Taiwanese kana (,
Pe̍h-ōe-jī
(; ; ), also sometimes known as the Church Romanization, is an orthography used to write variants of Southern Min Chinese, particularly Taiwanese and Amoy Hokkien.
Developed by Western missionaries working among the Chinese diaspora in South ...
: "tâi oân gí ká biêng", IPA : ) is a
katakana
is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji and in some cases the Latin script (known as rōmaji). The word ''katakana'' means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana characters are derived fr ...
-based
writing system
A writing system is a method of visually representing verbal communication, based on a script and a set of rules regulating its use. While both writing and speech are useful in conveying messages, writing differs in also being a reliable form ...
that was used to write
Taiwanese Hokkien
Taiwanese Hokkien () (; Tâi-lô: ''Tâi-uân-uē''), also known as Taigi/Taigu (; Pe̍h-ōe-jī/Tâi-lô: ''Tâi-gí / Tâi-gú''), Taiwanese, Taiwanese Minnan, Hoklo and Holo, is a variety of the Hokkien language spoken natively by about 70% ...
(commonly called "Taiwanese") when the
island of Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is an island country located in East Asia. The main island of Taiwan, formerly known in the Western political circles, News media, press and Western literature, literature as Formosa, makes up 99% of ...
was
under Japanese rule. It functioned as a phonetic guide to
hanzi
Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji' ...
, much like
furigana
is a Japanese reading aid consisting of smaller kana or syllabic characters printed either above or next to kanji (logographic characters) or other characters to indicate their pronunciation. It is one type of ruby text. Furigana is also known ...
in
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
or
Zhuyin fuhao
Bopomofo (), or Mandarin Phonetic Symbols, also named Zhuyin (), is a Chinese transliteration system for Mandarin Chinese and other related languages and dialects. More commonly used in Taiwanese Mandarin, it may also be used to transcribe ...
in
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
. There were similar systems for other languages in Taiwan as well, including
Hakka
The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas are a Han Chinese subgroup whose ancestral homes are chiefly in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhej ...
and
Formosan languages
The Formosan languages are a geographic grouping comprising the languages of the indigenous peoples of Taiwan, all of which are Austronesian. They do not form a single subfamily of Austronesian but rather nine separate subfamilies. The Taiwa ...
.
The system was imposed by Japan at the time and used in a few dictionaries, as well as textbooks. The Taiwanese-Japanese Dictionary, published in 1931–32, is an example. It uses various signs and
diacritic
A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacriti ...
s to identify sounds that do not exist in Japanese. The system is chiefly based on the
Amoy dialect
The Amoy dialect or Xiamen dialect (), also known as Amoynese, Amoy Hokkien, Xiamenese or Xiamen Hokkien, is a dialect of Hokkien spoken in the city of Xiamen (historically known as "Amoy") and its surrounding metropolitan area, in the southern ...
of
Hokkien
The Hokkien () variety of Chinese is a Southern Min language native to and originating from the Minnan region, where it is widely spoken in the south-eastern part of Fujian in southeastern mainland China. It is one of the national languages in ...
.
Through the system, the Office of the
Governor-General of Taiwan
The governor-general of Taiwan ( ja, 臺灣總督, Taiwan Sōtoku) was the head of the Government-General of Taiwan in the Japanese era (including Formosa and the Pescadores) when they were part of the Empire of Japan, from 1895 to 1945.
The Jap ...
aimed to help
Taiwanese people
Taiwanese people may be generally considered the people of Taiwan who share a common culture, ancestry and speak Taiwanese Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka or indigenous Taiwanese languages as a mother tongue. Taiwanese people may also refer to the i ...
learn the Japanese language, as well as help
Japanese people
The are an East Asian ethnic group native to the Japanese archipelago."人類学上は,旧石器時代あるいは縄文時代以来,現在の北海道〜沖縄諸島(南西諸島)に住んだ集団を祖先にもつ人々。" () Jap ...
learn the Taiwanese language. Linguistically speaking, however, the
syllabary
In the linguistic study of written languages, a syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent the syllables or (more frequently) moras which make up words.
A symbol in a syllabary, called a syllabogram, typically represents an (optiona ...
system was cumbersome for a language that has
phonology
Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...
far more complicated than Japanese. After Japanese administration ended, the system soon became obsolete. Now, only a few scholars, such as those who study the aforementioned dictionary, learn Taiwanese kana.
The system has undergone some modification over time. This article is mainly about the last edition, used from roughly 1931.
Basic rules
Mapped sounds are mostly similar to
katakana
is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji and in some cases the Latin script (known as rōmaji). The word ''katakana'' means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana characters are derived fr ...
in Japanese, with the kana , , , , , and not used. Each syllable is written with two or three kana (with a few exceptions). Notable differences include:
Vowels
* There are six vowels in Taiwanese: , , , , , . Note that the pronunciations of ,, and are different from Japanese (which are respectively.)
