Introduction to Taiwanese Vocabulary: Difference between revisions

The modern language that we call '''[[Taioan'oe|Taiwanese]]''' has been passed on for several generations without a standardized writing system. Considered a branch of [[Hokkiexn-oe|Hokkien]], it was brought by [[Høxlør|Hoklo]] settlers from southern China to Taiwan ([[Formosa]]). The Taiwanese language has captured the history of the island in its borrowing of words from [[Formosan languages]], [[Sepangaa-gie|Spanish]], [[Kextexgie|Dutch]], [[Jidpwn'oe|Japanese]], and [[Enggie|English]].

Modern Taiwanese has words coming from [[Sioxngkor Harnguo|Old Chinese]] (ca. 0 BCE/CE) as well as the [[Toong|Tang Dynasty]] (ca. 618-907). However, it is still not natural for many people to write modern Taiwanese with [[Harnji|Han characters]]. Until the late 19th century, educated Taiwanese speakers wrote mostly in [[Bungieen-buun|Classical Chinese]]. Where Han characters have been used to record spoken Taiwanese, they are not always etymological or genetic; the borrowing of similar-sounding or similar-meaning characters is a common practice. The lack of a written standard and the difficulty in learning the relatively complicated characters posed a great barrier to written record of Taiwanese speech.

A system of writing Taiwanese using Latin characters called [[Peh-oe-ji]], also known as "Church Romanization", was developed in the 19th century. The [[Taioaan Kitog Tviwlør Kaohoe|Presbyterian Church]] has been active in promoting Taiwanese and POJ since the late 19th century. In 1943, [[Liim Keahioong]] and classmates started work on a spelling system that evolved into [[Modern Literal Taiwanese]] (MLT), which is used by the [[Washington DC Taiwanese School]] and the system we use below.