Taiwanese Phonetic Symbols (; TPS: ㄉㄞˊ ㆣ丨ˋ ㄏㆲ 丨ㆬ ㄏㄨˊ ㄏㄜ˫) constitute a system of phonetic notation for the transcription of Taiwanese languages, especially Taiwanese Hokkien. The system was designed by Professor Chu Chao-hsiang, a member of the National Languages Committee in Taiwan, in 1946. The system is derived from Mandarin Phonetic Symbols by creating additional symbols for the sounds that do not appear in Mandarin phonology. It is one of the phonetic notation systems officially promoted by Taiwan's Ministry of Education.

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][ɡ][kʰ][ŋ][h][t͡ɕ][d͡ʑ][t͡ɕʰ][ɕ][t͡s][d͡z][t͡sʰ][s]Final symbols (24)ㄚㆩㆦㆧㄜㆤㆥㄞㆮㄠㆯㆰㆱㆬㄢㄣㄤㆲㄥㆭㄧㆪㄨㆫ[a][ã][ɔ][ɔ̃][ə][e][ẽ][ai][ãĩ][ɑu][ɑ̃ũ][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 ㄅ, ㄉ, ㄍ, ㄏ may be written in small form to represent the unreleased coda, as in ㆴ , ㆵ , ㆶ , ㆷ . However, due to technical errors, the coda symbol for ㄍ was mistaken as ㄎ. Unicode encoded ㆻ (31BB) in its version 13.0, and added a note under ㆶ (31B6), indicating 31BB is preferred.Bopomofo Extended (Version 13.0). Unicode Version-Specific Code Charts. Retrieved 12 March 2020. Some extra symbols are used in other Taiwanese dialects: ㄬ , ㄛ , ㄝ , ㆨ .

Images Images below are a collection of Taiwanese Phonetic Symbols:

For Taiwanese Hokkien and Taiwanese Hakka: , , , , , , , For Taiwanese Hakka only: , For Taiwanese Hokkien only: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , For Mandarin only: , , , For Taiwanese Hakka and Mandarin: , , , , represents in Mandarin and in Taiwanese Hokkien and Taiwanese Hakka. / represent / in Taiwanese Hokkien respectively, but they represent / in Taiwanese Hakka."Taiwanese Hakka Romanization System" (). 2009. Ministry of Education, Taiwan."Hakka Romanization System" (). 2012. Ministry of Education, Taiwan. Vowel is represented with in Hokkien and in Hakka.

Etymology InitialsGroupSymbolIPAPOJTLBPNotesExampleBilabialㄅpbSame value as in Mandarin (ㄅㄧㄢ pian)ㆠbbbDerived from ㄅ as a voiced counterpart (ㆠㄨㄣˊ bûn)ㄆphpSame value as in Mandarin (ㄆㄜ pho)ㄇmbbnSame value as in Mandarin (ㄇㆦˊ môo)AlveolarㄉtdSame value as in Mandarin (ㄉㆤ˫ tē)ㄊthtSame value as in Mandarin (ㄊㆩ thann)ㄋnlnSame value as in Mandarin (ㄋㄞ˫ nāi)ㄌlSame value as in Mandarin (ㄌㄧㄨˋ liú)VelarㄍkgSame value as in Mandarin (ㄍㄧㄨˊ kiû)ㆣgggDerived from ㄍ as a voiced counterpart (ㆣㄧˋ gí)ㄎkhkSame value as in Mandarin (ㄎㄧ˪ khì)ㄫngggnOnce appeared in old Mandarin (ㄫㄚˋ ngá)GlottalㄏhDifferent value to Mandarin, in Mandarin (ㄏㄧˋ hí)Alveolo-palatalㄐchitsiziSame value as in Mandarin (ㄐㄧㆰ tsiam)ㆢjizziDerived from ㄐ as a voiced counterpart (ㆢㄧㆴ. ji̍p)ㄑchhitshiciSame value as in Mandarin (ㄑㄧㄨˋ tshiú)ㄒsiSame value as in Mandarin (ㄒㄧㄚˋ )AlveolarㄗchtszSame value as in Mandarin (ㄗㄢ tsan)ㆡjzzDerived from ㄗ as a voiced counterpart (ㆡㄨㄚㆷ. jua̍h)ㄘchhtshcSame value as in Mandarin (ㄘㄨㆵ tshut)ㄙsSame value as in Mandarin (ㄙㆩ sann)Rhymes and medialsGroupSymbolIPAPOJTLBPNotesExampleVowelsㄚaSame value as in Mandarin (ㄘㄚˊ tshâ)ㆩaⁿannnaDerived from ㄚ as a nasalized counterpart (ㄙㆩ sann)ㆦo͘ ooNew symbol solely used in Taiwanese, derived from ㄛ (ㆦ oo)ㆧoⁿonnnooDerived from ㆦ as a nasalized counterpart唔 (ㆧ onn)ㄜoDifferent value from Mandarin, in Mandarin []. May written as ㄛ and pronounced [o] in some dialects (ㄍㄜ ko)ㆤeNew symbol solely used in Taiwanese (ㄌㆤˋ lé)ㆥeⁿennneDerived from ㆤ as a nasalized counterpart (ㄙㆥ senn)Diph-thongsㄞ[]aiSame value as in Mandarin愛 (ㄞ˪ ài)ㆮ[]aiⁿainnnaiDerived from ㄞ as a nasalized counterpart歹 (ㄆㆮˋ pháinn)ㄠ[]auaoSame value as in Mandarin (ㆣㄠˊ )ㆯ[]auⁿaunnnaoDerived from ㄠ as a nasalized counterpart, rarely used澩 (ㄏㆯㆷ. ha̍unnh)Mfinalsㆰ[]amA combination of ㄚ and ㄇ (ㆰ˪ àm)ㆱ[]omA combination of ㆦ and ㄇ, rarely used (ㆱ om)ㆬ[]mDerived from ㄇ. May be used as a final bilabial nasal or a syllabic consonant (ㆬˋ ḿ)Nfinalsㄢ[]anSame value as in Mandarin安 (ㄢ an)ㄣ[]-nOnly used in the finals ㄧㄣ, ㄨㄣ. ㄧㄣ has same value as in Mandarin. ㄨㄣ is pronounced as [un] unlike [wən] in Mandarin (ㄧㄣ in)Ngfinalsㄤ[]angSame value as in Mandarin (ㄌㄤˊ lâng)ㆲ[]ongNew symbol solely used in Taiwanese (ㆲˊ ông)ㄥ[]-ngOnly used in the final ㄧㄥ. (ㄧㄥ ing)ㆭ[]ngDerived from ㄫ. May be used as a final velar nasal or a syllabic consonant (ㄙㆭ sng)MedialvowelsㄧiSame value as in Mandarin (ㄧ i)ㆪiⁿinnniDerived from ㄧ as a nasalized counterpart (ㆪˊ înn)ㄨu/ouSame value as in Mandarin (ㄨ u)ㆫuⁿunnnuDerived from ㄨ as a nasalized counterpart. Only used in the final ㄧㆫ [ĩũ] (ㄉㄧㆫ tiunn)

