Modern Literal Taiwanese: Difference between revisions

'''{{tts|Hiexntaixbuun}}''' ([[Hiexntai]]-[[buun]] (HTB); 現代文; lit. "Modern Writing") iah '''(Hiexntai) {{tts|Bunsuhoad}}''' ([[bunsw]]+hoad; 文書法; modern style of writing/{{w|Modern Literal Taiwanese}} (MLT), also known as '''Modern Taiwanese Language''' (MTL))

 

MLT is a writing system in the [[Latin jixbør|Latin alphabet]] for [[Taiguo|Taiwanese]] based on the [[Taiwanese Modern Spelling System]] (TMSS). MLT is able to use the ASCII character set to indicate the proper variation of pitch without subsidiary scripts or diacritic symbols.

;{{tts2|Ciaqpar`bøe?|ciaqparboe]]}}:Greetings.  (lit., "Have you eaten?")

;{{tts|Iawbøe}}. :Not yet.

;{{tts|Piexnsor ti tøfui?}} :Where's the bathroom?  (lit., "bathroom is where?")

;{{tts2|Thviaf u`bøo.|Thvia'u'bQo]]}} :Do you understand?  (lit., "Heard, no?")

;{{tts|Goar thviaf bøo.}} :I don't understand.  (lit., "I hear not")

;{{tts|Lie karm korng Engguo?}} :You do speak English, no?

;{{tts|Loflat! Kafmsia!}} :Thank you

;[[Siensvy]] korng, [[hagsefng]] [[tiaxmtiam]] thviaf.[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Taiwanese_Kana_Example.ogg (Audio)] :The teacher ([[sensei]]) talks, the students quietly listen.

;Kin'afjit hit'ee [[zabor-gyn'ar]] laai goarn-taw khvoax goar.[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Tai_JintianDaoJiaKanWo.ogg (Audio)] :Today that girl came to my house to see me.  

;{{tts|Kin'axm larn beq khix Suxliim Iaxchi-ar.}} :Tonight, we want to go to Shilin Night Market.

The [[Taiwanese alphabet|MLT alphabet]] adopts the Latin alphabet of 26 letters, plus [[ø]], to express the basic sounds of Taiwanese. Here are the basic sounds:

*a b c ch e f g h i j k kh l m n ng ø o p ph q r s t th u v y z zh

*[Consonant] + [front nasal-sound] + vowel + [tone indicator]

*[Consonant] + vowel + [tone indicator] + [rear nasal-sound]

* Bilabial: b, p, ph, m {{tts2||by, py, phy, my}}

* Alveolar: t, th, n, l {{tts2||ty, thy, ny, ly}}

* Velar: g, k, kh, h {{tts2||gi, ky, khy, hy}}

* Palatal: c, ch, s, j (followed by vowel "i") {{tts2||cy, chy, sy, ji}}

* Dental: z, zh, s, j (not followed by vowel "i") {{tts2||zef, zhef, sef, joa}}

The convention of using "h" to denote [[aspirated consonant]]s is similar to the way superscript "h" is used in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). It is also similar to the way the apostrophe is used in [[Wade-Giles]].

===Vowels===

* Simple: {{TTS2|a, i, u, e, o, ø, m, ng|af, y, w, ef, of, øf, mf, ngf}}

* Compound: {{tts|ai, au, ia, iu, iø, iau, ui, oa, oe, øe, oai}}

* Special high tone (1st tone of i, u): {{tts|y, w}}

* Front {{w|nasal vowel}} (indicator only, must be followed by a vowel): v

The rear nasals ''m'', ''n'', and ''ng'' can be appended to any of the vowels and some of the diphthongs. In addition, ''m'' and ''ng'' can function as independent syllables by themselves.

The stops ''h''/''q'', ''k''/''g'', ''p''/''b'' and ''t''/''d'' can appear as the last letter in a syllable, in which case they are pronounced as unreleased stops.  (The finals ''h'' and ''q'' stand for a glottal stop of high and low tone, respectively.)

TMSS originally prescribed two special characters: the Greek {{w|Nu (letter)}} and an [[o]] crossed by a backslash (or [[ø]]). To enable ASCII only typing, these were replaced with the Latin letter ''v'' and number ''0'', respectively. Because mixing numbers into words is problematic for spell checkers, ''0'' was subsequently replaced by ''Q''. For convenience, ''Qe'' can generally be replaced with ''oe'' (the distinction between these two sounds is blurred in common usage).

Examples for the seven [[Tones of Taiwanese]]: {{tts|ty,bea,pax,aq,zoaa,chviu,lok}}

The [[Peh-oe-ji]] (POJ) system, introduced in the 19th century, provides a basis for the phonetic transcription of the Taiwanese language using the Latin alphabet and developed a significant user base. However this user base declined during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan, when the use of POJ was suppressed in preference to [[Taioangie kana|katakana]], and during the Kuomintang era of martial law, during which Standard Mandarin was promoted.

* http://taioaan.org/taigie/english/jixtiern/match.php - Taiwanese (MTL) to Mandarin and English Dictionary