What is "Taiwanese phonetic symbols" ? ( English version) by Chiau-Shin Ngo (Jau-Shin Wu) (This lecture is written for general public who want to learn Taiwanese, therefore, we restricted the scope within the learning of pronunciation, and basic rule of change of tone of Taiwanese. As for more advanced linguistic details, we would like to suggest learner to learn in the actual scene they may meet in the daily life. I am sure they will make it easily.)

(A) Introduction to Taiwanese 1. [Taiwanese]: The languages of , in broader definition, should include Minnan language, Hakka language and Austronesian languages of the aborigines of Taiwan. However, in this lecture, in accordance with the popular perception, we actually only talk about the Minnan language, which is in use by more than 75% of the inhabitants now in Taiwan.

(B) Phonetic symbols for Taiwanese 1. The main purpose of this lecture is to teach a learner how to use " the phonetic symbols for Taiwanese" to learn exact Taiwanese pronunciation. 2. Taiwan Ministry of Education has announced two sets of “phonetic symbols for Taiwanese”, (1) "Bopomo or tzuim huhor for Taiwanese" (1998) and (2 ) "Roman spelling symbol for Taiwanese " (2006). 3. “Bopomo or tzuim huhor for Taiwanese ” is the extension of “Bopomofo or zhuyin fuhao for Mandarin”, which most children are taught when they first got into the elementary school system in Taiwan. Most people in Taiwan are very familiar with it and know the good use of it. In the Bopomo for Taiwanese, a few new symbols are added in addition to the ones defined in “Bopomofo or Zhuin fuhao for Mandarin” , while a few symbols that are specific to Mandarin pronunciation are deleted. Therefore it is very easy for those people who are familiar with “Bopomofo or zhuyin fuhao for Mandarin” to learn and use this set of Taiwanese phonetic symbol to learn Taiwanese pronunciation. This set of phonetic symbol can also be used as ruby characters placed at the side of Chinese character (Hanzi, ) like those or in Japanese. 4. "Roman spelling for Taiwanese pronunciation" is also a useful set of Taiwanese pronunciation symbol for those foreigners who just want to learn to make conversation in Taiwanese and not want to learn or understand in depth Taiwanese Hanzi (). 5. “Roman spelling” is originated from those missionaries who preached to people in Taiwan who are illiterate back in the 18th century. This kind of “Roman spelling” is not only applied to Taiwanese but also to Hakka, aboriginal languages of Taiwan, any dialects all over and even Vietnamese, typically used when most of the people being communicated to are illiterate. It can be said as a “product of the time”. 6. During the past 10 ~ 20 years, several sets of similar Roman spelling systems for Taiwanese phonetic symbol have been made available, such as TLPA, Church, Tong-Yong and etc. As a result, endless debate for promoting each of these continued.Eventually, Taiwan Ministry of Education adopted a hybrid set of TLPA and Church Roman spellings named “Tai-Lo” as the standard in Nov. 2006. However, the supporters of other pronunciation systems would not like to compliant with it, therefore, the divergent situation is still not quite settled yet as of today. 7. In fact, every set of spelling symbols has its caveats. In this article, we will not discuss further on these issues, because this article is not intended for linguistics study. At the end of this lecture, a comparison table that consists of「Bopomo or Tzuim huhor for Taiwanese and Mandarin」 and the reciprocal symbols of the other 6 sets of phonetic symbols for Taiwanese and Mandarin, as well as Chinese character (Hanji / Hanzi) of each phonetic symbol represents, is presented for reference.

(C)「Bopomo or Tzuim fuhor for Taiwanese」 Because some people might have learned Chinese Mandarin by using Mandarin Bopomo (i.e. Mandarin Zhuyin fuhao) before and are already familiar with it, I would like to present the Phonetic symbols commonly used by both Mandarin and Taiwanese in this section. Hopefully, it will save the time for learning these symbols. 1. There are 46 symbols commonly used for representing Taiwanese pronunciation. Among those 46 symbols, there are 27 of them in common with Mandarin Bopomo symbols. The remaining 19 symbols are specific ones for Taiwanese pronunciation. 2. There are 21 symbols for consonants and 25 symbols for vowels. 3. The symbols in blue color are shared by Taiwanese and Mandarin pronuncition, and the ones in brown color are specific for Taiwanese pronunciation. 4. Consonant: 21 【ㄅ、ㄆ、ㄇ、ㄉ、ㄊ、ㄋ、ㄌ、ㄍ、ㄎ、ㄏ、ㄐ、 ㄑ、ㄒ、ㄗ、ㄘ、ㄙ、、、、、】 5. Vowels: 25 【ㄚ、ㄜ、ㄛ、ㄞ、ㄠ、ㄢ、ㄣ、ㄤ、ㄥ、ㄧ、ㄨ、 、、、、、、、、、、、、 、】

