wanted: linguistically interesting Taiwan campaign material

Taiwan’s new method for electing legislators (with one directly elected legislator per relatively small district instead of many legislators for large districts) means that areas no longer have an enormous variety of campaign signs on display. So I don’t get to see nearly as many signs as during previous elections.

Outside my neighborhood I’ve seen some signs with zhuyin (usually there for writing something in Taiwanese). But I haven’t been able to get any photos of these or other such signs. So I’m hoping that others might send in some photos, if you see anything interesting.

I’m specifically looking for:

  • signs with zhuyin (bopomofo) or romanization
  • signs using languages other than Mandarin (e.g., Taiwanese, English)
  • signs using puns, esp. if the puns involve more than one language
  • anything else linguistically interesting

Please e-mail me your finds. (I promise to try to get them online quicker than with my usual six-month delay.) Or add comments here pointing me toward examples you’ve already put online or seen elsewhere.

Some examples in previous posts:

2 thoughts on “wanted: linguistically interesting Taiwan campaign material

  1. You looking for particularly witty or special puns, or would just any pun do the trick? I’ve seen lots thus far, some of which I don’t really understand- but then I’ve only been in Taiwan for a few months now.

  2. JB: Witty puns aren’t too likely to turn up. So maybe it’s best to err on the side of inclusiveness. (I haven’t received too many usable ones so far; but I’m grateful for everything that comes in.)

    Anybody interested in taking photos of campaign signs, however, should get them soon. By late Saturday night almost all signs will be gone. It’s really quite an amazing display of efficiency that one wishes could be duplicated in other areas….

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