Writing in Two Scripts:
Tiun, Hak-khiam. 1998. Writing in Two ScriptsA Case Study of
Digraphia in Taiwanese. Written Language and Literacy.1(2)223-231.
The Netherlands : John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Writing in Two Scripts:
A Case Study of Digraphia
in Taiwanese
TiuN Hak-KHIAM
Written Language and Literacy Vol. 1(2), 1998, 225-247
John Benjamins Publishing Co.
Abstract
Three writing systems are currently available for writing
Taiwanese, the variety
of Southern Min Chinese which is spoken in Taiwan.
Traditionally, it is written either in choan-han all character
writing or in choan-lo all Roman script; however, a mixture of
these two scripts, called han-lo, has been developed in recent
decades. This article evaluates these three writing systems from
linguistic and sociolinguistic perspectives. It is argues that
han-lo can efficiently achieve the goals of corpus planning:
graphization, standardization, and modernization. The educational
implications of a mixed writing system are also discussed.
1. Introduction
As Cooper 1989 has pointed out, there is a close relation
between language planning and social change. Language planning must
be understood within a socio-historical context. Social change in
Taiwan in the past decade can be characterized in terms of
democratization, modernization, and localization (Li 1994). Recent
social changes have been translated into language policy in
Written Language and Literacy Vol. 1(2), 1998, 225-247
John Benjamins Publishing Co.
Taiwan. As a response to the peoples call for bilingual
education, Minister of Education Guo Weifan has officially
announced the inclusion of mother tongue education in the
curriculum. While the Taiwanese language gians new status in
education, the problems of written Taiwanese need to be addressed
by corpus planning.1
There are two serious problems in using han-ji Chinese
Characters to write Taiwanese. The first problem is the difficulty
of graphic representation. Many Taiwanese morphemes simply do not
have any characters to represent them a phenomenon generally called
u-im-bo-ji sounds without characters. Another problem encountered
in written Taiwanese is the lack of standardization, especially the
chaotic use of han-ji as compared with lo-ma-ji Roman script.2 This
paper will show how han-ji are employed to put Taiwanese into
written form, and will discuss problems and limitations of
choan-han exclusive use of han-ji for written Taiwanese.
Furthermore, we will describe and evaluate the other two kinds of
writing systems used to write Taiwanese: choan-lo exclusive use of
lo-ma-ji, and han-lo mixed han-ji and lo-ma-ji. It is suggested
that the han-lo writing system, which incorporates both Chinese
characters and Roman script, can efficiently achieve the goal of
graphic representation and standardization, and can strike a
balance between the need of national tradition and
modernization.
2. Examples of Digraphia
Digraphia can be defined as the use of two or more different
writing systems for a single language or varieties of a language
(Dale 1980, DeFrancis 1984b). If we look at the development of
societies that use han-ji such as China,
1. Tai-gi Taiwanese is a variety of Southern Min Chinese, spoken
in Taiwan. Speakers number about 16 million, i.e. 73.3% of the
Taiwan population. Other terms for Taiwanese are Tai-oan-oe,
Ban-lam-gi Southern Min, and Ho-lo language.
2. The best-known and established lo-ma-ji system for Taiwanese
is called peh-oe-ji vernacular writing system or kau-hoe lo-ma-ji
Church Romanization; it is used in this paper and is referred to
simply as lo-ma-ji (for equivalences with IPA, see Appendix). The
Romanization system used here for Mandarin is based on the pinyin
system, without tonal indication. Abbreviations used in this paper
include: A: adjective, N: noun, V: verb, ASP: aspect marker, NOM:
nominalizer, PREP: preposition, POSS: possessive marker.
Page 226
Hong kong, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam digraphia seems to be the
rule rather than the exception. Generally speaking, two types of
scripts have been developed in these areas: han-ji and non-han-ji
phonetic symbols (hangul, kana, pinyin, Roman script), yielding
three kinds of writing systems: exclusive use of han-ji (as in
Chinese), exclusive use of non-han-ji phonetic symbols (as in the
case of Vietnamese Quoc Ngu and Han gul in North Korea), and the
mixture of two scripts (in Japan and Southe Korea). The general
trend is toward the addition of a non-han-ji phonetic writing
system, either used separately or mixed with han-ji.
3. Problems in Writing Taiwanese
A salient characteristic of written Taiwanese is inconsistency
in the use of han-ji. Often a single morpheme is written with
several different characters, even by a single writer in a single
text. The linguistic reasons for these inconsistencies have much to
do with the nature of Taiwanese and the characteristics of
han-ji.
Taiwanese and Mandarin are different but related languages,
differing in phonological, morphological, and syntactic features.
Phonological and morphological differences are the two main causes
of the difficulty of writing Taiwanese in Chinese characters.
Compared with both classical Chinese and modern Mandarin, Taiwanese
has many of the following phonological and morphological
characteristics (R. L. Cheng 1990:222-24):
(a) Preservation of Ancient Chinese morphemes.
(b) Characters with distinct colloquial vs. literary
readings.
(c) Taiwanese morphemes without standardized characters.
(d) Japanese and English loans, with most of the English loans
being borrowed via Japanese.
(e) Loans which are written with Japanese characters, but have
Taiwanese pronunciations.
(f) Contractions.
It is reported by R. L. Cheng 1987 that content words of
Taiwanese and Mandarin tend to share a higher ratio of the same
etymons (84%) than do the function words (49.5%). In addition, S.
Chen 1989 has found that function words are the least standardized
category. She compared two dictionaries and found that, of the 104
most frequently used function words,
Page 22762.5% were written differently. Function words,
therefore, should receive special attention.
According to R. L. Cheng 1989, only 5% of Taiwanese morphemes in
the total lexicon lack suitable or standardized characters to
represent them. However, since most of them are words of high
frequency, they account for 15% of the total number of characters
in running texts.3
Orthographically speaking, the multiplicity of principles uses
in character formation and adoption is the main reason for the
chaotic situation in using characters to represent Taiwanese
special morphemes (TSM). According to R. L. Cheng 1989, the methods
used to create new characters to represent TSM include xingsheng
phonetic compunding and huiyi semantic aggregation. Besides these,
there are three principles for adapting old characters to represent
TSM: jiajie phonetic borrowing, zhuanzhu similarity of sound and
meaning (in Taiwanese), and xunyong similarity of meaning (in
Mandarin or classical Chinese). All these principles cause
uncertainty in the representation of TSM with characters.
The choice of characters of TSM is also conditioned by
socio-educational factors (R. L. Cheng 1989). In general, language
specialists tend to use xingsheng or zhuanzhu characters; but
highly educated non-language specialists tend to use xunyong; and
the general population tends to use jiajie characters. Since
different principles are used in writing TSM by writers of
different socio-educational background, the chaotic situation
appears inevitable.
4. History of Written Taiwanese
Taiwanese provides an excellent example of digraphia in actual
use. There are three kinds of written Taiwanese: exclusive han-ji,
exclusive lo-ma-ji, and mixed han-lo.
(1)
All han-ji text:
3. See R. L. Cheng (1989:325) for an estimate of the stability
of han-ji by part of
speech. C. Zhou 1993 lists 453 Southern Min morphemes that have
no corresponding han-ji. The amount of these so-called no-character
morphemes would be greater if we included the many cased of
onomatopoeia, loans, and contractions existing in Taiwanese.
Page 228
(2) All lo-ma-ji text:
Lan beh u chun-giam, lan e gi-gian ai siu chun-tiong; lan
khoaN-tang lan e gi-gian, lan choe chio ai ti lan a hak-hau thoan
hou lan e te ji tai, ai iong I lai sia chhut lan e sim-siaN.
(3) Han-lo mixed text:
beheeti ehouee
To have dignity our language must be respected. To show our
respect to our language, we must teach our mother tongue to our
children at school and learn to express ourselves through written
Taiwanese. (R. L. Cheng 1993:11).
Character writing of Taiwanese has the longest history about 400
years As well as the greatest amount of publication. According to
van der loon (19924-8), the extant Min-nan literature (after the
Ming period) included stage plays, string-puppet plays,
glove-puppet plays, shadow-figure plays, and ballads. During
Japanese colonization, many Taiwanese textbooks were written in
han-ji with kana annotation and Japanese translation. In the 1930s,
a cultural movement called the Tai-oan-oe-bun un-tong Written
Taiwanese Movement proposed the use of Taiwanese as a literary
language. Aside from discussions about the problems of writing the
language, efforts were made to collect and transcribe Taiwanese
folksongs, nursery rhymes, folktales, jokes, riddles, and proverbs.
Although the main contribution of this period was the transcription
of oral literature, new genres of Taiwanese literary creation also
began at this time, including novels, poems, and prose.
Unfortunately, the Written Taiwanese Movement ended at the outbreak
of the Sino-Japanese war. Despite the theoretical discussions and
experiments of the pre-war period, the problems of writing
Taiwanese in characters remained unsolved.
Writing in lo-ma-ji has about 150 years of history. Taiwanese
lo-ma-ji originated in the church, and was mostly used for
Christian writing. However, it also included many non-religious
publications, including textbooks of nursing, translations of the
Chinese classics, Taiwanese newspapers, textbooks for learning
Taiwanese, and dictionaries. In fact, the first newspaper published
in Taiwan, Tai-oan hu-siaN Kau-hoe-po Taiwan Prefectural City
Church News (1885-1942), was written totally in lo-ma-ji.4 In 1922,
Chhoa-phoe-hoe
4. The name of this newspaper has been changed several times. In
1905, it was changed to Tai-lam Kau-hoe-po, and in 1913 to Tai-oan
Kau-hoe-po. Finally, in 1932 it was renamed Tai-oan
Kau-hoe-kong-po.
Page 229
Initiated a lo-ma-ji movement, the purpose of which was to
promote Taiwanese culture and education, and his proposal was
adopted by the Tai-oan bun-hoa hiap-hoe Taiwanese Culture Society.
However, the lo-ma-ji movement was banned by the Japanese
government. From 1989 to 1992, a lo-ma-ji magazine, Hong-hiong
Direction, was published. A Taiwanese discussion group now also
uses lo-ma-ji in the e-mail environment. However, exclusive use of
lo-ma-ji only appears sporadically in current written Taiwanese. In
most cases, lo-ma-ji are used as phonetic annotations for
characters, functioning something like Japanese furigana lateral
kana; or they are used to replace some characters, forming the
mixed system called han-lo.