Other features

Combined rhymes Vowel(s)Open syllablesNasalPlosive[m][n][ŋ][p̚][t̚][k̚][ʔ][a]ㄚㆩㆰㄢㄤㄚㆴㄚㆵㄚㆻㄚㆷㆩㆷ[ai]ㄞㆮ ㄞㆷㆮㆷ[au]ㄠ ㄠㆷ[e]ㆤㆥ ㆤㆷㆥㆷ[i]ㄧㆪㄧㆬㄧㄣㄧㄥㄧㆴㄧㆵㄧㆻㄧㆷㆪㆷ[ia]ㄧㄚㄧㆩㄧㆰㄧㄢㄧㄤㄧㄚㆴㄧㄚㆵㄧㄚㆻㄧㄚㆷㄧㆩㆷ[iau]ㄧㄠㄧㆯ ㄧㄠㆷ[iə]ㄧㄜ ㄧㄜㆷ[iɔ] ㄧㆲ ㄧㆦㆻ [iu]ㄧㄨㄧㆫ ㄧㄨㆷㄧㆫㆷVowel(s)Open syllablesNasalPlosive[m][n][ŋ][p̚][t̚][k̚][ʔ][ə]ㄜ ㄜㆷ[ɔ]ㆦㆧㆱ ㆲㆦㆴ ㆦㆻㆦㆷㆧㆷ[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)34578Nameim-piânnim-siōngim-khìim-ji̍piông-piânniông-khìiông-ji̍pSymbolnone, , , , , , Pitch˥˥˩˧˩˧ʔ˨˦˧˥ʔ4451313ʔ24335ʔExampleㄉㆲ ()ㄉㆲˋ ()ㄉㆲ˪ ()ㄉㆦㆻ ()ㄉㆲˊ ()ㄉㆲ˫ ()ㄉㆦㆻ̇ ()

Example Audio File:Taiwanese Phonetic Symbols:IPA:Pe̍h-ōe-jī:Sian-siⁿ kóng, ha̍k-seng tiām-tiām thiaⁿ.Tâi-lô:Sian-sinn kóng, ha̍k-sing tiām-tiām thiann.Traditional Chinese:Hanyu Pinyin:Xiān shēng jiǎng, xué shēng tián tián tīng.Translation:A teacher is speaking. Students are quietly listening.

Note: is Taiwanese Hokkien (). Synonyms would be or . , in this context, means "teacher".

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.

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. Four symbols for Cantonese and one for Minnan and Hakka coda were released in 2020 with the publication of version 13.0. One can learn more information from the proposals.Yang, B., & Chan, E. (2019). L2/19-177R Proposal to encode Cantonese Bopomofo Characters.Tung, B., Ko, B., Wei, S. (2018). L2/18-255 Proposal to fix glyphs in Bopomofo Extended block and encode one Bopomofo letter.

Font support The Academia Sinica of Taiwan has released three sets of fonts for Taiwanese Hokkien: "", "", and "".。 When the above fonts are used (to Chinese characters), the Bopomofo Phonetic Symbols will automatically appear. For words with more than one pronunciation, user can choose "" fonts to find the desired pronunciation. The user manual can be downloaded here.(2013)。。

See also Taiwanese Hokkien Written Hokkien Pe̍h-ōe-jī Taiwanese Romanization System Taiwanese kana Bopomofo

References

External links

. "" . "" . ""