(D) The voiced sound and nasal sound specific in Taiwanese. 1. The Mandarin does not have the “voiced sound” and the “nasal sound” which are specific for Taiwanese. 2. In Japanese and English, there are also voiced sounds. Therefore, the Japanese-speaking or English-speaking students may not have any difficulty in pronunciation of these voiced consonants in Taiwanese. However, the voiced consonant can be strange for those who only speak Mandarin. There will be some difficulty for them to pronounce these sounds and might have to spend a little more time to learn it. They frequently pronounce Taiwanese “I” 「我」－（ gua） as （ ）. 3. The nasal sounds of the vowels are specific for Taiwanese. There are no nasal sounds in either Japanese or English. However, there would be no much difficulty in pronouncing it, as long as you can send out the vowel sound through the nose when you pronounce them. 4. 4 of 6 voiced sounds in Taiwanese are corresponding to voiceless sounds in Mandarin. The symbols appear as enclosing a circle at the tail of the voiceless sound symbol. However, attention should be paid that the enclosing does not extend beyond the original stroke. For example:

【ㄅ→】、【ㄍ→】、【ㄐ→】、【ㄗ→】 It was pronounced like English: 【﹦B: B of bed, big, bye, bird】 【﹦G: G of good, go, get, dog】 【﹦J: J of Japan, jet, John】 【﹦Z: Z of zero, zigzag, zoo, zoom】 5. There is another specific nasal consonant pronouncing through nose: 【﹦ng: ng - of bring, spring; (夾) -holding between chopsticks】 6. There are two nasal consonants being used like vowels: as follows: 【﹦ng: ng of bring, spring; (黃)-yellow】 【﹦m: m 伓（不）-no】closing both lips tightly and pronounce through nose. (it means “no”)

7. Five of the vowel sounds in Taiwanese are pronounced as the nasal sounds of the similar vowels in Mandarin. It is not so difficult for Mandarin speaker to learn the pronunciation these nasal sounds. To write the symbols of nasal vowels, you just add enclosing at the tails of the reciprocal Mandarin vowel symbols. However, the enclosing circle should extend beyond the original stroke. Please see the examples below: 【ㄚ→】、【→】、【→】、【→】、 【ㄨ→】 8. Listed below are 5 combined vowels which are a comprised of two single sounds: 【﹦ㄚ＋】、【﹦ㄚ＋】、【﹦ㄚ＋ㄇ】、 【﹦＋ㄇ】、【﹦＋】 9. As a result, the actual number of pronunciation symbols that is specific for Taiwanese is only 6, compared to what you should have to learn in Madarin. These symbols are as follows: 【、、、、、】 10. For the reciprocal Taiwanese Roman spelling phonetic symbols issued by Taiwan Ministry of Education and IPA (International Phonetic ), please refer to the contrast table of 「The contrast table of Bopomo for Taiwanese and Roman spelling for Taiwanese」in the appendix I.

(5) Tone symbols 1. There are seven tones in the spoken Taiwanese. In many occasions, it was mentioned that there are eight tones in spoken Taiwanese. As the matter of fact, the second tone and sixth tone are duplicated. 2. The tone symbols are as follows: * First tone【no symbols】：陰平調－high flat tone（），similar to first tone in Mandarin. * Second tone【】：上聲調－high falling tone（），nearly the same as 4th tone in Mandarin. * Third tone【】：陰去調－low falling tone（），almost the same as anterior half of the third tone in Mandarin. * The fifth tone【】 ： 陽平調－middle rising tone （），sort of like the tone between the second and third tone in Mandarin. * The sixth tone：the same as the second tone. * The seventh tone 【】：陽去調－middle flat tone（），there is no corresponding tone in Mandarin. Example: as city- city in Taiwanese: ─市. # Vowel end in －ㄅ- b、ㄉ- d、ㄍ- g、ㄏ- h－are called jip-tone【入聲】- (Stop sound or/and glottal sounds)：there are two jip-tones－ * The fourth tone【□，□，□，□】：陰入調－low short tone （）. * The eighth tone【□，□，□，□】：陽入調－high short tone（）. The small dot on the top of the small phonetic symbols represents the eighth tone, such as【】 For the details of the Jip-tones, refer to the next section.