Han-lo appeared as a new writing system about three decades ago.
The first proposal for it was published by Ong Iok-tek in a series
of lectures entitled Tai-oan-oe kang-cho Lectures on Taiwanese,
which appeared in Japan in 1964, in the magazine Tai-oan
chheng-lian Young Taiwanese Magazine (cf. Ong 1993). However, Ong
did not write in this system. The first experiment in han-lo
writing did not appear until 1967 in the same magazine. The second
in han-lo writing movement was advanced by the Tai-oan gi-bun
goeh-khan Taiwanese lanugage monthly, published in America in 1977.
The idea of han-lo writing was first introduced to Taiwan by TeN
Liong-ui, through the publications of this system and the
exposition of its theory in the late 1980s. Through TeNs advocacy,
han-lo writing enjoys great currency in contemporary written
Taiwanese; it is used in the writing of poems, novels, and prose,
as well as in academic writings, Taiwanese language textbooks, and
religious works. It appears in newspapers, bulletins, and books.
Tai-bun thong-sin Taiwanese writing forum is one of the leading
publications advocating the use of han-lo. It is the writing system
preferred by most of the advocates of written Taiwanese (e.g. Xu
1992, Ong 1993, R. L. Chneg 1989, 1990), and it has also gianed
support from experts in information processing. Judging from its
vitality, it is likely the han-lo writing will become the
mainstream system for writing Taiwanese.
5. Three kinds of Written Taiwanese
The following sections will describe and evaluate the above
three kinds of written Taiwanese: exclusive use of han-ji;
exclusive use of lo-ma-ji, and mixed use of the two scripts.
Page 230
5.1. Exclusive Use of Han-ji
Characters used to represent TSM fall into four categories:
hun-thok-ji semantic borrowing characters, pun-ji etymological
characters, ka-chioh-ji phonetic borrowing characters, and
pun-thou-ji dometic characters. The overall trend of han-ji used,
in descending order, is hun-thok-ji pun-ji ka-chioh-ji pun-thou-ji
(Huang 1993:383).
5.1.1. Hun-thok-ji Semantic Borrowing Characters
Hun-thok-ji refers to han-ji that are borrowed into written
Taiwanese for their semantic values, but not for their phonetic
forms. For example, beh want can be written as , borrowing its
Mandarin meaning; the Taiwanese reading iau is irrelevant here.
Moreover, beh can also be written with the classical character ,
pronounced iok in Taiwanese. Hun-thok-ji have been most widely used
in written Taiwanese in both the Japanese and contemporary
periods.
Although hun-thok-ji have uses in the graphic representation of
Taiwanese, there are some undesirable results. First, there is a
chaotic use of han-ji: Because of synonyms in the source language,
different writers may employ different characters to write a single
Taiwanese morpheme. For example, hou passive marker is written with
three different characters in Tai-jit Toa-su-tian
(Taiwanese-Japanese dictionary, 1931): ,,and. Hou can also be
written with ,, or . Another case of hun-thok-ji which causes
confusion is the use of the same character to write more than one
Taiwanese morpheme. For example, is borrowed to write both ka
disposal marker and hou passive. Furthermore, different generations
of writers draw on different source languages Classical Chinese,
Japanese, and modern Mandarin causing inconsistency in use (R. L.
Cheng 1989). So, even using the same hun-thok principle, the use of
han-ji still shows inconsistency, and is sometimes unintelligible
because of generational gaps.
Second, the hun-thok principle causes a great divergence between
the written and spoken languages. Since only semantic value is
borrowed, hun-thok-ji cannot show the exact pronunciation of
Taiwanese morphemes. For example, if we say ou-to-bai automobile
and write , the reader has no way of knowing the intended
pronunciation.
Third, hun-thok-ji sometimes cannot express the exact meaning of
Taiwanese morphemes. For example, chhu house and tau home become
indistinguishable when we use the hun-thok-ji .
Page 231
5.1.2. Pun-ji Ethmological Characters
The frequent use of pun-ji reflects the fact that Mandarin and
Taiwanese share many cognate morphemes. However, it is misleading
to say that every Taiwanese morpheme has a pun-ji.
First, even though certain characters have been proven to be
pun-ji, they are not necessarily preferred by the public in general
practice. For example, instead of using the etymological character
for lang people, the semantic borrowing is generally used in
written Taiwanese. Second, many so-called pun-ji have low
frequency, e.g. kha foot and bang mosquito. Third, because of
historical development, the semantic and phonetic values of some
characters have changed significantly, so that the use of some
pun-ji in modern times has become impractical and unintelligible.
Finally, the fact that different scholars may find different
cognates for a single Taiwanese morpheme makes us question the
capacity of pun-ji to solve the problem of standardization. The
etymological study of characters is an interesting research topic;
however, we should be careful not to confuse scholastic pursuits
with practical use.
5.1.3. Ka-chioh-ji Phonetic Borrowing Characters
If writing is to represent visually the speech sounds of
Taiwanese, then ka-chioh-ji could be ideal for written Taiwanese.
