Taiji Romanisation, Penang Hokkien Writing System

Taiji Romanisation (8 October 2009)


Taiji Romanisation is a system created specifically for Penang Hokkien in 2013. Its purpose is to provide an easy means to write Penang Hokkien so that the language can have a written form for use on various communication devices such as on computers and smartphones.

One of the issues hampering literacy in Penang Hokkien is the difficulty to write in the traditional romanized forms such as Church Romanisation, which uses diacritic marks. Taiji Romanisation uses tone numbers in place of diacritic marks, enabling Penang Hokkien to be typed on all standard keyboards and keypads without the need to download any apps or plug-ins.

To make Penang Hokkien easy for people to learn, the number of tones in the language is reduced from the traditional seven down to just four in Taiji, corresponding to the four tones in Mandarin. This can be achieved without any loss in intelligibility because Taiji does not recognize checked syllables or stops as separate tones.

Earlier romanised forms, particularly Church Romanisation or Pe̍h-ōe-jī, distinguish seven distinct tones, because checked tones, known by the Chinese calque "entering tones" are treated as separate tones, but are not so in Taiji Romanisation.

Taiji Romanisation presents a radical departure from traditional romanization, a move deemed necessary to arrest the decline in knowledge of Penang Hokkien and to make it relevant for the modern age.

Taiji Romanisation was created in Penang for the use of Penang Hokkien. Therefore the rule of tone and tone changes (or tone sandhi) is specific to Penang Hokkien. Nevertheless, for transcribing sentences, you can use it for other dialects of Hokkien.

The Tone System of Taiji Romanisation

There are four classes of tones in Taiji. Every syllable is numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, and 33. Tones 1, 2, 3, and 4 correspond to the four tones in Mandarin, as understood by Mandarin speakers in Penang. Tone 33 sounds the same as tone 3 but behaves differently. Every syllable in Taiji has to end with a tone number.

Example

ma1 , ma2 , ma3 , ma4

pa1 , pa2 , pa3 , pa4

kau1 , kau2 , kau3 , kau4

kong1 , kong2 , kong3 , kong4

Syllables and Morphemes

A syllable is a string of letters that can be read as a sound. If that sound has a meaning, it is called a morpheme. If the sound is meaningless in Penang Hokkien, it isn't a morpheme, it is just a syllable.

Morphemes can be standalone words. For example, jip1 (to go in), chut3 (to go out). Syllables with different tone numbers are different morphemes with different meanings, for example, kau1 (to hang), kau2 (monkey), kau3 (enough) and kau4 (nine).

Morphemes with tones 1, 2, 3, and 4 undergo tone sandhi. Morphemes with tones 1 and 2 sandhi to tone 3, while morphemes in tones 3 and 4 sandhi to tone 1. Morphemes with tone 33 sound the same as tone 3 but do not sandhi.

2) There is a small number of some heterographs (words that are spelled differently, but pronounced the same way, i.e. "way" and "weigh") to help bring out the written meaning more clearly, for example, kau4 (nine) and kao4 (dog).

3) Words of tone 3 and tone 33 are pronounced the same way, but often mean different things, for example, lau3 (to leak) and lau33 (old). The reason there are two types of tone 3 words (3 and 33) is due to how the morpheme behaves (to be explained soon).

The Rule of Tone Sandhi

Words can also be formed by putting morphemes together, for example, lau3juak1 (fun), pan3gee2 (cheap), etc.

When two morphemes are side by side, the one in front usually changes its tone.

Ang2 (red) and sna1 (shirt) becomes ang3 sna1 (red shirt).

Wah4 (I), boek3 (want), khee3 (to go), co3 (to do) and kang1 (work). Strung together, those words form a sentence:
Wah1 boek1 khee1 co1 kang1 (I want to go to work). As you see, all the words change tones except the last one.

Citation Tone and Sandhi Tone

Words that are taken directly from the dictionary, before they undergo tone change, is called "citation form". Words that have undergone tone change is called "sandhi form".

Words ending in tone 1 or tone 2 change their tone to 3 when placed in front of another word.

Example: ang1 (husband) + bor4 (wife) = ang3bor4 (husband and wife, couple)
Example: ang2 (red) + sna1 (shirt) = ang3 sna1 (red shirt)

Words ending in tone 3 or tone 4 change their tone to 1 when placed in front of another word.

Example: lau3 (to leak) + chooi4 (water) = lau1 chooi4 (leaking water)
Example: kang4 (river) + pni1 (side) = kang1 pni1 (riverside)

Tone 33 sounds the same as tone 3, except that, words ending in tone 33 do not change the final tone when placed in front of another word.

Example: lau33 (old) + lang2 (man) = lau33 lang2 (old man)

Note that lau3 (to leak) and lau33 (old) sound the same but due to the way one changes tones while the other doesn't, we can tell which is which when we see them in writing.

The Penang Hokkien Dictionary some 6,000 words in use. The dictionary has audio to help you hear how each word is pronounced. All the entries include definition in English and Malay, with a large number also showing example sentences, the Chinese characters, and the same word in Taiwanese Hokkien and Amoy Hokkien. You can reference it for free from anywhere in the world. To learn more of Penang Hokkien, go to Penang Hokkien Made Easy or try the free online course, Penang Hokkien on Memrise.

The Vowels and Consonants in Taiji Romanisation

The vowels and consonants in Taiji Romanisation follow that of English and Malay, in order that Penang Hokkien speakers, who are accustomed to these two languages, will be able to pronounce the words correctly through intuition.

Initial Consonants
Unlike Mandarin, which has initial consonant sets comprising only voiceless unaspirated and voiceless aspirated (2 types only), in Hokkien, the initial consonant sets comprise the voiced, voiceless unaspirated and voiceless aspirated (3 types). As such, Pinyin, created for Mandarin, is not suitable for spelling Hokkien. The following are initial consonants to bear in mind.

b, p and ph

The b and p are the same as in Malay, as in bong1 ( to touch), bee33 ( to smell), pang1 ( plank). The ph sound is similar to the p sound, with a burst of air, phang1 ( fragrant), phu2 ( floating).

j, c and ch

The j and c are the same as in Malay, as in jit ( sun), ju2 ( (disheveled), ca4 ( early), cu4 ( to cook). The ch sound is similar to the c sound, with a burst of air, chu4 ( rodent), char4 ( to stir fry).

g, k and kh

The g and k are the same as in Malay, gong33 ( stupid), gu2 ( cow), kong33 ( to hit), koo1 ( tortoise). The kh sound is similar to the k wound with a burst of air, khang1 ( hole), khin1 ( light, not heavy)

d, t and th

The d and t are the same as in Malay. The d appears only in one word, dan3-dan1 ( immediately), tan4 ( to wait), teng1 ( lantern). The th is similar to the t with a burst of air, thu2 ( to delay), tho2 ( peach), thng1 ( soup).

I wish you all the best in getting to know Taiji Romanisation!

References

Read also: Taiji Romanisation of Penang Hokkien; Return to Penang Hokkien Grammar

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