Modern Literal Taiwanese alphabet

The Modern Literal Taiwanese alphabet was "designed in accord with international usage". It uses 27 letters: one letter more than the English alphabet. The extra letter is the Scandinavian ø.

Letter	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L	M	N	O	Ø	P	Q	R	S	T	U	V	W	X	Y	Z
Name	a	by	cy	ied	e	ef*	gi	hy	i	ji	ky	ly	my	ny	o	ø	py	kiuq	ar	sy	ty	u	viw	w	ex*	y	zef

• Helper note (*): efhw and exkix.

Consonants

The 18 initial consonants are: p, ph, m, b, t, th, n, l, k, kh, h, g, c, ch, s, j, z, zh.

The initial consonants of MTL.

File:Initial consonants slow.mp3

The consonants (slower), plus sw and juo

MTL	Approx.	Example	Meaning
p	spin	papaf	father
ph	pin	phaq	to hit
m	Mimi	mi	noodle
b	mumble	baq	meat
t	stem	tit	straight
th	Thomas	theh	to take
n	neat	nii	year
l	lima	laang	person
k	ski	kaf	to add
kh	key	khix	to go
h	heap	hii	fish
g	gaggle	go	five
c(i)	gee	ciaf	here
ch(i)	cheese	chiaf	car
s	she / saw	si	is; yes
j	vision / zeta	jit	sun; day
z	yards	zef	this
zh	Tsai (Ts'ai)	zhaix	vegetable

• Note: s and j are "fricatives" when followed by i (IPA: [ɕ], [ʑ]).
• The five aspirated consonants are each formed with two letters.
• The top five frequently occurring consonants in MoeDict are: k, s, <none>, t, and h. The three least frequently are j, m, and n. K appears nearly 4,300 times, but n appears only 374 times.

Vowels

• Eight of the letters are always vowels: a, i, u, e, o, ø, y, w.
• "y" and "w" are high tone vowels.
• "m" and "ng" are vowels but can be consonants too: "m-", "-m", "-ng"

Song

See also

• Table of all finals
• Modern Literal Taiwanese
• A Beginner's Guide to Taiwanese

External links

• Liim Keahioong (2001). Introduction to MLT (Modern Literal Taiwanese)
• Liim, Keahioong (1986). The Song of Taiwanese Alphabet
• Washington DC Taiwanese School. Modern Literal Taiwanese alphabet