Taiwanese Phonetic Symbols

Taiwanese Phonetic Symbols
Type	Semisyllabary (letters for onsets and rimes; diacritics for tones)
Creator	Chu Chao-hsiang, Taiwan NLC
Time period	1946 to the present, used as ruby characters in Taiwan
Parent systems	Oracle Bone Script Seal Script Clerical Script Mandarin Phonetic Symbols Taiwanese Phonetic Symbols
Sister systems	Simplified Chinese, Kanji, Hanja, Chữ Nôm, Khitan script
Direction	Left-to-right
ISO 15924	Bopo, 285
Unicode alias	Bopomofo
Unicode range	U+3100–U+312F, U+31A0–U+31BF

Taiwanese Phonetic Symbols
Traditional Chinese	臺語方音符號
Simplified Chinese	台语方音符号
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Táiyǔ Fāngyīn Fúhào Bopomofo ㄊㄞˊ ㄩˇ ㄈㄤ ㄧㄣ ㄈㄨˊ ㄏㄠˋ Gwoyeu Romatzyh Tairyeu Fang'yin Fwuhaw Wade–Giles T'ai²-yü³ Fang¹-yin¹ Fu²-hao⁴ Tongyong Pinyin Táiyǔ Fangyin Fúhào MPS2 Táiyǔ Fāngyīn Fúhàu Hakka Romanization Thòi-ngî Fông-yîm Fù-ho Southern Min Hokkien POJ Tâi-gí Hong-im Hû-hō Tâi-lô Tâi-gí Hong-im Hû-hō

Taiwanese Phonetic Symbols

Taiwanese Phonetic Symbols (Chinese: 臺語方音符號; TPS: ㄉㄞˊ ㆣㄧˋ ㄏㆲ ㄧㆬ ㄏㄨˊ ㄏㄜ˫) is a system of phonetic notation for the transcription of Taiwanese languages, especially Taiwanese Hokkien. The system is designed by Professor Chu Chao-hsiang, a member of National Languages Committee in Taiwan, in 1946.^[1] The system is derived from Mandarin Phonetic Symbols by creating additional symbols for the sounds that do not appear in Mandarin phonology.

Symbols

There are 49 symbols used in standard Taiwanese Hokkien. Of these 49 symbols, 26 are from the original Mandarin Phonetic Symbols, while 23 are additional, created for Taiwanese languages.

Initial symbols (21)
ㄅ	ㆠ	ㄆ	ㄇ	ㄉ	ㄊ	ㄋ	ㄌ	ㄍ	ㆣ	ㄎ	ㄫ	ㄏ	ㄐ	ㆢ	ㄑ	ㄒ	ㄗ	ㆡ	ㄘ	ㄙ
[p]	[b]	[pʰ]	[m]	[t]	[tʰ]	[n]	[l]	[k]	[g]	[kʰ]	[ŋ]	[h]	[t͡ɕ]	[d͡ʑ]	[t͡ɕʰ]	[ɕ]	[t͡s]	[d͡z]	[t͡sʰ]	[s]
Final symbols (24)
ㄚ	ㆩ	ㆦ	ㆧ	ㄜ	ㆤ	ㆥ	ㄞ	ㆮ	ㄠ	ㆯ	ㆰ	ㆱ	ㆬ	ㄢ	ㄣ	ㄤ	ㆲ	ㄥ	ㆭ	ㄧ	ㆪ	ㄨ	ㆫ
[a]	[ã]	[ɔ]	[ɔ̃]	[ə]	[e]	[ẽ]	[ai]	[ãĩ]	[au]	[ãũ]	[am]	[ɔm]	[m̩]	[an]	[ən]	[aŋ]	[ɔŋ]	[əŋ]	[ŋ̍]	[i]	[ĩ]	[u]	[ũ]

• The symbols in blue do not exist in Mandarin phonology.
• Four voiceless consonants may be written in lower case for an unreleased coda: ㄅ [p̚ ], ㄉ [t̚ ], ㄍ [k̚ ], ㄏ [ʔ].
• Some extra symbols are used in other Taiwanese dialects: ㄬ[ɲ], ㄛ [o], ㄝ [ɛ], ㆨ [ɨ].

Etymology

Initials
Group	Symbol	IPA	POJ	TL	BP	Notes	Example
Bilabial	ㄅ	p	p		b	Same value as in Mandarin	邊 (ㄅㄧㄢ pian)
	ㆠ	b	b		bb	Derived from ㄅ as a voiced counterpart	文 (ㆠㄨㄣˊ bûn)
	ㄆ	pʰ	ph		p	Same value as in Mandarin	波 (ㄆㄜ pho)
	ㄇ	m	m		bbn	Same value as in Mandarin	毛 (ㄇㆦ mo͘ )
Alveolar	ㄉ	t	t		d	Same value as in Mandarin	地 (ㄉㆤ˫ tē)
	ㄊ	tʰ	th		t	Same value as in Mandarin	他 (ㄊㆩ thaⁿ)
	ㄋ	n	n		ln	Same value as in Mandarin	耐 (ㄋㄞ˫ nāi)
	ㄌ	l	l		l	Same value as in Mandarin	柳 (ㄌㄧㄨˋ liú)
Velar	ㄍ	k	k		g	Same value as in Mandarin	求 (ㄍㄧㄨˊ kiû)
	ㆣ	g	g		gg	Derived from ㄍ as a voiced counterpart	語 (ㆣㄧˋ gí)
	ㄎ	kʰ	kh		k	Same value as in Mandarin	去 (ㄎㄧ˪ khì)
	ㄫ	ŋ	ng		ggn	Once appeared in old Mandarin	雅 (ㄫㄚˋ ngá)
Glottal	ㄏ	h	h		h	Different value to Mandarin, in Mandarin [x]	喜 (ㄏㄧˋ hí)
Alveolo- palatal	ㄐ	t͡ɕ	chi	tsi	zi	Same value as in Mandarin	尖(ㄐㄧㆰ tsiam)
	ㆢ	d͡ʑ	ji		zzi	Derived from ㄐ as a voiced counterpart	入 (ㆢㄧㆴ. ji̍p)
	ㄑ	t͡ɕʰ	chhi	tshi	ci	Same value as in Mandarin	手 (ㄑㄧㄨˋ tshiú)
	ㄒ	ɕ	si		si	Same value as in Mandarin	寫 (ㄒㄧㄚˋ siá)
Alveolar	ㄗ	t͡s	ch	ts	z	Same value as in Mandarin	曾 (ㄗㄢ chan)
	ㆡ	d͡z	j		zz	Derived from ㄗ as a voiced counterpart	熱 (ㆡㄨㄚㆷ. jua̍h)
	ㄘ	t͡sʰ	chh	tsh	c	Same value as in Mandarin	出 (ㄘㄨㆵ chhut)
	ㄙ	s	s		s	Same value as in Mandarin	衫 (ㄙㆩ saⁿ)
Rhymes and medials
Group	Symbol	IPA	POJ	TL	BP	Notes	Example
Vowels	ㄚ	a	a		a	Same value as in Mandarin	查 (ㄘㄚ cha)
	ㆩ	ã	aⁿ	ann	na	Derived from ㄚ as a nasalized counterpart	衫 (ㄙㆩ saⁿ)
	ㆦ	ɔ	o͘	oo	oo	New symbol solely used in Taiwanese	烏 (ㆦ o͘ )
	ㆧ	ɔ̃	oⁿ	onn	noo	Derived from ㆦ as a nasalized counterpart	翁 (ㆧ oⁿ)
	ㄜ	ə	o		o	Different value from Mandarin, in Mandarin [ɯʌ]. May written as ㄛ and pronounced [o] in some dialects	高 (ㄍㄜ ko)
	ㆤ	e	e		e	New symbol solely used in Taiwanese	禮 (ㄌㆤˋ lé)
	ㆥ	ẽ	eⁿ	enn	ne	Derived from ㆤ as a nasalized counterpart	生 (ㄙㆥ seⁿ)
Diph- thongs	ㄞ	ai	ai		ai	Same value as in Mandarin
	ㆮ	ãĩ	aiⁿ	ainn	nai	Derived from ㄞ as a nasalized counterpart
	ㄠ	au	au		ao	Same value as in Mandarin
	ㆯ	ãũ	auⁿ	aunn	nao	Derived from ㄠ as a nasalized counterpart, rarely used
M finals	ㆰ	am	am		am	A combination of ㄚ and ㄇ	暗 (ㆰ˪ ām)
	ㆱ	ɔm	om		om	A combination of ㆦ and ㄇ, rarely used	掩 (ㆱ om)
	ㆬ	m̩	m		m	Derived from ㄇ. May be used as a final bilabial nasal or a syllabic consonant	姆 (ㆬˋ ḿ)
N finals	ㄢ	an	an		an	Same value as in Mandarin
	ㄣ	n	-n		-n	Only used in the finals ㄧㄣ, ㄨㄣ. ㄧㄣ has same value as in Mandarin. ㄨㄣ is pronounced as [un] unlike [uən] in Mandarin	因 (ㄧㄣ in)
Ng finals	ㄤ	aŋ	ang		ang	Same value as in Mandarin	人 (ㄌㄤ lâng)
	ㆲ	ɔŋ	ong		ong	New symbol solely used in Taiwanese	王 (ㆲ ông)
	ㄥ	əŋ	-ng		-ng	Only used in the final ㄧㄥ, the final pronounced as [iŋ] unlike [iəŋ] in Mandarin	英 (ㄧㄥ eng)
	ㆭ	ŋ̍	ng		ng	Derived from ㄫ. May be used as a final velar nasal or a syllabic consonant	酸 (ㄙㆭ sng)
Medial vowels	ㄧ	i	i		i	Same value as in Mandarin	衣 (ㄧ i)
	ㆪ	ĩ	iⁿ	inn	ni	Derived from ㄧ as a nasalized counterpart	圓 (ㆪˊ îⁿ)
	ㄨ	u	u		u	Same value as in Mandarin	污 (ㄨ u)
	ㆫ	ũ	uⁿ	unn	nu	Derived from ㄨ as a nasalized counterpart. Only used in the final ㄧㆫ [ĩũ]	張 (ㄉㄧㆫ tiuⁿ)

Other features

Combined rhymes

Vowel(s) Open syllabus Nasal Plosive [m] [n] [ŋ] [p̚] [t̚] [k̚] [ʔ] [a] ㄚ ㆩ ㆰ ㄢ ㄤ ㄚㆴ ㄚㆵ ㄚㆶ ㄚㆷ ㆩㆷ [ai] ㄞ ㆮ ㄞㆷ ㆮㆷ [au] ㄠ ㄠㆷ [e] ㆤ ㆥ ㆤㆷ ㆥㆷ [i] ㄧ ㆪ ㄧㆬ ㄧㄣ ㄧㄥ ㄧㆴ ㄧㆵ ㄧㆶ ㄧㆷ ㆪㆷ [ia] ㄧㄚ ㄧㆩ ㄧㆰ ㄧㄢ ㄧㄤ ㄧㄚㆴ ㄧㄚㆵ ㄧㄚㆶ ㄧㄚㆷ ㄧㆩㆷ [iau] ㄧㄠ ㄧㆯ ㄧㄠㆷ [iə] ㄧㄜ ㄧㄜㆷ [iɔ] ㄧㆲ ㄧㆦㆶ [iu] ㄧㄨ ㄧㆫ ㄧㄨㆷ ㄧㆫㆷ

Vowel(s) Open syllabus Nasal Plosive [m] [n] [ŋ] [p̚] [t̚] [k̚] [ʔ] [ə] ㄛ ㄛㆷ [ɔ] ㆦ ㆧ ㆱ ㆲ ㆦㆴ ㆦㆶ ㆦㆷ ㆧㆷ [u] ㄨ ㄨㄣ ㄨㆵ ㄨㆷ [ua] ㄨㄚ ㄨㆩ ㄨㄢ ㄨㄚㆵ ㄨㄚㆷ [uai] ㄨㄞ ㄨㆮ [ue] ㄨㆤ ㄨㆤㆷ [ui] ㄨㄧ [m̩] ㆬ － ㆬㆷ [ŋ̍] ㆭ － ㆭㆷ

