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A Beginner's Guide to Taiwanese: Difference between revisions
A Beginner's Guide to Taiwanese (view source)
Revision as of 13:02, 20 July 2018
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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. | 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. | ||
''{{x|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''. | |||
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 using an apostrophe, we would also get ''okix''. Clearly, we don't want this. It looks like the ''k'' belongs with the second vowel ''i'' instead of ''o''. | |||
That's where the apostrophe comes in to save the day. By writing ''{{x|ok'ix}}'' ''with'' an apostrophe, we keep "evil intention", or "malice", distinct from the harmless ''okix''. | |||
==== Hyphen (-) ==== | ==== Hyphen (-) ==== | ||