1998 Wits

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
1
Tiun, Hak-khiam. 1998. Writing in Two ScriptsA Case Study of Digraphia in

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 loma-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
2

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,
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62.5% 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.
3

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.
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(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:
beh e e ti e
hou e e
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
4

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, stringpuppet 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-oebun 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 Kauhoe-po Taiwan Prefectural City Church News (1885-1942), was written totally in loma-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.
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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
5

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.
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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, kachioh-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
6

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 hunthok-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 .
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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
7

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
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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.
8

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.
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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 allcharacter 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,
,
chhiaN li ka goa kong khi,
ka ,
choan se kai e hoaN hi,
e ,
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
10

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
11

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-giban Taiwanese discussion group (taigu@formosa.org).
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
12

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.5
5.
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-taN hou 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 loma-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.
13

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-maji 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.
Page 238
(9)
m-koh Aukele koa kantaNPlynesian e
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
14

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 (Kholam-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.
(10)
o-lo m
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
15

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) x hou-liu kan-lok hou
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)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(v)
Characters that have difinite etymological rigins.

Characters that are highly standardized in written Taiwanese.
Characters that are shared with Mandarin and Hakka.
Characters that have simple shape and few strokes.
Characters that have already been learned by the students.
For the following situations, lo-ma-ji are recommended:

16

(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
(h)
(i)
Characters that have unclear etymological origins.

Characters that are not yet standardized in written Taiwanese.
Characters that are not shared with Mandarin and Hakka.
Characters that complex and rarely used.
Characters that phonetic borrowings.
Characters that are likely to be mispronounced and misunderstood.
Transliterations of foreign place names or personal names.
Function words.
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.
17

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
Grade
Taiwan
Japan
347
459
452
490
417
389
2,564
76
145
195
195
195
190
996
Total
(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
18

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.
19

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
20

hakkhiam@ms11.hinet.net
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Tiun, Hak-khiam. 1998.

Writing in Two ScriptsA Case Study of Digraphia in

Writing in Two Scripts:

Tiun, Hak-khiam. 1998. Writing in Two ScriptsA Case Study of Digraphia in

Tai-gi Taiwanese is a variety of Southern Min Chinese, spoken in Taiwan.

Tiun, Hak-khiam. 1998. Writing in Two ScriptsA Case Study of Digraphia in

do with the nature of Taiwanese and the characteristics of han-ji.

Tiun, Hak-khiam. 1998. Writing in Two ScriptsA Case Study of Digraphia in

The choice of characters of TSM is also conditioned by socio-educational factors

History of Written Taiwanese

All han-ji text:

See R. L. Cheng (1989:325) for an estimate of the stability of han-ji by part of

Tiun, Hak-khiam. 1998. Writing in Two ScriptsA Case Study of Digraphia in

Tiun, Hak-khiam. 1998. Writing in Two ScriptsA Case Study of Digraphia in

kang-cho Lectures on Taiwanese, which appeared in Japan in 1964, in the magazine

Three kinds of Written Taiwanese

Tiun, Hak-khiam. 1998. Writing in Two ScriptsA Case Study of Digraphia in

Taiwanese in both the Japanese and contemporary periods.

Tiun, Hak-khiam. 1998. Writing in Two ScriptsA Case Study of Digraphia in

Tiun, Hak-khiam. 1998. Writing in Two ScriptsA Case Study of Digraphia in

Pun-thou-ji are homemade characters, and so give us some sense of

5.2 Use of Lo-ma-ji

Hian-chai goa hoa-gi e-hiau kong, tai-gi ma e thong.

Tiun, Hak-khiam. 1998. Writing in Two ScriptsA Case Study of Digraphia in

5.2.4. Superseding Function

Tiun, Hak-khiam. 1998. Writing in Two ScriptsA Case Study of Digraphia in

Tiun, Hak-khiam. 1998. Writing in Two ScriptsA Case Study of Digraphia in

5.3. Mixture of Han-ji and Lo-ma-ji

Tiun, Hak-khiam. 1998. Writing in Two ScriptsA Case Study of Digraphia in

considerations, such as low frequency, or complex shape and multiple stokes), or

Tiun, Hak-khiam. 1998. Writing in Two ScriptsA Case Study of Digraphia in

5.3.2. Loan Words, English Phrases and Sentences

Tiun, Hak-khiam. 1998. Writing in Two ScriptsA Case Study of Digraphia in

broker, Bian-lu Benz, ou-ji-sang old gentleman (from Japanese), ne-ku-tai

ka : Lets sin to praise God!

Tiun, Hak-khiam. 1998. Writing in Two ScriptsA Case Study of Digraphia in

There are millions of people climbing after him. (Taiwanese Writing

5.4. Principles of Han-lo Writing

Characters that have difinite etymological rigins.

For the following situations, lo-ma-ji are recommended:

Tiun, Hak-khiam. 1998. Writing in Two ScriptsA Case Study of Digraphia in

Characters that have unclear etymological origins.

Of course, if we follow these principles completely, the number of lo-ma-ji would be

Tiun, Hak-khiam. 1998. Writing in Two ScriptsA Case Study of Digraphia in

Tiun, Hak-khiam. 1998. Writing in Two ScriptsA Case Study of Digraphia in

According to Y. Zhou (1980:92), the number of words used in primary school

Tiun, Hak-khiam. 1998. Writing in Two ScriptsA Case Study of Digraphia in

Conclusion: Toward a Digraphic Taiwanese

Dept. of Language and Literature Education

Tiun, Hak-khiam. 1998. Writing in Two ScriptsA Case Study of Digraphia in

Tiun, Hak-khiam. 1998. Writing in Two ScriptsA Case Study of Digraphia in

Tiun, Hak-khiam. 1998. Writing in Two ScriptsA Case Study of Digraphia in

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