comprehension on students’ English learning expectations in Taiwan. Language, Culture and Curriculum 28(2): 191–208. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cooper, Robert L. 1990. Language Planning and Social Change, 1st edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
D’Arcy, Alexandra. 2017. Discourse-Pragmatic Variation in Context: Eight Hundred Years of LIKE. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ferrer, Alessandra & Tzu-Bin Lin. 2021. Official bilingualism in a multilingual nation: A study of the 2030 bilingual nation policy in Taiwan. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 45(2): 1–13. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gilquin, Gaëtanelle. 2016. Discourse markers in L2 English: From classroom to naturalistic input. In Olga Timofeeva, Anne-Christine Gardner, Alpo Honkapohja & Sarah Chevalier (eds.), New Approaches to English Linguistics: Building Bridges, pp. 213–249. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Go, S. 2018. Taiwan ni okeru gengo shiyo no jittai: Kagi-ken kenritsu D shogakko “Kyodo Gengo” rishusha wo jirei ni [The actual state of language use in Taiwan: A case study of students enrolled in “local language” classes at Chiayi City Municipal D Elementary School]. [URL] (12 October 2024).
Hellermann, John & Andrea Vergun. 2007. Language which is not taught: The discourse marker use of beginning adult learners of English. Journal of Pragmatics 39(1): 157–179. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hsu, Jia-Ling. 1994. Englishization and language change in modern Chinese in Taiwan. World Englishes 13(2): 167–184. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hu, Guangwei & Sandra Lee McKay. 2012. English language education in East Asia: Some recent developments. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 33(4): 345–362. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jiang, Yan & Jean-Marc Dewaele. 2019. Language anxiety in Chinese dialects and Putonghua among college students in mainland China: The effects of sociobiographical and linguistic variables. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 40(4): 289–303. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kao, Shin-Mei & Wenli Tsou (eds.). 2017. English as a Medium of Instruction in Higher Education: Implementations and Classroom Practices in Taiwan (English Language Education 8,. 1st edn. Singapore: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kobayashi, Peter Iori. 2020. English in Taiwan. In Kingsley Bolton, Werner Botha & Andy Kirkpatrick (eds.), The Handbook of Asian Englishes, 1st edn, pp. 547–567. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Onle Library. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Leimgruber, Jakob R. E. 2013. The management of multilingualism in a city-state: Language policy in Singapore. In Peter Siemund, Ingrid Gogolin, Monika Edith Schulz & Julia Davydova (eds.), Multilingualism and Language Diversity in Urban Areas: Acquisition, Identities, Space, Education, pp. 227–256. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Leimgruber, Jakob R. E., Peter Siemund & Laura Terassa. 2018. Singaporean students’ language repertoires and attitudes revisited. World Englishes 37(2): 282–306. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lorenz, Eliane. 2022. “We use English but not like all the time like”: Discourse marker like in UAE English. Frontiers in Communication 7. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
National Development Council. 2018. Blueprint for Developing Taiwan into a Bilingual Nation by 2030. [URL] (26 January 2023).
National Statistics. 2020. 109年人口及住宅普查總報告提要分析. National Statistics, Republic of China. [URL] (3 March, 2023).
Price, Gareth. 2014. English for all? Neoliberalism, globalization, and language policy in Taiwan. Language in Society 43(5): 567–589. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rüdiger, Sofia. 2016. Cuppa coffee? Challenges and opportunities of compiling a conversational English corpus in an expanding circle setting. In Valentin Werner, Hanna Christ, Daniel Klenovšak & Lukas Sönning (eds.), A Blend of MaLT: Selected Contributions from the Methods and Linguistic Theories Symposium 2015, pp. 49–71. Bamberg: University of Bamberg Press.Google Scholar
. 2019. Morpho-Syntactic Patterns in Spoken Korean English (Varieties of English Around the World G62). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2021. Like in Korean English speech. World Englishes 40(4): 548–561. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rüdiger, Sofia, Jakob R. E. Leimgruber & Ming–I Lydia Tseng. 2023. English in Taiwan: Expanding the scope of corpus-based research on East Asian Englishes. English Today 39(2): 100–109. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Saillard, Claire. 2004. On the promotion of Putonghua in China: How a standard language becomes a vernacular. In Minglang Zhou & Hongkai Sun (eds.), Language Policy in the People’s Republic of China (Language Policy 4), pp. 163–176. Dordrecht: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sandel, Todd L. 2003. Linguistic capital in Taiwan: The KMT’s Mandarin language policy and its perceived impact on language practices of bilingual Mandarin and Tai-gi speakers. Language in Society 32(4): 523–551. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Scott, Maggie. 2012. Capitalising on the city: Edinburgh’s linguistic identities. COLLeGIUM: Studies Across Disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences 13: 115–131.Google Scholar
Seilhamer, Mark F. 2015. The ownership of English in Taiwan. World Englishes 34(3): 370–388. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2019. Gender, Neoliberalism and Distinction through Linguistic Capital: Taiwanese Narratives of Struggle and Strategy. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Simpson, Andrew. 2007. Taiwan. In Andrew Simpson (ed.), Language and National Identity in Asia, pp. 235–159. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tai, James & Jane Tsay. 2015. 32 Taiwan Sign Language. In Julie Bakken Jepsen, Goedele De Clerck, Sam Lutalo-Kiingi & William B. McGregor (eds.), Sign Languages of the World, pp. 771–810. Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tan, Charlene. 2006. Change and continuity: Chinese language policy in Singapore. Language Policy 5(1): 41–62. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tsai, Kuei-Ju. 2015. Profiling the collocation use in ELT textbooks and learner writing. Language Teaching Research 19(6): 723–740. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tsao, Feng-fu. 2018. The language planning situation in Taiwan. In Robert B. Kaplan & Richard B. Baldauf (eds.), Language Planning and Policy in Asia, Vol. 1, pp. 237–284. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Wang, Li-yi & Tzu-Bin Lin. 2013. The representation of professionalism in native English-speaking teachers recruitment policies: A comparative study of Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. English Teaching: Practice and Critique 12(3): 5–22.Google Scholar
Wu, Li-ying & Ken Lau. 2019. Language education policy in Taiwan. In Andy Kirkpatrick & Anthony J. Liddicoat (eds.), The Routledge International Handbook of Language Education Policy in Asia, 1st edn, pp. 151–161. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wu, Ming-Hsuan. 2011. Language planning and policy in Taiwan: Past, present, and future. Language Problems and Language Planning 35(1): 15–34. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yu, Melissa H. 2015. Developing critical classroom practice for ELF communication: A Taiwanese case study of ELT materials evaluation. In Hugo Bowles & Alessia Cogo (eds.), International Perspectives on English as a Lingua Franca, pp. 35–54. London: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar