History of MLT
The Pe̍h-ōe-jī (POJ) system, introduced in the 19th century, provides a basis for phonetic transcription of the Taiwanese language using the Latin alphabet. It initially developed a significant user base, but the number of users declined during the period of Japanese colonization of Taiwan, when the use of POJ was suppressed in preference to katakana, and also during the Kuomintang era of martial law, during which Mandarin was promoted.
Prof. Liim Keahioong, formerly of the National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, Taiwan, pioneered the Taiwanese Modern Spelling System (TMSS) in 1943, with the intent to avoid the diacritical markings of POJ as well as the cumbersome difficulty of inputting Chinese characters with the available technology. TMSS served as the basis for Modern Literal Taiwanese (MLT), also known as Modern Taiwanese Language (MTL). Other variants of MLT exist, such as Phofsit Daibuun and Simplified MLT (SMLT).
Read more about this topic: Modern Literal Taiwanese
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