MLT Examples
The current system
The MLT alphabet adopts the Latin alphabet of 26 letters to express the basic sounds of Taiwanese:
:a b c ch e f g h i j k kh l m n ng ? o p ph q r s t th u v y z zh
A MLT word, like each English word, can be formed by only one syllable or several syllables, with the two syllables being the most typical. Each syllable in MLT follows either one of the two underlying patterns :
* + + vowel +
* + vowel + +
Consonants
* Bilabial: b, p, ph, m
* Alveolar: t, th, n, l
* Velar: g, k, kh, h
* Palatal: c, ch, s, j
* Dental: z, zh, s, j
Vowels
* Simple: a, i, u, e, o, ?, m, ng
* Compound: ai, au, ia, iu, i?, iau, ui, oa, oe, ?e, oai
* Special High Tone : y, w
* Special Shouting-Out Tone : ae, ie, uo, ea, ao
* Front Nasal : v
* Rear Nasal: m, n, ng
The 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.
TMSS originally prescribed two special characters: the Greek letter and an ''o'' crossed by a backslash. 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 ?. However, ? is not part of the ASCII character set. To avoid the use of "?", Modern Taiwanese Language replaces it with a "Q" in smaller font and replaces ''?e'' with ''oe'' .
Tones
The tones are encoded by appending and modifying spellings with attention to the rules of the MLT system. The basic tone has no modification.
High Tone
A high tone is derived from raising a basic tone, and is represented by adding a tone indicator "f" after a vowel, except “i” and “u”, in a syllable. The high tone of "i" and "u" are "y" and "w" respectively. Note that the tone indicator "f" is voiceless.
Shouting-out Tone
A shouting-out tone is derived from shouting out a basic tone, and is represented by adding a tone indicator "r" after a vowel. Exceptions “ai”, “i”, “u”, “e”, and “au”, in a syllable, for which "ae", "ie", "uo", "ea", and "ao" are substituted, respectively.
Low-falling tone
The low-falling tone is always marked by appending an "x" to the rearmost vowel.
Rising tone
The rising tone is denoted by the following rules:
* Simple vowel: simply repeat the vowel.
* Compound vowel: repeat the last vowel letter except when it contains an “a”, then repeat “a”. In the case of ?, use ?o rather than ??.
Short tone
The low stopping tones are indicated by switching the final stops with the high stopping tones' as follows: h->q, t->d, p->b, k->g.
Examples
Examples for the seven tones:
* 1 : ty
* 2 : bea
* 3 : pax
* 4 : aq
* 5 : zoaa
* 7 : chviu
* 8 : lok
Special Symbols
The apostrophe is used to demarcate syllables when there is ambiguity. A hyphen is used to join two, or more isolated words to make a new compound word with its own meaning. When a word contains a back-quote , all the syllables after the back-quote are accented in the low tone .
History of MLT
The Pe?h-ōe-jī 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 , when the use of POJ was suppressed in preference to katakana, and during the Kuomintang era of martial law, during which Standard Mandarin was promoted.
Prof. Liim Keahioong, formerly of the National Cheng Kung University in , Taiwan, pioneered the Taiwanese Modern Spelling System in 1943, with the intent to avoid the diacritic markings of POJ and the cumbersomeness of inputting Chinese characters with the technology available. TMSS served as the basis for Modern Literal Taiwanese , also known as Modern Taiwanese Language .
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