A Beginner's Guide to Taiwanese: Difference between revisions

Suppose we want to combine '''of''', meaning “black”, with '''kix''', meaning “mole”. We simply take the modified tone of the first syllable and follow it by the second syllable. The result is '''[[okix]]''' (meaning “black mole”). Following the rules of MTL reading, '''kix''' is the longest possible syllable starting from the right. Thus the first syllable is the simple vowel '''o '''and the second syllable is '''kix''', and no apostrophe is needed.

If we combine '''og''' (“evil”) and '''ix''' (“intention”) without an apostrophe, we also get '''okix'''. By the rules of reading MTL, the final syllable appears to be '''kix'''. Therefore, we must insert an apostrophe ('''ok'ix''') to indicate that the last syllable is '''ix'''. Now we know the first syllable is '''ok''', which is the modified tone of '''og'''. The word '''[[ok'ix]]''' means “evil intention”.