Taigie si symmih?

Taigie si symmih? (台語是甚物?; What is Taiwanese?)

• This is a transcript of Track 2 of Audio CD included with 台灣字ABC: 台語基礎教材, 張復聚, 王淑珍; 台語傳播企業有限公司, 2001. (ISBN: 9579886180)

• Listen (ogg)

Taigie si symmih?

Taigie si symmih? Taigie si Taioaan bQfgie ee kafnzhefng. Taioaan bQfgie ciuxsi sofu ee Taioaan pwnthor gygieen, paukoad Goanzuxbiin oexgie, Khehkaf-gie (Kheh'oe), kab HQxlQr-oe. Gygieen si symmih? Sviaym piawsi iesux ciuxsi gygieen. Jinlui zunzai ykefng u cidpaq/pQehzap go ban (1,000,000 - 850,000) nii (??? erngkay 200,000), bunji ciaq 6-zhefng nii, sviaym taixsefng hoattiern. Bunji siong auxboea ciaq zhut'hien, bunji si beq thex gygieen hogbu, mxsi beq zhwtai gygieen. Taigie laixbin u kor Harnguo, kixntai Harnguo, kab hiexntai Harnguo. Chviu jit, goat, zuie, kafng, bea, ciao, (日月水江馬鳥 Template:TTS2) lofngsi.

Taigie ma u cinzoe mxsi Harngie, bQo Harnji thafng siar. Chviu byntau si B E A N, "bean". Zuykorng kiQx horsux si H O S E, "hose". Melorng(-koef) si "melon", limciuo korng "sib". "Rear Car" ciuxsi larn korng ee li'afkhaq. Phaq laang iong "bok" si "box". Khaqkhikhox ee khaqkhii lofngsi Engguo, khakhih kQhsi Irnto-oe. Tekhof kiQx satbuun si Sepangaa-oe "jabon". Zhanhngg ee biexnzeg iong "kaq" laai sngx. Si kor HQlaan-oe "akkar", citmar ee Enggie si "acre". Mixpaw kiQx "pharng" erngkay si PhutQgaa-oe.

Ma u Jidgie khQfpie korng asaflix (asafliq), khimofciq (kimochi), zuobuun, arnnai, sixmcix larn lorng cyn segsai ee Harnji suu kekkhoarn, zwgi, oexsefng, ma si Jidgie. Larn korng khimokiang, khimobae si Jidgie taux Taigie ee syn zoxsuu.

Goanzuxbiin ee oexguo ma cinzoe taixiog u 70 kaux 80 phaf ee toexmiaa, lofngsi Goanzuxbiin ee oe. KhQfpie korng, KQhioong kuxmiaa kiQx Tvafkao (mxsi Phahkao). Tvafkao citee suu si tuix KQhioong Zhasvoaf terng ee Goanzuxbiin Makatao ee miaa soa koealaai`ee. Pintofng kuxmiaa si Akaau. Ma si siQkang tuix Makhaftao laai`ee. LQtofng si Rutung, Gilaan Goanzuxbiin Kavalan ee oe, iesux si kausan'ar. Koelaang na kantvaf khvoax Harnji tiQqaix thak zQx Kilioong. Thak Kelaang si tuix Khe-thaf-kQlan (Ketagalan) lai`ee, kuxmiaa si Koelaang ma si kangkhoarn. Taioaan nng ji na iong Harnji (臺灣) laai thak, ym si Taioafn, mxkuo laang lorng thak zQx Taioaan. Erngkay ma si Siraya Goanzuxbiin ee oe. Legsuo-zheq siar zQx TAYOUAN, Tayouan, ma mxsi Harngie. Satbaghii kiQx moasatbak, onglaai si bong-lai, padar si lapat (nafpat), lofngsi Goanzuxbiin ee oe.

Cittex Taigie CD beq kaesiau Taigie hoat'ym jibmngg. Hibang lirn thviaf liao oextaxng u kizhor oe jixmbad thafng cixn cidpo hagsip Taigie. Ciog lirn hagsip khoaelok, simlai u Taioaan. TQsia! Loflat!

