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
Sister systems
Simplified Chinese, Kanji, Hanja, Chữ Nôm, Khitan script
Direction Left-to-right
ISO 15924 Bopo, 285
Unicode alias
Bopomofo
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
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)
ㄅㆠㄆㄇㄉㄊㄋㄌㄍㆣㄎㄫㄏㄐㆢㄑㄒㄗㆡㄘㄙ
[p][b][pʰ][m][t][tʰ][n][l][k][g][kʰ][ŋ][h][t͡ɕ][d͡ʑ][t͡ɕʰ][ɕ][t͡s][d͡z][t͡sʰ][s]
Final symbols (24)
ㄚㆩㆦㆧㄜㆤㆥㄞㆮㄠㆯㆰㆱㆬㄢㄣㄤㆲㄥㆭㄧㆪㄨㆫ
[a][ã][ɔ][ɔ̃][ə][e][ẽ][ai][ãĩ][au][ãũ][am][ɔm][m̩][an][ən][aŋ][ɔŋ][əŋ][ŋ̍][i][ĩ][u][ũ]

Etymology

Initials
GroupSymbolIPAPOJ TLBPNotesExample
Bilabial ㄅppb Same value as in Mandarin邊 (ㄅㄧㄢ pian)
ㆠbbbb Derived from ㄅ as a voiced counterpart文 (ㆠㄨㄣˊ bûn)
ㄆpʰphp Same value as in Mandarin波 (ㄆㄜ pho)
ㄇmmbbn Same value as in Mandarin毛 (ㄇㆦ mo͘ )
Alveolar ㄉttd Same value as in Mandarin地 (ㄉㆤ˫ tē)
ㄊtʰtht Same value as in Mandarin他 (ㄊㆩ thaⁿ)
ㄋnnln Same value as in Mandarin耐 (ㄋㄞ˫ nāi)
ㄌlll Same value as in Mandarin柳 (ㄌㄧㄨˋ liú)
Velar ㄍkkg Same value as in Mandarin求 (ㄍㄧㄨˊ kiû)
ㆣgggg Derived from ㄍ as a voiced counterpart語 (ㆣㄧˋ gí)
ㄎkʰkhk Same value as in Mandarin去 (ㄎㄧ˪ khì)
ㄫŋngggn Once appeared in old Mandarin雅 (ㄫㄚˋ ngá)
Glottal ㄏhhh Different value to Mandarin, in Mandarin [x]喜 (ㄏㄧˋ hí)
Alveolo-
palatal
ㄐt͡ɕchitsizi Same value as in Mandarin尖(ㄐㄧㆰ tsiam)
ㆢd͡ʑjizzi Derived from ㄐ as a voiced counterpart入 (ㆢㄧㆴ. ji̍p)
ㄑt͡ɕʰchhitshici Same value as in Mandarin手 (ㄑㄧㄨˋ tshiú)
ㄒɕsisi Same value as in Mandarin寫 (ㄒㄧㄚˋ siá)
Alveolar ㄗt͡schtsz Same value as in Mandarin曾 (ㄗㄢ chan)
ㆡd͡zjzz Derived from ㄗ as a voiced counterpart熱 (ㆡㄨㄚㆷ. jua̍h)
ㄘt͡sʰchhtshc Same value as in Mandarin出 (ㄘㄨㆵ chhut)
ㄙsss Same value as in Mandarin衫 (ㄙㆩ saⁿ)
Rhymes and medials
GroupSymbolIPAPOJ TLBPNotesExample
Vowels ㄚaaa Same value as in Mandarin查 (ㄘㄚ cha)
ㆩãaⁿannna Derived from ㄚ as a nasalized counterpart衫 (ㄙㆩ saⁿ)
ㆦɔo͘ oooo New symbol solely used in Taiwanese烏 (ㆦ o͘ )
ㆧɔ̃oⁿonnnoo Derived from ㆦ as a nasalized counterpart翁 (ㆧ oⁿ)
ㄜəoo Different value from Mandarin, in Mandarin [ɯʌ]. May written as ㄛ and pronounced [o] in some dialects高 (ㄍㄜ ko)
ㆤeee New symbol solely used in Taiwanese禮 (ㄌㆤˋ lé)
ㆥẽeⁿennne Derived from ㆤ as a nasalized counterpart生 (ㄙㆥ seⁿ)
Diph-
thongs
ㄞaiaiai Same value as in Mandarin
ㆮãĩaiⁿainnnai Derived from ㄞ as a nasalized counterpart
ㄠauauao Same value as in Mandarin
ㆯãũauⁿaunnnao Derived from ㄠ as a nasalized counterpart, rarely used
M
finals
ㆰamamam A combination of ㄚ and ㄇ暗 (ㆰ˪ ām)
ㆱɔmomom A combination of ㆦ and ㄇ, rarely used掩 (ㆱ om)
ㆬm̩ mm Derived from ㄇ. May be used as a final bilabial nasal or a syllabic consonant姆 (ㆬˋ ḿ)
N
finals
ㄢananan Same value as in Mandarin
ㄣn-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
ㄤaŋangang Same value as in Mandarin人 (ㄌㄤ lâng)
ㆲɔŋongong New symbol solely used in Taiwanese王 (ㆲ ông)
ㄥəŋ-ng-ng Only used in the final ㄧㄥ, the final pronounced as [iŋ] unlike [iəŋ] in Mandarin英 (ㄧㄥ eng)
ㆭŋ̍ ngng Derived from ㄫ. May be used as a final velar nasal or a syllabic consonant酸 (ㄙㆭ sng)
Medial
vowels
ㄧiii Same value as in Mandarin衣 (ㄧ i)
ㆪĩiⁿinnni Derived from ㄧ as a nasalized counterpart圓 (ㆪˊ îⁿ)
ㄨuuu Same value as in Mandarin污 (ㄨ u)
ㆫũuⁿunnnu Derived from ㄨ as a nasalized counterpart. Only used in the final ㄧㆫ [ĩũ]張 (ㄉㄧㆫ tiuⁿ)

