閩南語文字化的歷史已經有四、五百年，文字的形式以漢字及羅馬字為主。但漢字的選用有許多變體，音標也有許多方案，做為書寫法有許多問題。本文首先討論閩南語漢字選用，音標或拼音方案，從自然發展到學者整合、政府規範的過程。最後從書寫法或正書法的立場檢討台灣閩南語通行的三種書寫傳統：全漢字文，全羅馬字文及近二十年來新發展的漢羅文的問題及其解決方法。本文主張全漢字文和全羅馬字文都是可以發展的方向，但是衡諸現實條件，目前以漢羅文最為可行。

Southern Min literacy, whether based on Chinese characters or the Latin alphabet, goes back some four or five hundred years. Committing the language to writing by either method has involved many problems using various approaches. The study begins with the adapting of sinograms, phonetic symbols and spelling systems to Southern Min, with a focus on the evolution of writing from early applications, through scholarly proposals, to recent official governmental decree. The three types of writing system used in Taiwan are then assessed: (1) Chinese characters only; (2) romanization only; and (3) a newly emergent, mixed system of Chinese characters with romanization. Problems with each method are discussed and possible fixes proposed. In conclusion, while (1) and (2) can be developed into viable systems, the author advocates (3), a mixed orthography, as being the most practical at this time.