Tones

Tone No.	1	2(6)	3	4	5	7	8
Name	陰平	上聲	陰去	陰入	陽平	陽去	陽入
	im-pîng	siōng-siann	im-khì	im-ji̍p	iông-pîng	iông-khì	iông-ji̍p
Symbol	none	ˋ	˪	ㄅ, ㄉ, ㄍ, ㄏ	ˊ	˫	ㄅ̇, ㄉ̇, ㄍ̇, ㄏ̇,
Pitch	˥˥	˥˩	˧˩	˧ʔ	˨˦	˧˧	˥ʔ
	55	51	31	3ʔ	24	33	5ʔ
Example	ㄉㆲ (東)	ㄉㆲˋ (黨)	ㄉㆲ˪ (棟)	ㄉㆦㄍ (督)	ㄉㆲˊ (同)	ㄉㆲ˫ (洞)	ㄉㆦㄍ̇ (毒)

Example

Audio File:	Sound file
Taiwanese Phonetic Symbols:	ㄒㄧㄢ ㄒㆪ ㄍㆲˋ, ㄏㄚㄍ̇ ㄒㄧㄥ ㄉㄧㆰ˫ ㄉㄧㆰ˫ ㄊㄧㆩ
IPA:	[ ɕɪɛn˧ ɕĩ˥ kɔŋ˥˩ hak̚˧ ɕiəŋ˥ tɪam˧ tɪam˧ tʰĩã˥ ]
Pe̍h-ōe-jī:	Sian-siⁿ kóng, ha̍k-seng tiām-tiām thiaⁿ.
Tâi-lô:	Sian-sinn kóng, ha̍k-sing tiām-tiām thiann.
Traditional Chinese:	先生講、學生恬恬聽。
Translation:	A teacher is speaking. Students are quietly listening.

Unicode support

The Mandarin Phonetic Symbols were added to the Unicode Standard in October 1991 with the release of version 1.0. The Unicode block for Mandarin Phonetic Symbols is U+3100 ... U+312F.

Bopomofo^[1]^[2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

A

B

C

D

E

F

U+310x

ㄅ

ㄆ

ㄇ

ㄈ

ㄉ

ㄊ

ㄋ

ㄌ

ㄍ

ㄎ

ㄏ

U+311x

ㄐ

ㄑ

ㄒ

ㄓ

ㄔ

ㄕ

ㄖ

ㄗ

ㄘ

ㄙ

ㄚ

ㄛ

ㄜ

ㄝ

ㄞ

ㄟ

U+312x

ㄠ

ㄡ

ㄢ

ㄣ

ㄤ

ㄥ

ㄦ

ㄧ

ㄨ

ㄩ

ㄪ

ㄫ

ㄬ

ㄭ

Notes 1.^ As of Unicode version 9.0 2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

The extended phonetic symbols were added to the Unicode Standard in September 1999 with the release of version 3.0. The Unicode block for the extended symbols is U+31A0 ... U+31BF.

Bopomofo Extended^[1]^[2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

A

B

C

D

E

F

U+31Ax

ㆠ

ㆡ

ㆢ

ㆣ

ㆤ

ㆥ

ㆦ

ㆧ

ㆨ

ㆩ

ㆪ

ㆫ

ㆬ

ㆭ

ㆮ

ㆯ

U+31Bx

ㆰ

ㆱ

ㆲ

ㆳ

ㆴ

ㆵ

ㆶ

ㆷ

ㆸ

ㆹ

ㆺ

Notes 1.^ As of Unicode version 9.0 2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

However, there are several errors in the extended symbols

See also

• Taiwanese Hokkien
• Written Hokkien
• Pe̍h-ōe-jī
• Taiwanese Romanization System
• Taiwanese kana
• Bopomofo

References

1. 吳守禮. "華、台語注音符號溯源".

External links

• 教育部方音符號系統
• 華、台語注音符號簡說總表
• 華、台語注音符號總表