Cai Peihuo and the Romanisation Movement in Colonial Taiwan Chhoà-poê-hoé kap ji-pun chi-tai ti Ti-on ê L-má-jī n-tōng 蔡培火与殖民地台湾的马字运动
Ann Heylen, Ph.D. Research Unit on Taiwanese Culture and Literature (TCL) Ruhr University Bochum Germany Ann.Heylen@rub.de
Introduction Scholars and students engaged in researching language and linguistic reform in colonial Taiwan (1895-1945) are familiar with the name and figure of Cai Peihuo (蔡 培火 1889-1983). Cai Peihuo is known as the ardent proponent of the Romanization Movement (马字运动). In postcolonial scholarship it has been generally assumed that his linguistic activism consisted of propagating romanised peh-oe-ji (白话字), analogue with the romanization script system that the Presbyterian Church was using as a medium in educational instruction, church paper publication and other writings related to evangelism in Taiwan since the latter half of the 19th century. Said otherwise, the fact that Cai in 1931 constructed a unique phonetic script system (新式白话字), replacing romanised peh-oe-ji, has been largely unaccounted for. If mentioned, it was lumped together under the conventional term "romanization". This essay discusses in more detail the context in which this transition from romanised peh-oe-ji to a Taiwanese phonetic script occurred. In a first instance, this discussion will be set against the background of policies of Japanese linguistic imperialism. From there I move on to an excursion into Cai Peihuo's personal writings that document his linguistic activism. Special reference will be made to his colonial diary, written between 1929 and 1936. Finally, I shall evaluate non-sinitic orthographies within the broader frame of Chinese linguistic culture. To this end, I shall position the published version of the diary within the workings of current historiographical writings on Cai Peihuo in Taiwan. The significance of this historical research topic to the current sociolinguistic debate featuring Taiwanese mother tongue education and literature will be alluded to in the concluding remarks.

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