(6) Jip sound/tone (Stop or glottal stop sound) 1. The fourth and eighth tones of Taiwanese are named Jip-sound, which are not present in modern Mandarin. The Jip-sound in ancient Chinese is incorporated into the four tones in modern Mandarin. The jip-sound can be used in Mandarin when composing poem. However, it is still present in daily conversation of spoken Taiwanese nowadays. In Japanese, the jip-sound is named as 「urged sound」, while in English, is named as 「Stop consonant or glottal stop」. 2. The are ended with consonant （ㄅ、ㄉ、ㄍ、ㄏ－ p, t, k, h）. 3. Similar examples exist in Japanese and English. For example: in Japanese, 「school」is composed of two Kanji characters pronounced as「gaku」 (學) and 「koo」(校), respectively. However, when these two Kanji characters of 「school」(學校) is pronounced together, it is pronounced as 「gak-koo」. The sound of 「u」 between 「gaku」 and 「koo」 is omitted, and the sound of the 「k」 is a 「stop sound」. Similarly, in English, the sounds「p」of 「stop」and 「t」of 「get」 does not come out when these words are spoken. Only the upper and lower lips or the tip of the tongue are kept in the position of pronouncing 「p」 and 「t」. 4. So it should not be very difficult to pronounce stop sound for those who speak Japanese or English, because they are already using it.

(7) Light sound and its symbol There is no light sound in single Chinese character (Hanzi / Kanzi), so it is not one of seven tones in Taiwanese or four tones in Mandarin. Light sound is a changed tone in a word or sentences. It is often used the second in disyllable or the end of a verb and objective. When the first syllable of double syllable is pronounced specifically emphasized, the second syllable will naturally be pronounced lightly or softly and its proper tone is lost. When a Chinese character is pronounced with accentuation, the meaning is strengthened. On the contrary, when it is pronounced lightly the real meaning will become blurred. Light sound and soft pronunciation has the function of alleviate the tone of speech. It has also been something to do with the semantics. In ancient Chinese literary language, there is no light sound. In modern live language making good use of light sounds will make the conversation sound more live.

Examples:

Example The second Meaning The first sound Meaning sound read lightly changed 無去 無去 (disappear) 無去 (did not go)

(some (the day after 後日 後日 other day) 後日 tomorrow)

(8) Different (multiple) pronunciation of a word or a character in Taiwanese 1. You may notice a few kinds of different pronunciation of a word in Taiwanese, such as: Jiang-jiu, Tsuan-jiu, E-mng or other tones of different places. At present, some are used only by the older generations, or have already changed. As the purpose of this lecture is to learn Taiwanese which is in common use by general public in Taiwan at present, not to teach phonetics, therefore, I am going to explain only the commonly used Taiwanese pronunciation, those which have been rarely used or have been changed were omitted. It is alright for the learners to understand and learn them when they meet with in actual life. 2. Generally speaking, it seems that there are a lot of people may think learning of Taiwanese pronunciation is a very difficult thing. Actually, it is not so difficult, only if you can master the phonetic symbols. Perhaps everybody might be confused, among so many sets of symbols for Taiwanese, which is the best one to learn? 3. As aforesaid in (2), there are only two series of phonetic symbols for Taiwanese: (a) The first series, the Taiwanese phonetic symbols "Bopomo or tzuim huhor for Taiwanese " （台語注音符號）, which is extended from the Mandarin phonetic symbols “Bopomof or zhuyin fuhao for Mandarin” （注音符號）, the most of the people living in Taiwan have learned, instructed on entrance to primary school for mandatory education (almost 100%) for more than 60 years, therefore, almost of the population in Taiwan are familiar with it and moreover, a large group of people using this system to input Hanzi / Kanzi (漢字) – Chinese characters on computer practice. (b) The second series is the method of spelling basically with phonetic symbols of Roman character, which has been used by missionaries to preach for whom those are illiteracy in Taiwan since the 18th century. Both (a and b) are alright, and will not be incompatible to each other. One who has learned any one of the two will be able to master another one in 2~3 hours. 4. Let us see the example of Japanese in which Chinese characters are used too. Japanese has also Roman spelling, however, it is that 「Katakana or Hiragana」 but not Roma spelling are used as their phonetic symbols for 「ruby」 for Chinese character in Japanese sentence. Those 「Katakana or Hiragana」 come from a stroke or part of 「Hanzi / Kanzi」(Chinese character) like as those" Bopomo or tzuim huhor for Taiwanese " （台語注音符號）, and “Bopomofo or zhuyin fuhao for Mandarin” （注音符號）. In addition to the above mentioned use for Ruby, they are also used as suffix (a conjugational [declensional] ending added in kana after a Chinese character). 5. Although there are multiple ways for symbolization of Taiwanese pronunciation, it seems as though on inputting of Chinese character on computer, it has also many kinds of input method, but you do not have to matter with any method, so long as it is the easiest and fastest way for you, then it is the best way for you.

