Todd L. Sandel, "Communication Modes, Taiwanese"

Number two in an occasional series of summaries of articles related to communication practices in Taiwan.

Sandel, T. L. (2017). Communication modes, Taiwanese. In Y. Y. Kim (Ed.), The International Encyclopedia of Intercultural Communication (pp. 1-5). John Wiley & Sons. DOI: 10.1002/9781118783665.ieicc0149

Sandel's short chapter covers a broad but somewhat idiosyncratic set of language practices and cultural attitudes in Taiwan, from the differences between "Standard [Mandarin] Chinese" and Taiwan Guoyu (台灣國語), to a comparison between language practices/identity in southern and northern Taiwan, to the gendered language practice of sajiao (撒嬌), to the discourse of multiculturalism in Taiwan, to Taiwanese admiration of Japan. In a four-page chapter (the last page consists of cross-references and a reference list), it's a somewhat dizzying trip through Taiwanese culture, but it gives me a sense of the difficulty one might have if tasked with the job of describing in a limited space the "communication modes" of contemporary Taiwan--what to include? What to leave out? 

Some things I learned from the article:

• The term Taike (台客) was originally the way Mainland gang members referred to Taiwanese gang members in the 1960s (I'm assuming he's referring to members of Mainland gangs and members of Taiwanese gangs, since I don't think there were many gangs that incorporated both groups back then--someone correct me if I'm wrong since I'm no expert on the history of gangs in Taiwan.)
• Sandel argues that by the 2000s, "foreign brides" from southeast Asia and China "were recognized as Taiwan’s 'fifth ethnic group,' not a threat but a treasure who could help facilitate connections between Taiwan, the nations of Southeast Asia, and China." He gives as evidence the fact that in the 2016 elections, there was no "anti-immigrant" rhetoric used by any political party as part of their campaign.
• Sandel mentions a movie I haven't seen, Wansei Back Home (灣生回家, 2015), which is a documentary about Taiwan-born Japanese citizens who had to leave Taiwan at the end of World War II. (Actually, I have heard of the film in the context of a scandal a few years ago about the producer of the film, who admitted to having lied about being a Taiwan-born Japanese. Evidently, though, the film itself wasn't falsified.)

Some things I have questions about:

• Is sajiao, which Sandel characterizes as a practice "associated with 'Mainlanders,'" not practiced as much by non-Mainlander Taiwanese? Is it practiced much in China?
• How inclusive is the multicultural discourse in Taiwan? How do most Taiwanese people feel about viewing "foreign brides" (外籍新娘) as part of Taiwanese society?
• Have the concepts of hen Tai (很台) and Taike (台客) become points of pride for Taiwanese, as the term "queer" has been co-opted by the LGBTQ+ community? (This also leads me to wonder about the communication modes of the LGBTQ+ community in Taiwan.)