# Taiwanese Phonetic Symbols

Taiwanese Phonetic Symbols (Chinese: 臺語方音符號; 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) :
| 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] | [ɡ] | [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] | [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 [p̚], ㆵ [t̚], ㆶ [k̚], ㆷ [ʔ]. 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.
* Some extra symbols are used in other Taiwanese dialects: ㄬ [ɲ], ㄛ [o], ㄝ [ɛ], ㆨ [ɨ].

### 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 [x] in Mandarin and [h] in Taiwanese Hokkien and Taiwanese Hakka.
* / represent [ɛ]/[e] in Taiwanese Hokkien respectively, but they represent [e]/[ɛ] in Taiwanese Hakka.
* Vowel [ɨ] is represented with in Hokkien and in Hakka.

## Etymology

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

## Other features
### Combined rhymes

| Vowel(s) | Open syllables | Open syllables | Nasal | Nasal | Nasal | Plosive | Plosive | Plosive | Plosive | Plosive |
| Vowel(s) | Open syllables | Open syllables | [m] | [n] | [ŋ] | [p̚] | [t̚] | [k̚] | [ʔ] | [ʔ] |
| [a] | ㄚ | ㆩ | ㆰ | ㄢ | ㄤ | ㄚㆴ | ㄚㆵ | ㄚㆻ | ㄚㆷ | ㆩㆷ |
| [ai] | ㄞ | ㆮ | | | | | | | ㄞㆷ | ㆮㆷ |
| [au] | ㄠ | | | | | | | | ㄠㆷ | |
| [e] | ㆤ | ㆥ | | | | | | | ㆤㆷ | ㆥㆷ |
| [i] | ㄧ | ㆪ | ㄧㆬ | ㄧㄣ | ㄧㄥ | ㄧㆴ | ㄧㆵ | ㄧㆻ | ㄧㆷ | ㆪㆷ |
| [ia] | ㄧㄚ | ㄧㆩ | ㄧㆰ | ㄧㄢ | ㄧㄤ | ㄧㄚㆴ | ㄧㄚㆵ | ㄧㄚㆻ | ㄧㄚㆷ | ㄧㆩㆷ |
| [iau] | ㄧㄠ | ㄧㆯ | | | | | | | ㄧㄠㆷ | |
| [iə] | ㄧㄜ | | | | | | | | ㄧㄜㆷ | |
| [iɔ] | | | | | ㄧㆲ | | | ㄧㆦㆻ | | |
| [iu] | ㄧㄨ | ㄧㆫ | | | | | | | ㄧㄨㆷ | ㄧㆫㆷ |
| Vowel(s) | Open syllables | Open syllables | Nasal | Nasal | Nasal | Plosive | Plosive | Plosive | Plosive | Plosive |
| Vowel(s) | Open syllables | Open syllables | [m] | [n] | [ŋ] | [p̚] | [t̚] | [k̚] | [ʔ] | [ʔ] |
| [ə] | ㄜ | | | | | | | | ㄜㆷ | |
| [ɔ] | ㆦ | ㆧ | ㆱ | | ㆲ | ㆦㆴ | | ㆦㆻ | ㆦㆷ | ㆧㆷ |
| [u] | ㄨ | | | ㄨㄣ | | | ㄨㆵ | | ㄨㆷ | |
| [ua] | ㄨㄚ | ㄨㆩ | | ㄨㄢ | | | ㄨㄚㆵ | | ㄨㄚㆷ | |
| [uai] | ㄨㄞ | ㄨㆮ | | | | | | | | |
| [ue] | ㄨㆤ | | | | | | | | ㄨㆤㆷ | |
| [ui] | ㄨㄧ | | | | | | | | | |
| [m̩] | ㆬ | ㆬ | － | － | － | － | － | － | ㆬㆷ | ㆬㆷ |
| [ŋ̍] | ㆭ | ㆭ | － | － | － | － | － | － | ㆭㆷ | 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 |
| Name | 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 |
| Pitch | 55 | 51 | 31 | 3ʔ | 24 | 33 | 5ʔ |
| Example | ㄉㆲ (東) | ㄉㆲˋ (黨) | ㄉㆲ˪ (棟) | ㄉㆦㆻ (督) | ㄉㆲˊ (同) | ㄉㆲ˫ (洞) | ㄉㆦㆻ̇ (毒) |

## Example

| Audio File: | Sound file |
| Taiwanese Phonetic Symbols: | ㄒㄧㄢ ㄒㆪ ㄍㆲˋ, ㄏㄚㆻ̇ 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。 |
| Hanyu Pinyin: | Xiān shēng jiǎng, xué shēng tián tián tīng. |
| Translation: | A teacher is speaking. Students are quietly listening. |
Note: 恬恬 is Taiwanese Hokkien (台灣話). Synonyms would be 安靜 or 靜靜. 先生, 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.
Bopomofo 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 | ㄮ | ㄯ |
| Notes 1.^ As of Unicode version 16.0 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. 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.
Bopomofo Extended 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 | ㆻ | ㆼ | ㆽ | ㆾ | ㆿ |
| Notes 1.^ As of Unicode version 16.0 |||||||||||||||||

## Font support

The Academia Sinica of Taiwan has released three sets of fonts for Taiwanese Hokkien: "吳守禮標楷台語注音字型", "吳守禮細明台語注音字型", and "吳守禮台語注音字型". 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 "破音" fonts to find the desired pronunciation. The user manual can be downloaded here.