(9) Tone sandhi in Taiwanese Tone sandhi is the change of tone that occurs in some languages in pronouncing a continuous syllable (word or phrase). Many of Chinese languages have tone sandhi, some of them are quite complex. While Mandarin sandhi is simple, Taiwanese has a more complex system, in which every original tone of a word (or character) changing into a different tone when it comes before another. Taiwanese tone sandhi has the rule for changing its original tone as follows: The first tone →→ The seventh tone The second tone →→ The first tone The third tone →→ The second tone The fifth tone →→ The seventh tone（Southern Taiwan） or The third tone (Northern Taiwan) The seventh tone →→ The third tone The fourth tone （□□□）→→ The eighth tone （□→ The second tone） The eighth tone（□□□）→→ The fourth tone（□→ The third tone）

╭→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→╮ ↑ ↑ ↓

1：骹（底） 5：頭（殼） ↓ leg (sole) head (head) ↑ ↓

2：手（心） 6：手（心） ↓ hand (palm) hand (palm) ↑ ↓

3：嘴（齒） ←←←←←← 7：鼻（孔）←╯ mouth (tooth) nose (

4：骨（頭） ←──────→ 8：目（睭） bone (bone) eye (eye) 扑（手）(3) ←───→ (2) 白（毛） hit (clap hands) white (white hair)

Appendix (I) (附一) Contrast table: 《Bopomo for Taiwanese》and《Roman spelling for Taiwanese》 Chiau-Shin Ngo

（A）Consonant (子音)

：shared symbols.：Taiwanese specific symbols.

Bopomo Representative Roman Japanese English IPA (Symbol) Hanzi spelling 〔meaning〕 〔meaning〕

 包仔 p p 肉まん Stuffed bun

 帽仔 b b 帽子 hat

 扑 ph pʻ 殴る beat

 阿媽 m m お祖母さん grandma

 刀 t t 刀 sword

 桃仔 th tʻ 桃 peach

 乳嘴 n n おしゃぶり pacifier

 梨仔 L l 梨 pear

 狗 k k 犬 dog

 牛 g g 牛 cow

 褲 kh kʻ ずぼん pants 箸で野菜を挟み hold greens between  夾菜 ng ŋ とる chopsticks

 花 h h 花 flower

 酒 ts ʨ 酒 liquor

 字 j ʥ 字 character

 七 tsh ʨʻ 七 seven

 想 s ɕ 思う think

 知 ts ʦ 知る know

 熱 j z 暑い hot

 菜 tsh ʦʻ 野菜 greens

 竹筍 s s たけのこ bamboo shoot

（B）Vowel（韻母、母音）

Bopomo Representa- Roman Japanese English tive IPA (Symbol) Hanzi spelling 〔meaning〕 〔meaning〕 台羅 注音符號 代表漢字 IPA 日本語 English 教育部