* The vowel is pronounced in the
diphthong
A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech o ...
s and , also their extensions such as , . In some dialects may be pronounced or .
* In syllables with a single vowel, the kana for the vowel is repeated, like the
long vowel
In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived length of a vowel sound: the corresponding physical measurement is duration. In some languages vowel length is an important phonemic factor, meaning vowel length can change the meaning of the word, f ...
s in Japanese. For example, , , , .
* The small kana , , , , , are defined as
short vowel
In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived length of a vowel sound: the corresponding physical measurement is duration. In some languages vowel length is an important phonemic factor, meaning vowel length can change the meaning of the word, f ...
s. They are used to represent the second vowel in the middle of a syllable, or a final
glottal stop
The glottal plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents thi ...
. For example, , for , .
* There are two optional vowel kana for Choâⁿ-chiu accent (
Quanzhou dialect
The Quanzhou dialects (), also rendered Chin-chew or Choanchew, are a collection of Hokkien dialects spoken in southern Fujian (in southeast China), in the area centered on the city of Quanzhou. Due to migration, various Quanzhou dialects are sp ...
):
and
. For example,
,
,
.
Consonants
* is pronounced , not as in Japanese.
* There are five overlined kana to distinguish and /.
,
,
,
,
''or'' .
:
* The
aspirated consonants
In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of breath that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. In English, aspirated consonants are allophones in complementary distribution with the ...
, , , / are represented by adding an underdot to the kana. For example, for .
* Final
nasal consonants
In phonetics, a nasal, also called a nasal occlusive or nasal stop in contrast with an oral stop or nasalized consonant, is an occlusive consonant produced with a lowered velum, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. The vast majorit ...
are written as , , . Note that , are pronounced , when they are used as initials. For example, , for .
* The syllabic consonant is spelt (u+), for example
ŋ̍
Eng or engma (Letter case, capital: Ŋ, Letter case, lowercase: ŋ) is a letter of the Latin alphabet, used to represent a voiced velar nasal (as in English ''sii'') in the written form of some languages and in the International Phonetic Alpha ...
Note that without a preceding vowel is written as a single , not or .
* The syllabic consonant is spelt (u+), for example . Note that without a preceding vowel is written as a single , not or .
* Initial is spelt as with a nasal tone sign. For example, , .
* Final plosives (which have
no audible release
A stop with no audible release, also known as an unreleased stop or an applosive, is a stop consonant with no release burst: no audible indication of the end of its occlusion (hold). In the International Phonetic Alphabet, lack of an audible relea ...
) are
, ,
, similar to the kana used in
Ainu.
* Final
glottal stop
The glottal plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents thi ...
s are represented by the short-vowel small kana (, , , , ,
) at the end. For example, , .
Tone signs
There are different
tone signs for normal vowels and
nasal vowel
A nasal vowel is a vowel that is produced with a lowering of the soft palate (or velum) so that the air flow escapes through the nose and the mouth simultaneously, as in the French vowel or Amoy []. By contrast, oral vowels are produced wit ...
s.
:
* When a text is Horizontal and vertical writing in East Asian scripts, written vertically, these signs are written on the right side of letters. Taiwanese kana is only attested in vertical orientation, so it is unknown where the signs would be placed if it were written horizontally.
* Initial consonants , , are always written with nasal vowel tone signs, whereas , , are always with normal vowels. Note that and share the same initial kana.
Taiwanese kana chart
Rime chart
Syllable chart
# Tone signs are always needed for a syllable.
# always takes normal vowel tone signs; , , always take nasal vowel tone signs.
# Some spellings are not clear. 仔(á) was sometimes written as rather than . 的(ê) was sometimes written as rather than .
# is spelt with , such as in , , , , and so on.
Example
Unicode support
Amongst
software
Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work.
At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...
/
encodings
In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communication ...
,
Mojikyo fully supports the system.
Unicode has been able to represent small ku () and small pu ()
since Unicode 3.2, small katakana
wo ()
since Unicode 12.0, and tone signs
since Unicode 14.0 (2021).
It also requires the use of the
combining overline and
combining dot below with kana to represent overlined and underdotted kana (like so: ). Font support for these small kana and for sensible rendering of these uncommon combining sequences is in practice limited; overlines and less well-supported small kana are simulated in the tables below using markup.
References
Further reading
*
**
*
**
*
*
*Lîm, Chùn-io̍k. (2008)
《台日大辭典》索引羅馬字對照表
{{Authority control
Taiwan under Japanese rule
Kana
Transcription of Chinese
Hokkien writing system
Writing systems introduced in the 19th century
1896 introductions
1896 in Taiwan
1945 disestablishments in Taiwan