A Beginner's Guide to Taiwanese: Difference between revisions

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→‎Apostrophe ('): apostrophe saves the day

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 ==== Apostrophe (') ====
-When two syllables are put together, it may be necessary to
+When two syllables are put together, an [[apostrophe]] may be used to indicate a syllable boundary if there's any ambiguity. The rule in MTL is that letters
-indicate a syllable boundary with an [[apostrophe]], given the rule that letters
+are grouped into a syllable starting from the right. Here's one case where a consonant could be part of the first or second syllable.
-must be grouped into a syllable starting from the right.
-Example: '''{{x|of}} + {{x|kix}}''' vs '''{{x|og}} + {{x|ix}}'''
+Example: ''{{x|okix}}'' vs. ''{{x|ok'ix}}''
-Suppose we want to combine '''[[oseg|of]]''', meaning “black”, with '''[[okix|kix]]''', meaning “mole”. We simply take the modified tone of the first syllable and follow it by the second syllable. The result is '''{{xl|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.
+''[[Okix]]'', meaning "black mole", comes from ''{{x|of}}'' (烏; "black") plus ''{{x|kix}}'' (痣;  "mole"). We simply take the [[sandhi]]-modified first syllable (''of'' -> ''o'') and follow it by the second syllable, to get ''okix''. Reading this word, we know the longest syllable starting from the right is ''kix''.
-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 '''{{xl|ok'ix}}''' means “evil intention”.
+But, there are two other syllables we could combine to get the same result. If we combine ''{{x|og}}'' (惡; "evil") and ''{{x|ix}}'' (意; "intention") ''without'' an apostrophe, we would also get ''okix''. Clearly, we would not want this. It looks like the ''k'' belongs with the second vowel ''i'' instead of ''o''.
+That's where the apostrophe saves the day. Writing ''[[ok'ix]]'' is how we keep "evil intention" distinct from the harmless ''okix''.
 ==== Hyphen (-) ====