"What has changed is people's linguistic identification, which is a function of external political and economic values," says Chiang Wen-yu. After all, it is really impossible to say whether one language is "better" than another.
細究語言的本質，過去與今日的台語語彙，其實並無多大改變，「變的是大家對語言的認知，都是政治經濟等外在價值影響」，江文瑜說。