Modern Literal Taiwanese (MLT), also known asModern Taiwanese Language (MTL), is anorthography in theLatin alphabet forTaiwanese based on the Taiwanese Modern Spelling System (TMSS). MLT is able to use theASCII character set plus ⟨ø⟩ to indicate the proper variation of pitch without any subsidiary scripts ordiacritic symbols. ThePhofsit Daibuun orthography is based on MLT, but substitutes ⟨oi⟩ for ⟨ø⟩.

The MLT alphabet adopts the Latin alphabet of 26 letters and the Scandinavian letterø to express the basic sounds of Taiwanese:

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

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 (phonemes inside the bracket [] are optional):

• [Consonant] + [front nasal-sound] + vowel + [tone indicator]
• [Consonant] + vowel + [tone indicator] + [rear nasal-sound]

• 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

• Simple: a, i, u, e, o, ø, m, ng
• Compound: ai, au, ia, iu, iø, iau, ui, oa, oe, øe, oai
• Special High Tone (1st tone of i, u): y, w
• Special Shouting-Out Tone (2nd tone of ai, i, u, e, au): ae, ie, uo, ea, ao
• Front Nasal (indicator only, must be followed by a vowel): v
• Rear Nasal: m, n, ng

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

The stopsh/q,k/g,p/b andt/d can appear as the last letter in a syllable, in which case they are pronounced withno audible release. (The finalsh andq stand for aglottal stop of high and low tone, respectively.)

TMSS originally prescribed two special characters: the Greek letterν and ano crossed by abackslash. These were replaced with the Latin letterv and number0, respectively. Because mixing numbers into words is problematic forspell checkers,0 was subsequently replaced byø.

Not only consonants and vowel sounds, but also tones are represented by letters in the MLT system. Certain letters have no sound of their own and are merely used as tone indicators. Others letters represent vowels or vowel combinations which have certain tones.For example, "f", "r", and "x" are tone indicators only, and have no sound of their own in MLT. "Af" represents the "a" sound with a "high" tone, "ar" represents the same vowel sound but with a "shouting" tone, "ax" is the "a" sound with the low falling tone. A "y" or "w" indicates a high tone "i" and "u", respectively, while certain diphthongs, such as "ie" and "uo", are treated as "shouting" tones. The basic tone is represented by a normal, simple vowel (or voiced consonant—e.g. the nasals, "m" or "ng") without any special spelling modification.

A high tone is derived by raising the pitch of the voice to a level somewhat above the basic tone and is normally represented by adding the tone indicator "f" after a vowel, with the exception of the "i" and "u" sounds in a syllable. A high tone "i" and a high tone "u" are denoted by "y" and "w", respectively.

(The high tone would be near the top of one's normal speaking register. It may possibly be compared to the sort of high intonation used by English speakers when imitating a singer warming up with a high but level "mi, mi, mi, mi, mi".)

A shouting-out (or just "shouting") tone is derived from shouting out a basic tone, and is normally represented by adding a tone indicator "r" after a vowel. When compound vowels are present in the shouting tone, however, sounds which by the normal rule would otherwise be written "air", "ir", "ur", "er", and "aur" are instead spelled "ae", "ie", "uo", "ea", and "ao", respectively. Exceptions occur when this rule overlaps with other rules. For example, the shouting tone of "lin" is written "lirn", not "lien" (interpreted as a compound vowel in basic tone) even though "lie" is the "shouting" counterpart to "li".

(Note that the so-called "shouting" tone is not literally a shout, but refers to the sort of quick, falling tone used, e.g., in shouting out a single-syllable word. It may be understood by English speakers by comparing the neutral tone in the normal pronunciation of the vowel in the name "Bob" with the quick, falling tone used when shouting the name (or saying the name quietly but with urgency), "Bob!" Similarly, saying "No!" achieves the same quick, downward tone in English.)

The low-falling tone is always marked by appending an "x" to the rearmost vowel. (Think of the low, almost guttural tone used in muttering a flat "Huh." or "Hmph." in English.)

The rising tone is denoted according to the following rules:

• Simple vowel: simply repeat the vowel. (E.g., "guu".)
• Compound vowel: repeat the last vowel letter except when it contains an “a”, then just repeat the “a”. (E.g., "zoaa".) In the case of ø, use øo rather than øø.