Other features

Combined rhymes

Vowel(s)Open syllabusNasalPlosive
[m][n][ŋ][p̚][t̚][k̚][ʔ]
[a] ㄚㆩㆰㄢㄤㄚㆴㄚㆵㄚㆶㄚㆷㆩㆷ
[ai] ㄞㆮ ㄞㆷㆮㆷ
[au] ㄠ ㄠㆷ
[e] ㆤㆥ ㆤㆷㆥㆷ
[i] ㄧㆪㄧㆬㄧㄣㄧㄥㄧㆴㄧㆵㄧㆶㄧㆷㆪㆷ
[ia] ㄧㄚㄧㆩㄧㆰㄧㄢㄧㄤㄧㄚㆴㄧㄚㆵㄧㄚㆶㄧㄚㆷㄧㆩㆷ
[iau] ㄧㄠㄧㆯ ㄧㄠㆷ
[iə] ㄧㄜ ㄧㄜㆷ
[iɔ] ㄧㆲ ㄧㆦㆶ
[iu] ㄧㄨㄧㆫ ㄧㄨㆷㄧㆫㆷ
Vowel(s)Open syllabusNasalPlosive
[m][n][ŋ][p̚][t̚][k̚][ʔ]
[ə] ㄛ ㄛㆷ
[ɔ] ㆦㆧㆱ ㆲㆦㆴ ㆦㆶㆦㆷㆧㆷ
[u] ㄨ ㄨㄣ ㄨㆵ ㄨㆷ
[ua] ㄨㄚㄨㆩ ㄨㄢ ㄨㄚㆵ ㄨㄚㆷ
[uai] ㄨㄞㄨㆮ
[ue] ㄨㆤ ㄨㆤㆷ
[ui] ㄨㄧ
[m̩] ㆬ-ㆬㆷ
[ŋ̍] ㆭ-ㆭㆷ

Tones

Tone No. 12(6)34578
Name 陰平上聲陰去陰入陽平陽去陽入
im-pîngsiōng-siannim-khìim-ji̍piông-pîngiông-khìiông-ji̍p
Symbol noneˋ˪ㄅ, ㄉ, ㄍ, ㄏˊ˫ㄅ̇, ㄉ̇, ㄍ̇, ㄏ̇,
Pitch ˥˥˥˩˧˩˧ʔ˨˦˧˧˥ʔ
5551313ʔ24335ʔ
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

References

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