--Tviw Hogzu (張復聚, Babuza)

What is Taiwanese?

Translation of the monologue read by Dr. Hok-chu Tiunn, aka Babuza, in the audio CD included with the book "Taioanji ABC".

What is Taiwanese? Taiwanese is the abbreviation for Taiwan mother tongue. Taiwan mother tongue is all of Taiwan's many local languages, including Aboriginal (Indigenous), Hakka, and Holo. What is a language? Languages are the expression of ideas through voice. Mankind has already existed for one million to 850,000 years (200,000 years ago by mtDNA), written language for only six thousand years. Voice developed earlier. Written language then appeared, their purpose is to serve record of spoken language, not want to replace spoken language. Taiwanese language has taken from ancient Han (Old Chinese), Proto-Han (Proto-Mandarin, late Middle Chinese), and modern Han (Modern Chinese), such as the words for sun, ghost, water, river, horse, and bird.

Taiwanese also has a significant quantity of non-Han language, which are not possible to write with Han characters. We call bean (in Taiwanese) "byntau", hose as "horsux", melon as "Melorng-koef", and to drink wine as "sib". We say "Rear Car" as "li'ar-khaq". We call the sport of boxing "bok". These all come from English, as well as "Khaqkhii" of "Khaqkhikhox" (khaki pants). However, "khakhih" came to English through a Hindi/Urdu word (meaning earth-coloured or dust coloured). Soap, which we call "satbuun" is from the Spanish word "jabón". An agricultural measure of area that we call "kah" comes from the Dutch word "akkar", which is known in modern English as "acre". Bread, which we call "pharng", comes from Portuguese (pão, through Japanese).

From Japanese, we have "clear cut" (assari), "emotion" (kimochi), "order", "accompany", and even the very familiar Han characters meaning "performance", "creed", "sanitation", are all Japanese. We use the words "khimokiang" and "khimobae" (emotion), which are Japanese words taken into Taiwanese vocabulary.

About seventy to eight percent of Taiwan's place names are from Aboriginal languages. Kaohsiung's old name is Tvafkao (Takau, not Phahkao), which may be based on "Makatao", the name of the Makatao Aboriginal tribe that lives on Shoushan mountain. Pingtung's old name is Akaau (meaning monkey), which also derives from Makatao. Luotung is from Rutung, from Yi-lan's Kavalan language, and means monkey. If you simply dryly read the Han characters for "Keelung", you might say "Kilioong". However, the old name is "Koelaang" and is derived from the name of a tribe called Ketagalan. The two Han characters for Taiwan (台灣) are read "Taioafn" (in Taiwanese POJ: Tai5-oan1), but in Taiwanese we always say "Taioaan" (POJ: Tai5-oan5), based on "Tayouan" from the Siraya language. Historical books wrote "Tayouan", which is not Han language (but used to be sinicized as 台員/台圓/大員/大圓). All of the following thing names are from aboriginal languages: milkfish (moa-sat-bak), the word for pineapple is from bunglai/bonglai, the word for guava is from lapat.

This Taiwanese CD provides an introduction to Taiwanese pronunciation. We hope that is gives you a solid introduction to Taiwanese and advances you one step in learning Taiwanese. May you have fun studying Taiwanese, and keep Taiwan in your heart. Thank you very much.

--"Babuza" (Chang Fu-chu)

References

• 羅馬字是台灣母語的救星 (LQmafji si Taioaan Bøfgie ee Kuiejiin)
• 台灣母語是什麼？ (Taioaan Bøfgie si Symmih?)

Connection with other languages

• Modern linguistic studies estimate that most (75% to 90%) Taiwanese words have cognates in other Chinese languages.
• Taiwanese words from Austronesian
• Taiwanese words from English
• Taiwanese words from Japanese
• List of Deep-relexified Japanese loanwords that Taiwanese shares with Mandarin
• List of vocabulary Taiwanese shares with Korean