(Just as an urgent, quick "No!" can provide an example of the "shouting" tone in English, a questioning "No?" may represent the rising 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 for the seven tones:

• 1 (High): ty (豬, pig)
• 2 (Shouting-out): bea (馬, horse)
• 3 (Low-falling): pax (豹, leopard)
• 4 (Low stop): aq (鴨, duck)
• 5 (Rising): zoaa (蛇, snake)
• 7 (Basic): chviu (象, elephant)
• 8 (High stop): lok (鹿, deer)

Theapostrophe (',typewriter apostrophe) is used to demarcate syllables when there is ambiguity. Ahyphen (-) is used to join two or more isolated words to make a new compound word with its own meaning. When a word contains agrave accent (`), all the syllables after this mark are accented in the low tone (low-falling for the long tones, and low-short for short tones).

Tones

Tone name	IPA	Pe̍h-ōe-jī	Tâi-lô	TLPA	BP	MLT	DT	Kana (normal vowels)	Kana (nasal vowels)	Phonetic Symbols	Hangul	Example
												Traditional	Simplified
Yin level (陰平 1)	a˥	a	a	a1	ā	af	a	アア	アア	ㄚ	ᄋ	公司	公司
Yin rising (陰上 2)	a˥˧	á	á	a2	ǎ	ar	à	アア	アア	ㄚˋ	ᄅ	報紙	报纸
Yin departing (陰去 3)	a˨˩	à	à	a3	à	ax	â	アア	アア	ㄚ˪	ᄂ	興趣	兴趣
Yin entering (陰入 4)	ap˩ at˩ak˩aʔ˩	ap atakah	ah	a4	āp ātākāh	ab adagaq	āp ātākāh	アㇷ゚ アッアㇰアァ	アㇷ゚ アッアㇰアァ	ㄚㆴ ㄚㆵㄚㆻㄚㆷ	ᄋ	血壓 警察中國牛肉	血压 警察中国牛肉
Yang level (陽平 5)	a˧˥	â	â	a5	ǎ	aa	ǎ	アア	アア	ㄚˊ	ᄉ	人員	人员
Yang rising (陽上 6)		ǎ	ǎ	a6		aar						老爸	老爸
Yang departing (陽去 7)	a˧	ā	ā	a7	â	a	ā	アア	アア	ㄚ˫	ᄀ	草地	草地
Yang entering (陽入 8)	ap˥ at˥ak˥aʔ˥	a̍p a̍ta̍ka̍h	a̍h	a8	áp átákáh	ap atakah	ap atakah	アㇷ゚ アッアㇰアァ	アㇷ゚ アッアㇰアァ	ㄚㆴ˙ ㄚㆵ˙ㄚㆻ˙ㄚㆷ˙	ᄇ	配合 法律文學歇熱	配合 法律文学歇热
High rising (9)	a˥˥	ă	a̋	a9			á				ㅋ	昨昏	昨昏
Neutral (0)	a˨	--a	--ah	a0		~a	å					入去	入去

• Note:Thebopomofo extended characters in thezhuyin row require a UTF-8 font capable of displayingUnicode values31A0–31B7 (ex.Code2000 true type font).

ThePe̍h-ōe-jī (POJ) system, introduced in the 19th century, provides a basis for phonetic transcription of the Taiwanese language using the Latin alphabet. It initially developed a significant user base, but the number of users declined during the period ofJapanese colonization of Taiwan, when the use of POJ was suppressed in preference tokatakana, and also during theera of martial law, during whichMandarin Chinese was promoted.

Prof. Liim Keahioong, formerly of theNational Cheng Kung University inTainan, Taiwan, pioneered the Taiwanese Modern Spelling System (TMSS) in 1943, with the intent to avoid thediacritical markings of POJ as well as the cumbersome difficulty of inputtingChinese characters with the available technology. TMSS served as the basis for Modern Literal Taiwanese (MLT).^[3]Other variants of MLT exist, such asPhofsit Daibuun and Simplified MLT (SMLT).^[4]

• 21st Century Taiwanese Language & Art Web - website run by Prof. Liim Keahioong, EDUTECH Foundation, Tainan, Taiwan
• LearnTaiwanese.org
• Hydonsingore ee Hunhoarloo - a blog written in MLT
• SMLT Homepage(簡式台語現代文)(in Chinese)

• Languages of Taiwan
• Romanization of Hokkien
• Writing systems introduced in the 20th century
• 20th-century establishments in Taiwan

• Webarchive template wayback links
• Articles with Chinese-language sources (zh)
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Pages with plain IPA