Modern Taiwanese Language

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Modern Taiwanese Language (MTL), also known as Modern Literal Taiwanese (MLT), is an orthography in the Latin alphabet for the Taiwanese language based on the Taiwanese Modern Spelling System (TMSS). MTL is able to use the ASCII character set to indicate the proper variation of pitch without subsidiary scripts or diacritic symbols.

Contents

[edit] The current system

The MTL alphabet adopts the English alphabet of 26 letters to express the basic sounds of Taiwanese:

a b c ch e f g h i j k kh l m n ng Q o p ph q r s t th u v y z zh

A MTL word, like each English word, can be formed by only one syllable or several syllables, with the two syllables being the most typical. Each syllable in MTL follows either one of the two underlying patterns (phonemes inside the bracket [] are optional):

  • [Consonant] + [front nasal-sound] + vowel + [tone indicator]
  • [Consonant] + vowel + [tone indicator] + [rear nasal-sound]

[edit] Consonants

  • Bilabial: b, p, ph, m
  • Alveolar: t, th, n, l
  • Velar: g, k, kh, h
  • Palatal: c, ch, s, j
  • Dental: z, zh, s, j

[edit] Vowels

  • Simple: a, i, u, e, o, Q, m, ng
  • Compound: ai, au, ia, iu, iQ, iau, ui, oa, oe, Qe, oai
  • Special High Tone (1st tone of i, u): y, w
  • Special Shouting-Out Tone (2nd tone of ai, i, u, e, au): ae, ie, uo, ea, ao
  • Front Nasal (indicator only, must be followed by a vowel): v
  • Rear Nasal: m, n, ng

The nasals m, n, and ng can be appended to any of the vowels and some of the diphthongs. In addition, m and ng can function as independent syllables by themselves.

The stops h/q, k/g, p/b and t/d can appear as the last letter in a syllable, in which case they are pronounced as unreleased stops. (The finals h and q stand for a glottal stop of high and low tone, respectively.)

TMSS originally prescribed two special characters: the Greek letter ν and an o crossed by a backslash. These were replaced with the Latin letter v and number 0, respectively. Because mixing numbers into words is problematic for spell checkers, 0 was subsequently replaced by Q. A recent decision has been made to replace Qe with oe (the distinction between these two sounds is blurred in common usage). (Trivia: ø, a potential substitute for the Q sound, means "island" in the Danish language).

[edit] Tones

The tones are encoded by appending and modifying spellings with attention to the rules of the MTL system. The basic tone has no modification.

[edit] High Tone

A high tone is derived from raising a basic tone, and is represented by adding a tone indicator "f" after a vowel, except “i” and “u”, in a syllable. The high tone of "i" and "u" are "y" and "w" respectively. Note that the tone indicator "f" is voiceless.

[edit] Shouting-out Tone

A shouting-out tone is derived from shouting out a basic tone, and is represented by adding a tone indicator "r" after a vowel. Exceptions “ai”, “i”, “u”, “e”, and “au”, in a syllable, for which "ae", "ie", "uo", "ea", and "ao" are substituted, respectively.

[edit] Low-falling tone

The low-falling tone is always marked by appending an "x" to the rearmost vowel.

[edit] Rising tone

The rising tone is denoted by the following rules:

  • Simple vowel: simply repeat the vowel.
  • Compound vowel: repeat the last vowel letter except when it contains an “a”, then repeats “a”. In the case of Q, use Qo rather than QQ.

[edit] Short tone

Low stopping tones are indicated by substituting the final stops as follows: h->q, t->d, p->b, k->g.

[edit] Examples

Examples for the seven tones:

  • 1 (High): ty (豬, pig)
  • 2 (Shouting-out): bea (馬, horse)
  • 3 (Low-falling): pax (豹, leopard)
  • 4 (Low stop): aq (鴨, duck)
  • 5 (Rising): zoaa (蛇, snake)
  • 7 (Basic): chviu (象, elephant)
  • 8 (High stop): lok (鹿, deer)

[edit] Special Symbols

The apostrophe (') is used to demarcate syllables when there is ambiguity. A hyphen (-) is used to join two, or more isolated words to make a new compound word with its own meaning. When a word contains a back-quote (`), all the syllables after the back-quote are accented in a weaker tone -- either a low-falling tone or a low stop.

[edit] MTL Examples

Translation MTL Remarks
Greetings. Ciaqpar`boe? ("Have you eaten?")
Sorry for my impoliteness! Sitlea! (lit., "Disrespect")
I don't understand. Goar thviaf bQo. (lit., "I hear not")
Where's the bathroom? Piexnsor ti tQfui? (lit., "bathroom is where?")
Thank you Loflat! Kafmsia!
Cheers! Ho taf laq! (lit., Let it [the cup/glass] be dry [empty]!)
Do you speak English? Lie karm korng Engguo?
The teacher talks, the students quietly listen. Siensvy korng, hagsefng tiaxmtiam thviaf. listen (help·info)
Today that girl came to my house to see me. Kin'afjit hit'ee zabor gyn'ar laai goarn taw khvoax goar. listen (help·info)
Tonight, we want to go to Shilin Night Market. Kin'axm larn beq khix Suxliim Iaxchi'ar.

[edit] History of MTL

The Pe̍h-ōe-jī (POJ) system, introduced in the 19th century, provides a basis for the phonetic transcription of the Taiwanese language using the Latin alphabet and developed a significant user base. However this user base declined during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan, when the use of POJ was suppressed in preference to katakana, and during the Kuomintang era of martial law, during which Standard Mandarin was promoted.

Prof. Liim Keahioong, formerly of the National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, Taiwan, pioneered the Taiwanese Modern Spelling System (TMSS) in 1943, with the intent to avoid the diacritic markings of POJ and the cumbersomeness of inputting Chinese characters with the technology available. TMSS served as the basis for the Modern Taiwanese Language (MTL), or Modern Literal Taiwanese (MLT) system.

[edit] External links

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