ㄚ 阿 a a ア a

 餡 ann ã 餡子 Bean jam

 土 oo ɔ 土 soil

 睏 oonn     /  o o オ o

 鵝 o ə 鵞鳥 goose

 鞋 e e 靴 shoes

 紅嬰 enn ẽ 赤子 baby

 海 ai ai 海 sea

 歹人 ainn ãĩ 悪人 bad man

 肉包 au au 肉まん meat-buns

 暗時 am am 夜 night 手で口をふさ cover the 掩嘴  oom ɔm ぐ mouth

 伓是 m m ～でない not

 毯仔 an an 毛布 blanket (ɔn) (ɔn)  不單獨使用 - ɔn

 巷仔 ang aŋ 路地 lane

 國王 ong ɔŋ 国王 king

 不單獨使用 eng (əŋ) (əŋ) əŋ

 黃 ng ŋ 黄色 yellow  椅仔 i i 椅子 chair

 圓 inn Ĩ 丸い round

 碗 u u 茶碗 bowl

 羊 unn ũ 羊 sheep  台 cherry 櫻花 ing ieŋ 桜  iŋ 中 blossoms  因為 in ～なので because  in ㄨ 溫度 un 温度 temperature ㄣ un

（C）Stop consonant or glottal stop（入声、促音)

Bopomo Representative Roman Japanese English IPA (Symbol) Hanzi spelling 〔meaning〕 〔meaning〕

注音符号 台羅 代表漢字 IPA 日本語 English （Symbol） 教育部

 回答 p p 答え answer

 折 t t 折る break

 北 k k 北 north

 鴨 h ʔ あひる duck

 十 p p 十 ten  力 t t 力 strength

 洗浴 k k 体を洗う bathe

 盒 h ʔ 小箱 box

(D) Tone symbol (台語声調記号對照表)

声調符号 Bopomo Roman spelling （Tone Symbol） 注音符号 台羅（教育部）

第一声 無調号 無調号 1st (no symbol) (no symbol)

第二声 ˋ 2nd á

第三声

3rd  à

第四声 4th  p,t,k,h

第五声 5th ˊ â

第六声 同第二声 同第二声 6th same as 2nd same as 2nd

第七声

7th  ā

第八声  a̍ 8th (p, t, k,h)

Appendix (II) 附〔二〕

Contrast table for Mandarin-Taiwanese Bopomo Phonetic symbols and 7 more spelling symbols. by Chiau-Shin Ngo (華、台語注音符號及七種拼音法對照表) (吳昭新) (A) Contrast table for Taiwanese-Mandarin phonetic symbols. (consonant) [華、台語音標對照表 （一）－ 聲母]

：shared symbols.：Taiwanese specific.：Mandarin specific

Bopomo Represen- Represen- Roman Chur- Tong- Hanyu tative Hanzi Tative Hanzi Wu TLPA IPA Symbol (Taiwanese) （Mandarin） spell ch yong pinin

注音 代表漢字 代表漢字 台羅 華台 TLPA 教羅 通用 漢普 IPA 符號 （台） （華） 教部

 包仔 包子 b p p p b b p

 帽仔 － bb b b b bh bb b

 扑 拍 p ph ph ph p p pʻ

 阿媽 媽媽 m m m m m m m

 － 風 f - - - f f f

 刀 刀 d t t t d d t

 桃仔 桃子 t th th th t t tʻ

 乳嘴 奶嘴 n n n n n n n  梨仔 梨子 l L l l l l l

 狗 狗 g k k k g g k

 牛 － gg g g g gh gg g

 褲 褲子 k kh kh kh k k kʻ

 夾菜 － ng ng ng ng ng ng ŋ

 花 花 h h h h h h h

 酒 酒 j (i) ts c ch z j ʨ

 字 － jj j j j r j ʥ

 七 七 ch (i) tsh ch chh c q ʨʻ

 想 想 sh (i) s s s s x ɕ

 － 之 jh, j- - - - jh zh tʂ

 － 吃 ch - - - ch ch tʂʻ

 － 失 sh - - - sh sh ʂ

 － 日 r - - - r r ʑ

 粽 粽子 z, tz ts c ch, ts z z ʦ

 熱 － zz j j j r zz z

 菜 菜 ts, c tsh ch chh c c ʦʻ

 竹筍 筍子 s s s s s s s

(B) Contrast table for Taiwanese-Mandarin phonetic symbols. (vowel) [華、台語音標對照表 （二）－韻母]