The question that arises is: Can ka-chioh-ji be effectively used to
represent Taiwanese morphemes without causing misunderstanding and
mispronunciation? Unfortunately, the use of ka-chioh-ji seems to
have been ineffective, ambiguous, and confusing. One interesting
phenomenon is that, besides borrowing the han-ji reading in
Taiwanese, modern ka-chioh-ji also employ the phonetic value of
Mandarin; e.g., the Mandarin morpheme ying win is borrowed to write
Taiwanese eng spare time.
As Defrancis (1984a:147) correctly points out, han-ji are
morphosyllabic rather than ideographic. That is, Chinese characters
use syllable graphs to represent sounds. However, Chinese syllabic
writing does not provide reliable information in representing the
pronunciation of characters. According to Huang (1993:387), the
effectiveness of han-ji in represnting sound is only about 35%.
Indeed, to enhance the ability to represent sound has been the main
reason for using lo-ma-ji, which has an almost perfect
correspondence between graph and sound.
Since there is no consensus in choosing among phonetic
alternatives, any choice can only be arbitrary and unsystematic.
Thus the passive marker hou can be written with the following
homophones: family, each
Page 232
Other, rain. Hence, even using the same ka-chioh principle,
different writers may employ different character. Another problem
is the interference of the original meaning in phonetic borrowings.
In using ka-chioh-ji, only the phonetic value of the character is
borrowed; but unfortunately, the interference of the original
meaning of the character seems to be inevitable, thus causing
confusion and ambiguity. For instance, chhit-tho to play was
written in a traditional play; however, this writing can also be
interpreted as seven peaches in Taiwanese. This interference may be
one reason why semantic borrowings are preferred to phonetic
borrowings.
5.1.4. Pun-thou-ji Domestic Characters
This class of characters has been created especially for written
Taiwanese. The creation of such new characters follows the
principles of xingsheng phonetic compounding and huiyi semantic
aggregation. An example of xingsheng is the character , as in
bak-chiu eye, with bak eye as its semantic element and chiu as the
phonetic element. An example of huiyi is lo tall, which combines
body and long.
Pun-thou-ji are homemade characters, and so give us some sense
of authenticity. However, they are not widely used at present in
written Taiwanese. Their limited use has much to do with the
difficulties they cause in word processing: Many pun-thou-ji simply
cannot be found in the computer. Furthermore, the use of
pun-thou-ji creates a learning burden for students. Finally, many
Taiwanese morphemes simply lack any character to represent them
whether pun-thou-ji, or other characters used according to the
principles mentioned above.
In sum, Chinese are useful in writing shared morphemes between
Mandarin and Taiwanese; however, they are ill-suited to writing
Taiwanese special morphemes. The multiplicity of principles
governing character formation and adoption had caused
standardization based on han-ji to be a formidable, if not
impossible task.
5.2 Use of Lo-ma-ji
P. Chen (1994, 1996) identifies four possible functions for a
new script to perform in relation to Chinese characters: auxiliary,
supplementary, alternative, and superseding. What follows is a
description of these as they may be performed by lo-ma-ji in
writing Taiwanese.
Page 233
5.2.1 Auxiliary Fuction
Lo-ma-ji can serve to annotate the sound of characters; i.e.,
they can be used as auxiliary phonetic symbols, rather than as an
independent writing system. Many all-character texts make sporadic
use of lo-ma-ji for sound annotation; others use zhuyin fuhao, a
set of simplified characters used for sound annotation, and taught
in primary school as an aid to learning Mandarin. However, because
of the phonological differences between Mandarin and Taiwanese,
modifications and new symbols have to be added when using zhuyin
fuhao for Taiwanese.
5.2.2. Supplementary Funcation
Lo-ma-ji can be used as a supplementary script in two ways. One
way is to place it above or on the side of every character in the
text. Textbooks used in mother-tongue education or readers intended
for children generally use lo-ma-ji in this way.
(4)
Hian-chai goa hoa-gi e-hiau kong, tai-gi ma e thong.
Now I can speak Mandarin as well as Taiwanese.(Gou 1993:343)
Another type of supplementary function can be found in the mixed
use of lo-ma-ji with han-ji; this is the han-lo system described in
5-3, below.
5.2.3. Alternative Function
Some Taiwanese texts consist of two parts: han-ji and lo-ma-ji.
Here the latter is treated as a writing system parallel with
han-ji. These texts can be regarded as biliterate written
Taiwanese; readers who are literate in either writing system can
have access to the text. There are different arrangements of the
han-ji and lo-ma-jiparts. Generally, han-ji are placed on the left
side and lo-ma-ji on the right side, or vice versa. The following
excerpt from a Taiwanese poem demonstrates this type of written
Taiwanese:
(5)
,
Na si li e ki,
ka ,
chhiaN li ka goa kong khi,
e,
choan se kai e hoaN hi,
be.
Be su ngou chhai sai chio jit.
If you remember / please tell me / all the worlds happiness
/
beautiful as the colorful sunset (Tan Lui 1997).
5.2.4. Superseding Function
A clearer example of the autonomous function of lo-ma-ji can be
found in
Page 234
Texts written solely in that system. Ex. 6 is an excerpt from a
paper discussing the advantage of phe-oe-ji (Roman script):
(6) Peh-oe-ji ia si bun-ji-tiong e chit lui, I e li ek lang, pi
pat-ho e ji iau u khah-kin khah-khoai
Peh-oe-ji is also one of the writing systems. People can benefit
from the use of Peh-oe-ji. It can be learned and used faster than
other kinds of writing systems
(from Lau Bou-chheng, Peh-oe-ji e li ek The advantage of Roman
script, Tai-oan-hu-siaN Kau-hoe-po Taiwan Prefectural City Church
News, 1886).
5.2.5. Lo-ma-ji: Autonomous or Superseding Script?
So-called u-im-boji sounds without characters constitute a
serious problem in the use of characters. Texts written in lo-ma-ji
have no such problems. As Ong points out (1993:31), it is only
through lo-ma-ji that Taiwanese can be fully expressed. The
advantages of lo-ma-ji over han-ji can be shown by the following
comparisons. First, lo-ma-ji, unlike han-ji, have an almost perfect
correspondence between symbol and sound, and thus can achieve
graphization ver easily. Furthermore, though there are various
lo-ma-ji systems, standardization based on lo-ma-ji can be much
easier achieved than by han-ji. Third, the small number of graphs
(18 letters) makes it easier to learn and process into
computers.
However, despite such advantages, it is not feasible at present
to adopt lo-ma-ji as a superseding system. If we consider the
sociolinguistic situation of Taiwan, it is apparent that the
society as a whole is not prepared for such a drastic change. The
lifelong habit of using han-ji simply cannot be changed overnight.
Since characters are still the main medium of writing and are
widely known through compulsory education, complete replacement of
han-ji by lo-ma-ji would not be likely to succeed.
Instead, complementary relationships between han-ji and lo-ma-ji
offer a more favorable solution. As shown in the first issue of
Tai-oan hu-siaN kau-hoe-po Taiwan prefectural City Church News
(1885), the introduction of lo-ma-ji was intended to add an easier
and more efficient writing system, rather than to replace
characters. That is , the idea of digraphia was encouraged, with
lo-ma-ji being given the highest priority in teaching first
literacy; those who were literate in characters were also
encouraged to learn lo-ma-ji. Since lo-ma-ji was mainly related to
church practices and religious publications, its reception was
quite successful within the church. In the past, however, lo-ma-ji
was not
Page 235
Well received by the general public on the ground that it was a
foreign writing system, learned and used only by Christians and the
illiterate (IuN 1993:61). Another hindrance to the development of
lo-ma-ji cam from the governmental prohibition: Since it was feared
that the use of a Romanized written form might inspire separatism,
lo-ma-ji as made illegal in 1969. These socio-political factors
have been largely responsible for the invisibility of lo-ma-ji as
an autonomous writing system.
However, the following sociolinguistic changes might be
conducive to the reception of lo-ma-ji as an autonomous writing
system in Taiwan. First, because of cultural and languistic contact
with Western societies, Roman script is now frequently used in
everyday literacy practice. Second, since Taiwan is becoming a
pluralistic society, governmental and popular attitudes toward this
imported script are likely to change from xenophobic sentiment to a
more favorable attitude. Third, the importance of lo-ma-ji in
meeting the needs of modernization, especially in the information
age, is gaining more recognition. The reception of lo-ma-ji Depends
very much on the extent to which it is seen as an addition to
linguistic capital and a technical improvement, rather than as a
detriment to social and cultural integrity.
What functions can lo-ma-ji perform? In some domains, it may be
preferable to adopt its exclusive use. First, it can provide
children and adult illiterates with easy access to initial
literacy, and will also help them to learn characters as second
literacy. Second, for foreigners who do not know characters and
whose main purpose in learning Taiwanese is to communicate orally,
lo-ma-ji-only textbooks are preferable for reasons of efficiency.
Third, with the coming of the information age, lo-ma-ji also takes
on a new function, namely its use in Taiwanese information
processors: TW301, Hotsys, and Dai-im. All of them use lo-ma-ji as
their input method. Compared to shape-based input systems, lo-ma-ji
are very convenient for this purpose.
Although writing in lo-ma-ji is easy and fast, reading texts
written exclusively in it is generally felt to be difficult. This
may be because lo-ma-ji reading materials are not widely available;
thus most people do not have enough practice in reading such texts.
However, using lo-ma-ji in international communication, like
electronic mail, is convenient; for example, it is the most
frequently used writing system in the Tai-gi-ban Taiwanese
discussion group ([email protected]).
In summary, political and cultural conditions are still not
favorable for further development of lo-ma-ji as an autonomous
writing system. At present, such an independent system can only
have limited use. Perhaps a moderate
Page 236
Apporach, nmaely the supplementary schme, may serve as a
starting point toward a more radical reform of written
Taiwanese.
