Voicing Heritage: Negotiating Taiwanese Identity and Colonial Ideologies in Taiwan’s Dubbing Industry

Abstract (English)

Taiwan’s sociolinguistic landscape has been shaped by colonial language imperialism, from Japanese rule (1895–1945) to the dominance of Mandarin under the Nationalists (1945–late 20th century). In particular, the imposition of Mandarin as the official language and suppression of non-Mandarin Sinitic and Formosan languages have caused an irreversible language shift from Taiwanese (Tai-gi) to Mandarin, threatening local linguistic practices (Kubler 1985; Lin 2009). In recent decades, amid democratization and media reforms, grassroots de-Sinitization efforts have sought to revitalize Taiwanese as central to local identity and resistance (Shih 2007). A critical site for this transformation is the Mandarin-dominant dubbing industry, where previously marginalized Taiwanese-speaking voice actors strive to introduce Taiwanese into dubbed media.
This paper draws on longitudinal fieldwork with the Taiwanese dubbing industry since 2016 to examine how heritage language ideologies are enacted and contested within this industry’s Mandarin hegemony (Guoyu baquan). Focusing on Taiwanese-speaking voice actors who were compelled to learn and perform in Mandarin, I argue that efforts to revitalize Taiwanese and demote Sinitization paradoxically reinscribe colonial hierarchies even as they seek to dismantle them, contributing to the mixed reception of Taiwanese-dubbed media. Through analysis of metapragmatic commentaries during recording sessions and linguistic life histories (Rao & Everhart 2021), I explore how these voice actors navigate competing pressures to decolonize linguistic practices (Charity Hudley, Mallinson, and Bucholtz 2024) and conform to standardized norms (Milroy & Milroy 1998). Despite their best intentions, these actors often reproduce colonial frameworks by privileging dominant forms of Taiwanese, marginalizing regional variations, and reinforcing ideologies of linguistic purity—mirroring the practices of their Mandarin-dominant colleagues in Mandarin dubbing.
By analyzing the dubbing industry as a site where the value of Taiwanese as a heritage language is negotiated, this paper reveals how heritage initiatives and de-Sinitization movements simultaneously contest and sustain colonial ideologies, offering insights into linguistic practices shaping social inequality in postcolonial nation-building contexts.