A secret language in Taiwanese
台湾的秘密语言
Paul Jen-Kuei Li 李壬癸

Abstract 摘要
The study of a secret language may reveal the phonological structure of the source language. There are dialects in the Taiwanese secret language, three of which are described in this paper. The rules of the secret language are somewhat complex. Although the general rule is similar to the ones in the secret languages of other Chinese dialects, yet some modifications to the general rule are unique to Taiwanese, such as nasal rules, a stop-ending rule, a dental sonorant rule, and a syllabic nasal rule. For formalization three main types of rules are required to derive the secret language from the source language: (1) reduplication, (2) first syllable adjustment and (3) second syllable adjustment. Each type of rule may contain two subrules, which in turn may be further subdivided. Implications of the study of the secret language include the following. (1) The bipartite division of the Taiwanese syllable into the initial and final by the secret language is essentially the same as the fanqie system in traditional Chinese phonology. (2) The way the nasal rule of the secret language operates indicates that the feature of nasality is a property of the entire syllable. (3) Evidence in the secret language shows that the dentals are more neutral than the labials or velars, and this may have bearing on phonological universals.

秘密语是一种语言游戏。赵元任先生早在半个世纪以前就已发表了‘反切语八种’一文，并指出反切语是一种秘密语。本文所描述的台湾闽南方言的秘密语跟其它汉语方言的秘密语相似，也是采取反切语的形式，把一个音节分成两个音节，也分‘声’与‘韵’两部分。例如把说成. 不过因为闽南语的音韵系统有一些特征，因此便有一些特殊的调整规律，包括（一）鼻音律，（二）入声律，（三）舌尖响亮音声母律，（四）鼻音成音节律，（五）变调律，（六）塞音尾的连音变化律。这种台湾秘密语的规律可说相当复杂，由作者首次加以披露。台湾秘密语采取几种不同的形式，也就是有几种不同的方言。本文描述了三种方言，并以较长的篇幅介绍最常用的一种；其余两种则只简略举例说明－其中一种把每一音节分成三个音节。把台湾秘密语的规律形式化，需要有以下三种主要步骤：（一）重叠，（二）第一音节调整，（三）第二音节调整。第一，二音节调整又各有两条规律，每一条又可能细分为几条小规律，而且有的规律的应用是有条件的。研究台湾秘密语至少有以下几个意义：第一，这种秘密语乃利用改变语音的办法，将每一音节分成两个音节，有如传统声韵学的反切法。我们可以藉此观察一般人对于音节的划分法。介音归声母或韵母，韵母是否有进一步的划分？第二，鼻音性 (nasality) 这一征性在闽南方言是很重要的特征，诸如口部元音与鼻化元音成对比，浊塞音与鼻辅音可以合并，鼻音性属于整个音节，而不单属于声母或韵母。秘密语对于以上各点都有一些启示。第三，闽南语的音节若为塞音尾 -p, -t, -k 或鼻音尾 -m, -n, -, 那么秘密语的第二音节都以舌尖 -t 或 -n 结尾，而不以唇音或舌根音结尾。这一现象显示舌尖音比唇音或舌根音更具普遍性，故在音韵的共通性有它的意义...

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