5.3. Mixture of Han-ji and Lo-ma-ji
The difficulties of using han-ji in representing Taiwanese
special morphemes have pushed people to introduce the lo-ma-ji
writing system in s supplementary function. In this system,
morphemes shared between Mandarin and Taiwanese continue to be
written in han-ji, while lo-ma-ji are used to replace
unstandardized han-ji. This system is similar to the combination of
kana with kanji in Japan, or the mixture of han gul and hanja in
South Korea. Such scripts can be termed hybrid or mixed writing
systems.
The combination of two traditions, han-ji and lo-ma-ji, has
yielded a writing system which not only recognizes the tradition of
digraphia in written Taiwanese, but also overcomes the shortcomings
of its two components. The result is a writing system that is easy
to learn, easy to write, easy to read, easy to standardize, and
easy to process in the computer age.
Generally speaking, lo-ma-ji are used whenever the use of han-ji
is inaccurate (in terms of phonetic or semantic value), unsuitable
(in terms of typographic considerations, such as low frequency, or
complex shape and multiple stokes), or unstandardized (when more
than one han-ji exists for the same morpheme). The use of lo-ma-ji
falls into four categories: grammatical function words, loan words
and English phrases and sentences, onomatopoeia and contractions,
and native contexnt words.
5.3.1. Grammatical Function Words
Function words play an important role in reading comprehension;
they are also words of high frequency. Unfortunately, their use in
han-ji is also the least standardized in written Taiwanese, so
function words are generally written in lo-ma-ji. Exx. 7-8
demonstrate the use of lo-ma-ji to represent Taiwanese function
words (with glosses) in a han-lo text.55. Chaotic use of han-ji,
especially in function words, is the rule rather than exception
(for a list of function words used by different authors and
dictionaries, see R. L. Cheng 1989: 383-406).
Page 237
(7)
An e kan-taNhou e
from NOM ADV PASS POSS
Kama-kahi teh
ASP
From above cam the eerie sound of Kama-kahis mocking
voice(Taibunun 1997:8)
(8)
ti teh
PRE ASP
He is teaching Taiwanese at your school.(Cheng et al.
1990:28)
Two lo-ma-ji are used in ex. 8: ti at can be written as , , or ,
while teh progressive aspect can be written as , , or. It is
obvious that the use of lo-ma-ji is already more standardized than
the use of han-ji in Taiwanese; it thus facilitates reading and
writing. Other frequently used function words that are written in
lo-ma-ji included in third person plural, kap and, e nominalizer or
possessive, chia here, hia there, ka disposal marker, hou passive,
kah extent marker, kam interrrogative particle, koh again, nia-nia
only, and sentence-final particles.
5.3.2. Loan Words, English Phrases and Sentences
One characteristic of Taiwanese morphemes is the abudance of
English and Japanese loans which have been assimilated. They play
an important role in everyday life, especially in working language.
Solving the problem of writing loans is of paramount importance,
both from educational and economic/ technical viewpoints.
Generaaly speaking, loans can be adapted to Taiwanese either by
translation or by transliteration with characters. However, both
translation and transliteration present problems of
standardization, because of the use of characters as a writing
system.6 Again, the most efficient way to solve the problem is the
adoption of lo-ma-ji to facilitate rapid standardization.
Lo-ma-ji are used to write loan words in at least two ways. One
is to use the original alphabet, as in the following example (loans
are underlined);
6. For the discussion of the problems in using characters as a
medium of borrowing, see Novotna 1967, R. L. Cheng 1985.
(9) Page 238
(10) m-koh Aukelekoakan-taNPlynesiane
This type of tale is found in the folkore of many lands, but
certain features of Aukele are uniquely Plynesian. (Taibunnun
1997:iii)
This kind of borrowing is good for international coomunication,
because it uses a famliliar writing system. Another way in to
transliterate into lo-ma-ji, conforming to Taiwanese pronunciation.
For instance, handle can be written as han-to-luh in Taiwanese (an
English loan via Japanese). Other examples are ma-la-song marathon,
siat-ta shutter, Khiu-ba Cuba. Such transliteration has the
advantage of representing the sounds actually used, and it is
widely used in writing Japanese loans.
Some further examples of loans written in lo-ma-ji, collected
from the Taiwanese Writing Forum 1993 and recent publications of
the 5% Translation Project in Taiwanese Languages, are ba-su bus,
gu-lin ma-khi-tin green marketing, bu-lo-ka broker, Bian-lu Benz,
ou-ji-sang old gentleman (from Japanese), ne-ku-tai necktie,
la-ji-oh radio. Some loans are directly borrowed with Taiwanese
pronunciation attached, such as pie (phai), Canada (Kha-na-ta),
Columbian (Kho-lam-bi-an). Comapared with the translation approach
employed by Mandarin, the Taiwanese way of borrowing by
transliteration has the advantages of facilitating borrowing and
enhancing international cultural exchange.
Lo-ma-ji are also used to write English phrases and sentences.
This is generally done for humorous effect, as in the following
example.
(11) o-lom
ka: Lets sin to praise God!
Is Lets sin to praise God a new Taiwanese theological theory?
