Banana colloquial speech (Taiwanese: Keng-chio-pe̍h-ōe or simply Keng-chio-pe̍h) or Banana colloquial dialect is a creole language or cant spoken among the Plain indigenous peoples since the Japanese occupation period to the present in hill areas of southern Taiwan, especially Kaohsiung and Tainan. It is primarily a mixture of Taiwanese, and sometime Taivoan language in Jiasian, Kaohsiung.
History
Banana colloquial speech is mainly circulated among Taivoan and Siraya communities in hill areas. Most Han ethnic groups are not familiar with this cant. Some scholars speculated that the cant was invented during the early 20th century during Taiwan's Japanese occupation period by the Plains Indigenous peoples and Han ethnic groups in Tainan and Kaohsiung to resist the Japanese. In July and August 1915, as well as in 1933, a series of anti-Japanese incidents occurred in southern Taiwan, all centered around the Taivoan communities in the Tainan Yujing Basin and Jiaxian, Kaohsiung. The failure of the anti-Japanese resistance resulted in the hiding and moving of many rebels after the destruction of many families and even entire villages by the Japanese government. Consequently, the cant was invented during the resistance.
Variation
Siaolin, Pualiao
The way the Banana colloquial speech is used in Kaohsiung, mixed with Taiwanese or Taivoan language, may differ slightly from other areas, but there is consistency among the Taivoan communities that the speakers can communicate with each other. Here are some examples based on the cant provided by residents of Siaolin and Pualiao, both of which are Taivoan communities:
Goping
Another dialect of the Banana colloquial speech was provided by Zhu Yuanshun from Goping village, Neimen District, Kaohsiung. The formation of the cant is done by mapping one original syllable of Taiwanese Hokkien to two syllables of the cant. In this dialect, the first consonant fixed as [l] and the second vowel fixed as [i]. This conversion method is completely different from that used in the Taivoan area.
References
