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ii This thesis is a study of language contact in Taiwan. Previous research (Ratte, 2009) has shown that voiced obstruents /g / /b / /dz / are not being articulated by bilingual speakers of Taiwanese Southern Min and Mandarin, and suggests that these sound changes could be due to influence from Mandarin. This study investigates contact between the two languages in the framework of imposition proposed by Van Coetsem (1988). Recordings were collected of 15 young Taiwanese adults reading a word list, and their pronunciations were examined for evidence of contact-induced shift. The study finds that bilinguals from all over Taiwan are exhibiting the same shift, and that virtually all sound changes can be attributed to the imposition of Mandarin phonology, followed by analogy to Mandarin cognates for the choice of strategy. Mandarin agentivity on the part of bilinguals implies Mandarin dominance in Van Coetsem’s framework, leading to the conclusion that bilinguals in this study were less proficient in Taiwanese. Close scrutiny of Taiwanese society in the context of language contact also offers evidence contradicting a linguistic revival of Taiwanese, and suggests that there is little motivation for bilinguals to maintain Taiwanese. The study concludes that bilinguals are shifting towards Mandarin dominance, and concludes that both the continued social dominance of Mandarin and the emergence of a “New Taiwanese ” identity may be responsible for these shifts. ii