Because every time the Taiwanese pastor or elder is reponsible for
the English church service, nine times out of ten, he will say to
the church goers: Lets sin to praise God. (S. Cheng 1993:138)
5.3.3. Onomatopoeia and Contractions
Chinese characters are a poor tool for indicating sounds. Thus
it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to write down
onomatopoeia or contractions, which are abundant in everyday
speech. Some onomatopoeia used in written Taiwanese are
ang-kong-kong deeper red, chheN-leng-leng green, sio-thng-thng
Page 239
hot, nng-ko-ko feeble, nng-sim-sim soft and springy, tiN-but-but
sweet, laukhoh-khok old, tam-lok-lok drenched, sian-tuh-tuh
tired.
Contactions are another category which han-ji fail to express;
examples are siang (contraction of siaN-lang who), loai
(contraction of loh-lai come down), and chang (contraction of
cha-hng yesterday). Such words are frequent in colloquial
Taiwanese, but are seldom written down. The use of lo-ma-ji can
easily solve this problem.
5.3.4 Native Content Words
Native content word are special Taiwanese morphemes which do not
belong to the above three categories, but are written in lo-ma-ji
because their han-ji counterparts are inappropriate, inaccurate, or
unstandardized. These content words can be classified by parts of
speech: noun (N), adjective (A), and verb (V). Some examples of
their use in written Taiwanese are the following (native content
words are glossed).
(11)toe
ti kha-chhng peh
V:follow N:buttocks V:climb up
There are millions of people climbing after him. (Taiwanese
Writing
Forum 29:1, 1994)
(12) khng ti lak-te-a chong e
V:place N:pocket V:rush about
He placed some stones in his pocket. When Ko-li-a rushed
about
(Taiwanese Writing Forum 29:2,1994)
(13)xhou-liukan-lokhou
N:loach N:spinning top V:scoop
Catching loaches in the mud Children played spinning tops
together scooped fish in the river (Taiwanese Writing Forum
29:9, 1994)
(14) sng e GAME ngaiio ngaiio
V:play A:uncomfortable
Play the game of number However, everyone seems to feel
uncomfortalbe about this game (Loonng 1993:7)
The advantages of using lo-ma-ji in these cases are threefold.
First, standardization can be easily achieved. Second, the burden
of learning han-ji can be lessened. Third, romanization can solve
the problems of word processing
Page 240
caused by the use of rare words or homemade characters which are
not available in the character coding systems.
5.4. Principles of Han-lo Writing
To provide more specific principles for han-lo writing, R. L.
Cheng (1990:228-29) suggests appropriate situations for using
han-ji and lo-ma-ji, respectively. Following are the situations in
which he suggests using han-ji:
(i) Characters that have difinite etymological rigins.
(ii) Characters that are highly standardized in written
Taiwanese.
(iii) Characters that are shared with Mandarin and Hakka.
(iv) Characters that have simple shape and few strokes.
(v) Characters that have already been learned by the
students.
For the following situations, lo-ma-ji are recommended:
(a)
Characters that have unclear etymological origins.
(b) Characters that are not yet standardized in written
Taiwanese.
(c) Characters that are not shared with Mandarin and Hakka.
(d) Characters that complex and rarely used.
(e) Characters that phonetic borrowings.
(f) Characters that are likely to be mispronounced and
misunderstood.
(g) Transliterations of foreign place names or personal
names.
(h) Function words.
(i) Characters that have not been learned by the students.
Of course, if we follow these principles completely, the number
of lo-ma-ji would be great indeed. However, the choice between
han-ji and lo-ma-ji is quite flexible: Writers can make their own
decisions, according to their familiarity with han-ji and lo-ma-ji,
or based on considerations of the intended readership and the
topics concerned. This flexibility of using han-ji vs. lo-ma-ji is
similar to the use of kanji vs. kana in writing Japanese. At
present, about 10-15% of lo-ma-ji are use in han-lo running text.
In Japanese mixed writing, kana and kanji occur in the ratio of 5
to 3; i.e., kana comprises 62.5% of the text (Liu 1969:50). What is
important is that the writer be consistent in using han-ji or
lo-ma-ji within a single text to facilitate understanding by the
reader.
Page 241
6.Educational Implications of Digraphia
The best medium for teaching children is their mother tongue
(UNESCO 1953). One advantage of mother tongue education is that it
allows children to learn to read and write the way they speak.
However, the promise of reading and writing efficiently in ones
mother tongue is seriously damaged by using only Chinese
characters, which are often characterized as being difficult to
learn and inconvenient to use. As shown above, han-lo, which
combines Chinese characters and Roman script, can help to reduce
the difficulties posed by the exclusive use of characters.
Digraphic writing, han-lo, thus has an important educational
implication, namely empowering students to read and write the way
they speak.
To be sure, Taiwan has been touted as a success story in
achieving literacy with characters. However, this has not been done
without cost; one need only recall how much time and energy
students have to spend in learning characters. It is estimated that
about one-third of all class hours in China are spent in learning
the Chinese language, where much of the time is used for character
learning (Le Page 1992:123, P. Chen 1996:10). Table 1 compares the
number of characters that Taiwanese and Japanese students have to
learn in primary school.
These data show that Taiwanese primary school students have to
learn 2.6 times as many characters as Japanese students. The huge
inventory of characters has posed a formidable obstacle to the
learner, whether in reading or writing. The burden of learning
characters and the insistence on a
Table 1. Characters that Primary School Students Have to Learn
in Taiwan and Japan
GradeTaiwanJapan
34776
459145
452195
490195
417195
389190
Total2,564996
(Taiwan data from R. L. Cheng 1994, Japan data from Y. Zhou
1992:134).
