Harrassowitz has released a new book by Henning Klöter, Written Taiwanese (ISBN 3447050934).

Here’s the publisher’s blurb:

Written Taiwanese provides the first comprehensive account of the different ways in which Taiwanese (i.e., the Southern Min language of Taiwan) has been represented in written sources. The scope of the study ranges from early popular writings in closely related dialects to present-day forms of written Taiwanese. The study treats written Taiwanese both as a linguistic and as a socio-political phenomenon. The linguistic description focuses on the interrelation between written units and Taiwanese speech and covers various linguistic sub. elds, such as Taiwanese lexicography, phonology, and morphosyntax. The socio-political analysis explores the historical backgrounds which have led to different conventions in writing Taiwanese.

Here are some related links:

• details of the contents of the book
• the publisher’s page on this book, which is, to my annoyance, filed under “China”
• an online bookseller
• German Amazon page for this book

Look for a review of this book in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Chinese Linguistics.