台灣在多元文化下的語言選擇與意識型態

Language Choice and Ideology in Multicultural Taiwan

本文旨在探討多元文化環境中的語言決策問題，由社會政治的角度著眼，檢視處於民主轉型過程中的台灣語言政策，在其決策過程中如何考量權力及資源分配的問題，及其在語言選擇時所面臨的意識型態等各種問題。語言政策不只是國家權衡各種利益團體訴求，以及平衡全球化與本土化等力量的平台；也是決策者藉以表明台灣本土及國際定位的依憑。在多元文化的情境下，各語言將被如何定義，如何區隔，以及其位階如何設定，因為涉及民族的情緒、教育資源的分配以及政治認同等諸項問題，卻成為利益團體爭取權益的目標。本文建議決策者採取一不干涉的中立態度，只針對制度及法令的設置進行最完善的規劃，並使用一普及的公眾語言，以利民主化及認同等議題之進行。

In this paper, we look at language choices made in a language policy in a multicultural context, using Taiwan’s experience to point out the many contentions and predicaments of politics and identity in an emerging democracy. We also look into the ideology behind the power struggles and decision-making. We do not see language policy as a means of assigning status to different languages or appropriating resources for classification and corpus. Rather, we are interested in the socio-political aspect of a language policy especially as it relates to identity formation and we treat discourse on language policy as fraught with tensions between the state and various interest groups. That is, narratives for promoting or abolishing a certain form of language policy—assimilationism, pluralism, multiculturalism—become emotionally charged as they concern not only language per se, but how policy envisions and enacts ties of language to identity, morality and epistemology. Moreover, we point out that language policy in a multicultural context implies conflict and controversy as it becomes the object of contention not only over symbolic recognition of minorities but also over the appropriation of educational resources and status for linguistic diversity. We propose a liberal neutral position for the state in ensuring fair play among the competitors, a non-goal oriented attitude in its intervention for setting up a legal framework for respect and protection as well as a common public language for democratic deliberation, social mobility and identity formation in a multicultural context.