Page 242
characters-only approach influence the linguistic and
intellectual development of students. Introducing a phonetic
writing system to supplement characters can significantly reduce
the burden of character learning and leave more time for other
subjects.7
The inefficiency of using character as the only writing system
can be shown by the following statistical data concerning the
frequency of characters. According to Lin (1980:136, 138), of the
most common 6359 characters, 1000 characters account for 90% of
character occurrences, 2500 characters for 99% of character
occurrence, and 3800 characters for 99.9% of occurrences. Most
significant is the fact that 2555 characters account for the
remaining 0.1%. these data show that the use of characters as the
only medium of literacy can place a tremendous learning burden on
students of han-ji. A han-ji-only approach, if adopted for
Taiwanese, can only increase the burden of han-ji learning, since
many Taiwanese morphemes are not shared with Mandarin. In order to
learn to read Taiwanese in han-ji, according to R. L. Cheng 1994, a
learner who already knows 3000 characters needs to learn 500-1500
characters ore, while one who already knows 5000 characters needs
to learn 300-1000 more; but to read han-lo, both learners need to
learn only 0-20 new graphic symbols.
From the above comparison, it is clear that the use of han-lo
has a distinct advantage over han-ji-only text. In a han-lo text,
learners of Taiwanese with knowledge of 3000 or 5000 characters
need only add some 20 Roman letters. By contrast, a characters-only
text may require learning hundreds or thousands of additional
characters. If we compare the learning of a small number of roman
letters with that of learning thousands of characters, it is clear
that han-lo helps to reduce the learning burden, and makes the
reading and writing Taiwanese more efficient.
As Y. Zhou has pointed out (1992:222), digraphic writing,
especially the use of kana, has helped Japanese children acquire
more knowledge and develop their language skills faster than
Chinese children. An education experiment in Heilongjiang (in the
Peoples Republic of China) has tested precisely the hypothesis that
pinyin can function like kana, and can increase the quality of
education without placing too much burden on students. The
7. According to Y. Zhou (1980:92), the number of words used in
primary school textbooks in the PRC (up to fourth grade) is
160,000; while in the USSR, up to the same grade, a total of
920,000 were used. That is, PRC textbooks use only 17% of the
number of words used in the USSR.
Page 243
experiment called zhuyin shizi tiqian duxie (ZSTD for short,
phonetic annotation for recognition of characters in order to speed
up reading and writing) proved successful (DeFrancis 1995:28). The
main idea of ZSTD is what can be called an educational policy of
walking on two legs: a policy of digraphia, with the goal of
consolidating a command of pinyin. That is, at the beginning stage,
emphasis is placed on the learning of pinyin; then characters are
gradually introduced.
This educational reform has changed the previous emphasis from
the learning of characters to the development of language skills.
The delay caused by the characters is removed by the use of pinyin;
thus children can learn to write whatever they can say.
Furthermore, through extensive writing and reading, they also learn
to read and write more characters than the comparison group. It is
clear that the difficulties of using characters to write Taiwanese
can be solved in a similar fashion. The adoption of digraphic
writing system has educational benefits.
7. Conclusion: Toward a Digraphic Taiwanese
Since written Taiwanese has not been standardized, efforts
should be mad to create norms for the language. As Cooper points
out (1989:122), the language planners job is to create corpora that
reflect an indigenous or a classical tradition, or the values of
modernity, efficiency, transparency, and the like. How to choose
among these complex and sometimes conflicting values is one of the
main problems a language planner has to face.
As we have seen in the previous discussions, a combination of
characters and Roman script help to create a writing system that
retains the value of tradition while meeting the needs of language
adaptation, in which writing systems evolve to meet the needs of
the people using them. Both Japan and South Korea have succeeded in
adapting characters to write their languages with the additional
aid of non-han-ji phonetic symbols. Taiwanese can benefit from the
experiences of corpus planning in these two countries. The adoption
of digraphic writing can not only solve the problems of written
Taiwanese, but can also contribute greatly to educational,
cultural, technical, and economic development in Taiwan.
Vernacular languages in Taiwan have suffered from the
Mandarin-only policy, and bilingual education has been suggested as
a solution to the problems caused by the monolingual policy.
Similarly, the problems of
Page 244
written Taiwanese can be solved by digraphia. Institutionalized
bilingualism and digraphia are necessary to achieve the goals of
democratization, modernization, and localization of the Taiwan
languages.
Acknowledgements
This is a revised version of a paper read at the Fourth Annual
East-West Centerwide Conference January 23-27, 1995 East-West
Center, Honolulu, Hawaii; the earlier form was entitled Digraphia
in Taiwan. I am grateful to Carol Eastman, Robert L. Cheng,
Ying-che Li, and Michael Forman for their comments on earlier
versions of this paper, and to Jeffrey Hayden and Debbie Hua for
editing help.
Dept. of Language and Literature Education
National Taitung Teachers Collage
Taitung 950, Taiwan
[email protected]
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