Bopomo Represen- Represen- Roman Chur- Tong- Hanyu tative Hanzi Tative Hanzi Wu TLPA IPA Symbol (Taiwanese) （Mandarin） spell ch yong pinin

注音 代表漢字 代表漢字 台羅 華台 TLPA 教羅 通用 漢普 IPA 符號 （台） （華） 教部

ㄚ 阿 阿 a a a a a a a

an,  餡 - ann ann ann aN ann na ã

 土 - oo oo oo O o oo ɔ

n o ,   睏 - oonn oonn oonn oN onn noo

 /  桌 o o o o or o o

 鵝 鵝 or o er - or e ə

 － 夜 ee - - e e ℇ

 鞋 - e e e e e e e

en,

 紅嬰 - enn enn enn eN enn ne ẽ

 海 海 ai ai ai ai ai ai ai

ain,

 歹人 - ainn ainn ainn aiN ainn nai ãĩ

 － 杯子 ei - - - - ei Ɛi  包仔 包子 au au au au ao ao au

 － 海鷗 ou - - - - ou ou

 暗時 - am am am am am am am

 掩嘴 - oom oom oom oom oom oom ɔm

 伓是 - m m m m m m m

 毯仔 毯子 an an an an an an an

不單獨使用  根 en - - - en en ən

 巷仔 巷子 ang ang ang ang ang ang aŋ

 國王 - ong ong ong ong ong ong ɔŋ

 不單獨使用 電燈 eng eng eng eng eng eng əŋ

Ng,

 黃 - -ng ng ng ng ng ng ŋ

 － 兒子 er, -r - - - er, -r er, -r ɚ

i, y-, i, y-,  椅仔 椅子 i i i i i yi yi

 圓 - inn inn inn in, iN inn ni Ĩ

-u, -u, -u,  碗 碗 u u u u wu-, wu-, w-, -unn, un,  羊 - unn unn unn ũ wun uN -iu, -iu,  － 雨 - - - u, yu ü yu yu  櫻花 櫻花 ing ing ing ing ing ing Iŋ 華  eŋ 台  因為 因為 in in in in in in  in

(C) Contrast table for Taiwanese-Mandarin phonetic symbols. (stop consonant) [華、台語音標對照表 （三）－入聲] Bopomo Represen- Represen- Roman Chur- Tong- Hanyu tative Hanzi Tative Hanzi Wu TLPA IPA Symbol (Taiwanese) （Mandarin） spell ch yong pinin

注音 代表漢字 代表漢字 台羅 華台 TLPA 教羅 通用 漢普 IPA 符號 （台） （華） 教部

 回答 - p p p4 p -p -p p

 折 - t t t4 t -t -t t

 北 - k k k4 k -k -k k

 鴨 - h h h4 h -h -h ʔ

 十 - p' p p8 ' p p ˊp p

 力 - t' t t8 ' t t ˊt t

 洗浴 - k' k k8 ' k k ˊk k

 盒 - h' h h8 ' h h ˊh ʔ

(D) Tone symbols for Taiwanese (台語聲調符號對照表)

Bopomo Represen- Roman Chur- Tong- Hanyu tative Hanzi Wu TLPA Symbol (Taiwanese) spell ch yong pinin 聲調 台羅 注音符號 華台 TLPA 教羅 通用 漢普 符號 教部

第一聲 No No No No No st 1 ā 1 tone symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol

第二聲 nd ˋ 2 2 ă 2 tone á á à

第三聲 rd  3 3 à 3 tone à à a

第四聲 th  p, t, k, h p, t, k, h 4 p, t, k, h ¯p, t, k, h ¯p, t, k, h 4 tone

第五聲 th ˊ 5 5 á 5 tone â â ă

第六聲 = 2nd = 2nd = 2nd = 2nd = 2nd = 2nd = 2nd 6th tone

第七聲 th  7 7 â 7 tone ā ā ā

第八聲 a̍ a̍ ′p, t, k, th  8 (p, t, k,h) 8 (p, t, k, h) p, t, k, h 8 tone 8 8 h