Writing System

The Latin alphabet is used to write Mohkien. The advantage of using a Latin alphabet-based writing system is the convenience of typing it on digital devices, such as mobile phones and computers. Everyone, regardless of their native language, uses the same QWERTY keyboard, the standard keyboard layout accepted worldwide. 

For example: 

• Waяlangж ciakд puuiф (We eat rice)

Diacritics are used to denote nasalized letters. The current version changes letters with diacritics to letters without diacritics. 

Nasal Sound

As a Sinitic language, Medan Hokkien also has nasalized letters. Nasalized letters mean letters with nasal sound pronunciation. The nasal sound changes the meaning of a word. Therefore, nasalized letters must be pronounced correctly so as not to cause misunderstanding. The nasal sound is marked by duplicating the nasalized vowel, such as "aa, ee, ii, oo, uu" to indicate the nasalized sound of the corresponding vowels “a, e, i, o, u”.

For example:

• Waяlangж ciakд puuiф (aesthetically better)
• Wa4lang2 ciak1 puui3 (more convenient for typing in chat messages)

Tone Markers

The four tones of Mandarin Chinese are used to simplify it as opposed to Hokkien's original seven tones. This is because Mandarin Chinese is a widely studied Chinese language worldwide, making it familiar to many people. 

The tone markers have undergone several developmental stages. The history can be traced as the following:

• Cyrillic letters are used as the tone markers. "д" as the first tone. "ж" as the second tone. "ф" as the third tone. "я" as the fourth tone.
• For convenience, these tone markers can be typed using the number 1,2,3,4.

In summary

• The nasal sound is marked by duplicating the nasalized vowel, such as "aa, ee, ii, oo, uu" (representing the older version of "ã, ẽ, ĩ, õ, ũ")
• The vowel "ɛ" is reformed to "ae"
• The vowel "ə" is omitted, and the consonant comes after it is retained., such as "mфsiф" (representing the first version of "əmфsiф")
• The vowel "ɔ" is reformed to "oh"
• Tone markers can be replaced by numbers 1,2,3,4 to represent their corresponding tones

Revision-2024/12/30:

• The vowel "ə" is reformed to "e"
• The vowel "e" is reformed to "ay
• The vowel "ɔ" is reformed to "or"

Inspired by Cantonese speakers, I attempted to develop Chinese characters for the Mohkien language. It is called 莫建漢字 Mohяkienя Hanяjiф or shortened as 莫字 Mohяjiф. The Chinese characters of Taiwanese Hokkien will be used if they conform to Medan Hokkien. Otherwise, new Chinese characters would be created. Testing is being undertaken to see how effective Chinese characters are in reading, writing, and dictionary checking.

For example:

I also know a little bit of the Mohkien language

我嘛是會曉淡薄莫建話

waя maфsiф eфhiauя tamфpokд Mohhяkienя uaф

wa4 ma3si3 e3hiau4 tam3pok1 Mohh4kien4 ua3

Revision-2024/12/30:

waя maфsiф ayфhiauя tamфpokд Morhяkiaynя uaф

wa4 ma3si3 ay3hiau4 tam3pok1 Morh4kiayn4 ua3

Reference
Latin to Cyrillic Converter
Latin to Korean Converter

Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash