| Bopomofo | |
|---|---|
 "Encyclopedia" written in bopomofo | |
| Script type | with diacritics for tones |
| Creator |
|
Time period |
|
| Direction | Left-to-right,right-to-left script  |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | |
Child systems | Cantonese bopomofo,Taiwanese Phonetic Symbols,Suzhou Phonetic Symbols,Hmu Phonetic Symbols,Matsu Fuchounese bopomofo [zh] |
| ISO 15924 | |
| ISO 15924 | Bopo(285), Bopomofo |
| Unicode | |
Unicode alias | Bopomofo |
| |
| This article containsphonetic transcriptions in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. For the distinction between[ ],/ / and ⟨ ⟩, seeIPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters. | |
| Mandarin Phonetic Symbols | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 注音符號 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 注音符号 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Transliteration of Chinese |
|---|
| Mandarin |
| Wu |
| Yue |
| Min |
| Gan |
| Hakka |
| Xiang |
| Polylectal |
| See also |
|
Bopomofo, also calledZhuyin Fuhao[1] (/dʒuːˌjɪnfuːˈhaʊ/joo-YIN foo-HOW;注音符號;Zhùyīn fúhào; 'phonetic symbols'), or simplyZhuyin,[2] is atransliteration system forStandard Chinese and otherSinitic languages. It is the principal method of teaching Chinese Mandarin pronunciation inTaiwan. It consists of 37 characters and fivetone marks, which together can transcribe all possible sounds inMandarin Chinese.
Bopomofo was first introduced in China during the 1910s by theBeiyang government, where it was used alongsideWade–Giles, a romanization system which used a modifiedLatin alphabet. Today, Bopomofo is more common in Taiwan than on the mainland, and is used as the primaryelectronic input method forTaiwanese Mandarin, as well as in dictionaries and other non-official documents.
Bopomofo is the name used for the system by theInternational Organization for Standardization (ISO) andUnicode. Analogous to how the wordalphabet is derived from the names of the first two lettersalpha andbeta, the namebopomofo derives from the first four syllabographs in the system's conventionallexicographic order:ㄅ,ㄆ,ㄇ, andㄈ.[3]
InTaiwan the system is commonly known by its official nameZhuyin fuhao (注音符號; 'phonetic symbols'), or simply aszhuyin (注音; 'phonetic notation'). In official documents, it is occasionally calledMandarin Phonetic Symbols I (國語注音符號第一式), abbreviated as "MPS I" (注音一式),[4][5] to distinguish it from theMandarin Phonetic Symbols II (MPS II) system published in 1984. Formerly, the system was namedGuoyin zimu (國音字母; 'national language alphabet') andZhuyin zimu (注音字母; 'phonetic alphabet').[4]
TheCommission on the Unification of Pronunciation, led byWu Zhihui from 1912 to 1913, created a system calledZhuyin Zimu,[4] which was based onZhang Binglin's shorthand. It was used as the official phonetic script to annotate the sounds of the characters in accordance with theOld National Pronunciation.[6] A draft was released on 11 July 1913, by the Republic of China National Ministry of Education, but it was not officially proclaimed until 23 November 1928.[4] It was first namedGuóyīn Zìmǔ 'national pronunciation alphabet', but in April 1930 was renamedZhùyīn Fúhào 'phonetic symbols' to address fears that the alphabetic system might independently replaceChinese characters.[7]
Bopomofo is the predominant phonetic system in teaching reading and writing inelementary school in Taiwan. In elementary school, particularly in the lower years, Chinese characters in textbooks are often annotated with Bopomofo asruby characters as an aid to learning. Additionally, one children's newspaper in Taiwan, theMandarin Daily News, annotates all articles with Bopomofo ruby characters.
It is also the most popular way for Taiwanese to enter Chinese characters into computers andsmartphones and to look up characters in a dictionary.
In teaching Mandarin, Taiwan institutions and some overseas communities such as Filipino Chinese use Bopomofo.
Bopomofo is shown in a secondary position toHanyu Pinyin in all editions ofXiandai Hanyu Cidian from the 1960 edition to the current 2016 edition (7th edition).
Bopomofo is also used to transcribe other Chinese dialects, most commonlyTaiwanese Hokkien andCantonese, however its use can be applied to practically any dialect in handwriting (because not all letters are encoded). Outside of Chinese, Bopomofo letters are also used inHmu andGe languages by a small number of Hmu Christians.[8]
The Bopomofo characters were created byZhang Binglin, taken mainly from "regularized" forms of ancient Chinese characters, the modern readings of which contain the sound that each letter represents. The consonants are listed in order ofplace of articulation, from the front of the mouth to the back, /b/, /p/, /m/, /f/, /d/, /t/, /n/, /l/ etc.
| Bopomofo | Origin[9] | IPA | Pinyin | WG | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ㄅ | From勹, the ancient form and current top portion of包 bāo, "to wrap up; package" | p | b | p | 包 bāo ㄅㄠ |
| ㄆ | From攵, a variant form of攴 pū, "to knock lightly". | pʰ | p | pʻ | 撲 pū ㄆㄨ |
| ㄇ | From冂, the archaic character and current "cover"radical冖 mì. | m | m | m | 冞 mí ㄇㄧˊ |
| ㄈ | From the "right open box"radical匚 fāng. | f | f | f | 匪 fěi ㄈㄟˇ |
| ㄉ | From𠚣, archaic form of刀 dāo, "blade". Compare theShuowen seal . | t | d | t | 地 dì ㄉㄧˋ |
| ㄊ | From𠫓 tū, an upside-down form of子 zǐ and an ancient form of突 tū ( and inseal script)[10][11] | tʰ | t | tʻ | 提 tí ㄊㄧˊ |
| ㄋ | From /𠄎, ancient form of乃 nǎi, "to be" (a copula in Classical Chinese). | n | n | n | 你 nǐ ㄋㄧˇ |
| ㄌ | From𠠲, archaic form of力 lì, "power". | l | l | l | 利 lì ㄌㄧˋ |
| ㄍ | From the obsolete character巜 guì/kuài, "ditch". | k | g | k | 告 gào ㄍㄠˋ |
| ㄎ | From the archaic character, now "breath" or "sigh" component丂 kǎo. | kʰ | k | kʻ | 考 kǎo ㄎㄠˇ |
| ㄏ | From the archaic character and current radical厂 hǎn. | x | h | h | 好 hǎo ㄏㄠˇ |
| ㄐ | From the archaic character丩 jiū. | tɕ | j | ch | 叫 jiào ㄐㄧㄠˋ |
| ㄑ | From the archaic character𡿨 quǎn, graphic root of the character巛chuān, "river" (modern川). | tɕʰ | q | chʻ | 巧 qiǎo ㄑㄧㄠˇ |
| ㄒ | From丅, an ancient form of下 xià, "under". | ɕ | x | hs | 小 xiǎo ㄒㄧㄠˇ |
| ㄓ | From /𡳿, archaic form of之 zhī, a genitive marker in Classical Chinese. | ʈʂ | zhi, zh- | ch | 知 zhī ㄓ; 主 zhǔ ㄓㄨˇ |
| ㄔ | From the character and radical彳 chì | ʈʂʰ | chi, ch- | chʻ | 吃 chī ㄔ; 出 chū ㄔㄨ |
| ㄕ | From𡰣, an ancient form of尸 shī | ʂ | shi, sh- | sh | 是 shì ㄕˋ; 束 shù ㄕㄨˋ |
| ㄖ | Modified from the seal script form of日 rì, "day" or "sun". | ɻ~ʐ | ri, r- | j | 日 rì ㄖˋ; 入 rù ㄖㄨˋ |
| ㄗ | From the archaic character and current radical卩 jié, dialecticallyzié ([tsjě];tsieh² in Wade–Giles) | ts | zi, z- | ts | 字 zì ㄗˋ; 在 zài ㄗㄞˋ |
| ㄘ | From𠀁, archaic form of七 qī, dialecticallyciī ([tsʰí];tsʻi¹ in Wade–Giles). Compare semi-cursive form and seal-script . | tsʰ | ci, c- | tsʻ | 詞 cí ㄘˊ; 才 cái ㄘㄞˊ |
| ㄙ | From the archaic character厶 sī, which was later replaced by its compound私 sī. | s | si, s- | s | 四 sì ㄙˋ; 塞 sāi ㄙㄞ |
| Bopomofo | Origin | IPA | Pinyin | WG | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ㄚ | From丫 yā | a | a | a | 大 dà ㄉㄚˋ |
| ㄛ | From the obsolete character𠀀 hē, inhalation, the reverse of丂 kǎo, which is preserved as a phonetic in the compound可 kě.[12] | o | o | o | 多 duō ㄉㄨㄛ |
| ㄜ | Derived from itsallophone in Standard Chinese,ㄛ o | ɤ | e | o/ê | 得 dé ㄉㄜˊ |
| ㄝ | From也 yě, "also". Compare the Warring States bamboo form | e | -ie/ê | eh | 爹 diē ㄉㄧㄝ |
| ㄞ | From𠀅 hài, archaic form of亥. | ai | ai | ai | 晒 shài ㄕㄞˋ |
| ㄟ | From乁 yí, an obsolete character meaning移 yí, "to move". | ei | ei | ei | 誰 shéi ㄕㄟˊ |
| ㄠ | From幺 yāo | au | ao | ao | 少 shǎo ㄕㄠˇ |
| ㄡ | From又 yòu | ou | ou | ou | 收 shōu ㄕㄡ |
| ㄢ | From the archaic character𢎘 hàn "to bloom", preserved as a phonetic in the compound犯 fàn | an | an | an | 山 shān ㄕㄢ |
| ㄣ | From𠃉, archaic variant of鳦 yǐ or乚 yà[13] (乚 is yǐn according to other sources[14]) | ən | en | ên | 申 shēn ㄕㄣ |
| ㄤ | From尢 wāng | aŋ | ang | ang | 上 shàng ㄕㄤˋ |
| ㄥ | From𠃋, archaic form of肱 gōng[15] | əŋ | eng | êng | 生 shēng ㄕㄥ |
| ㄦ | From儿, the bottom portion of兒 ér used as a cursive andsimplified form | aɚ | er | êrh | 而 ér ㄦˊ |
ㄧ | From一 yī, "one" | i | y, yi, -i | i | 以 yǐ ㄧˇ; 逆 nì ㄋㄧˋ |
| ㄨ | From㐅, ancient form of五 wǔ, "five". Compare the transitory form𠄡. | u | w, wu, -u | u/w | 努 nǔ ㄋㄨˇ; 我 wǒ ㄨㄛˇ |
| ㄩ | From the ancient character凵 qū, which remains as a radical | y | yu, -ü | ü/yü | 雨 yǔ ㄩˇ; 女 nǚ ㄋㄩˇ |
ㄭ | From the character帀. It represents thefricative vowel ofㄓ，ㄔ，ㄕ，ㄖ，ㄗ，ㄘ，ㄙ，though it is not used after them in transcription.[16] | ɻ̩~ʐ̩,ɹ̩~z̩ | -i | ih/ŭ | 資 zī ㄗ; 知 zhī ㄓ; 死 sǐ ㄙˇ |
Bopomofo is written in the samestroke order rule as Chinese characters.ㄖ is written with three strokes, unlike the character from which it is derived (Chinese:日;pinyin:rì), which has four strokes.
ㄧ can be written as a vertical line (
) or a horizontal line (); both are accepted forms. Traditionally, it should be written as a horizontal line in vertical writing, and a vertical line in horizontal writing. The People's Republic of China almost exclusively uses horizontal writing, so the vertical form (in the rare occasion that Bopomofo is used) has become the standard form there. Language education in the Republic of China generally uses vertical writing, so most people learn it as a horizontal line, and use a horizontal form even in horizontal writing. In 2008, the Taiwanese Ministry of Education decided that the primary form should always be the horizontal form, but that the vertical form is accepted alternative.[17] Unicode 8.0.0 published an errata in 2014 that updates the representative glyph to be the horizontal form.[18] Computer fonts may only display one form or the other, or may be able to display both if the font is aware of changes needed for vertical writing.
Bopomofo is occasionally unofficially handwritten as syllable blocks, similar toHangul, however this is not considered an accepted form by the People's Republic of China nor the Republic of China, and is unsupported by Unicode.
As shown in the following table,tone marks for the second, third, and fourth tones are shared between bopomofo andpinyin. In bopomofo, the mark for first tone is usually omitted but can be included,[19][20] while a dot above indicates the fifth tone (also known as theneutral tone). In pinyin, amacron (overbar) indicates the first tone, and the lack of a marker usually indicates the fifth (light) tone.
| Tone | Bopomofo | Pinyin | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tone Marker | Unicode Name | Tone Marker | Unicode Name | |
| 1 | ˉ | Modifier Letter Macron (usually omitted)[19][20] | ◌̄ | Combining Macron |
| 2 | ˊ | Modifier Letter Acute Accent | ◌́ | Combining Acute Accent |
| 3 | ˇ | Caron | ◌̌ | Combining Caron |
| 4 | ˋ | Modifier Letter Grave Accent | ◌̀ | Combining Grave Accent |
| 5 | ˙ | Dot Above[21] | · | Middle Dot (usually omitted)[22] |
Unlike Hanyu Pinyin, Bopomofo aligns well with the Chinese characters in books whose texts areprinted vertically, making Bopomofo better suited for annotating the pronunciation of vertically oriented Chinese text.
When used in conjunction with Chinese characters, Bopomofo is typically placed to the right of the Chinese character vertically in bothvertical print[23][24] andhorizontal print[25] or to the top of the Chinese character in a horizontal print (seeRuby characters).
Below is an example for the word "bottle" (pinyin:píngzi):
| , |
| or |
|
Words rhotacized as a result oferhua are spelled withㄦ attached to the syllable (like歌兒gēr). In case the syllable uses other tones than the 1st tone, the tone mark is attached to the penultimate letter standing for syllable nucleus, but not toㄦ (e.g.哪兒nǎr;一點兒yīdiǎnr;好玩兒hǎowánr).[26]
Bopomofo andpinyin are based on the same Mandarin pronunciations; hence there is a one-to-one correspondence between the two systems:
| Rhyme | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ㄚ | ㄛ | ㄜ | ㄝ | ㄞ | ㄟ | ㄠ | ㄡ | ㄢ | ㄣ | ㄤ | ㄥ | ㄦ | |||
| Medial | [ɨ] (ㄭ)1 -i | [a] ㄚ a -a | [o] ㄛ3 o -o3 | [ɤ] ㄜ e -e | [ɛ] ㄝ ê | [ai̯] ㄞ ai -ai | [ei̯] ㄟ ei -ei | [ɑu̯] ㄠ ao -ao | [ou̯] ㄡ ou -ou | [an] ㄢ an -an | [ən] ㄣ en -en | [ɑŋ] ㄤ ang -ang | [ɤŋ] ㄥ eng -eng | [aɚ] ㄦ er | |
| ㄧ | [i] ㄧ yi -i | [i̯a] ㄧㄚ ya -ia | [i̯o] ㄧㄛ yo | [i̯ɛ] ㄧㄝ ye -ie | [i̯ai̯] ㄧㄞ yai | [i̯ɑu̯] ㄧㄠ yao -iao | [i̯ou̯] ㄧㄡ you -iu | [i̯ɛn] ㄧㄢ yan -ian | [in] ㄧㄣ yin -in | [i̯ɑŋ] ㄧㄤ yang -iang | [iŋ] ㄧㄥ ying -ing | ||||
| ㄨ | [u] ㄨ wu -u | [u̯a] ㄨㄚ wa -ua | [u̯o] ㄨㄛ3 wo -uo3 | [u̯ai̯] ㄨㄞ wai -uai | [u̯ei̯] ㄨㄟ wei -ui | [u̯an] ㄨㄢ wan -uan | [u̯ən] ㄨㄣ wen -un | [u̯ɑŋ] ㄨㄤ wang -uang | [u̯ɤŋ],[ʊŋ] ㄨㄥ weng -ong4 | ||||||
| ㄩ | [y] ㄩ yu -ü2 | [y̯ɛ] ㄩㄝ yue -üe2 | [y̯ɛn] ㄩㄢ yuan -üan2 | [yn] ㄩㄣ yun -ün2 | [i̯ʊŋ] ㄩㄥ yong -iong | ||||||||||
1 Not written.
2⟨-ü⟩ is written as⟨-u⟩ after⟨j-⟩,⟨q-⟩,⟨x-⟩, or⟨y-⟩.
3⟨ㄨㄛ⟩/⟨-uo⟩ is written as⟨ㄛ⟩/⟨-o⟩ after⟨ㄅ⟩/⟨b-⟩,⟨ㄆ⟩/⟨p-⟩,⟨ㄇ⟩/⟨m-⟩,⟨ㄈ⟩/⟨f-⟩.
4⟨weng⟩ is pronounced[ʊŋ] (written as⟨-ong⟩) when it follows an initial.
| IPA | a | ɔ | ɛ | ɤ | ai | ei | au | ou | an | ən | aŋ | əŋ | ʊŋ | aɹ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pinyin | a | o | ê | e | ai | ei | ao | ou | an | en | ang | eng | ong | er |
| Tongyong Pinyin | ||||||||||||||
| Wade–Giles | eh | ê/o | ên | êng | ung | êrh | ||||||||
| Bopomofo | ㄚ | ㄛ | ㄝ | ㄜ | ㄞ | ㄟ | ㄠ | ㄡ | ㄢ | ㄣ | ㄤ | ㄥ | ㄨㄥ | ㄦ |
| example | 阿 | 喔 | 誒 | 俄 | 艾 | 黑 | 凹 | 偶 | 安 | 恩 | 昂 | 冷 | 中 | 二 |
| IPA | i | je | jou | jɛn | in | iŋ | jʊŋ | u | wo | wei | wən | wəŋ | y | ɥe | ɥɛn | yn |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pinyin | yi | ye | you | yan | yin | ying | yong | wu | wo/o | wei | wen | weng | yu | yue | yuan | yun |
| Tongyong Pinyin | wun | wong | ||||||||||||||
| Wade–Giles | i/yi | yeh | yu | yen | yung | wên | wêng | yü | yüeh | yüan | yün | |||||
| Bopomofo | ㄧ | ㄧㄝ | ㄧㄡ | ㄧㄢ | ㄧㄣ | ㄧㄥ | ㄩㄥ | ㄨ | ㄨㄛ/ㄛ | ㄨㄟ | ㄨㄣ | ㄨㄥ | ㄩ | ㄩㄝ | ㄩㄢ | ㄩㄣ |
| example | 一 | 也 | 又 | 言 | 音 | 英 | 用 | 五 | 我 | 位 | 文 | 翁 | 玉 | 月 | 元 | 雲 |
| IPA | p | pʰ | m | fəŋ | tjou | twei | twən | tʰɤ | ny | ly | kɤ | kʰɤ | xɤ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pinyin | b | p | m | feng | diu | dui | dun | te | nü | lü | ge | ke | he |
| Tongyong Pinyin | fong | diou | duei | nyu | lyu | ||||||||
| Wade–Giles | p | pʻ | fêng | tiu | tui | tun | tʻê | nü | lü | ko | kʻo | ho | |
| Bopomofo | ㄅ | ㄆ | ㄇ | ㄈㄥ | ㄉㄧㄡ | ㄉㄨㄟ | ㄉㄨㄣ | ㄊㄜ | ㄋㄩ | ㄌㄩ | ㄍㄜ | ㄎㄜ | ㄏㄜ |
| example | 玻 | 婆 | 末 | 封 | 丟 | 兌 | 頓 | 特 | 女 | 旅 | 歌 | 可 | 何 |
| IPA | tɕjɛn | tɕjʊŋ | tɕʰin | ɕɥɛn | ʈʂɤ | ʈʂɨ | ʈʂʰɤ | ʈʂʰɨ | ʂɤ | ʂɨ | ɻɤ | ɻɨ | tsɤ | tswo | tsɨ | tsʰɤ | tsʰɨ | sɤ | sɨ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pinyin | jian | jiong | qin | xuan | zhe | zhi | che | chi | she | shi | re | ri | ze | zuo | zi | ce | ci | se | si |
| Tongyong Pinyin | jyong | cin | syuan | jhe | jhih | chih | shih | rih | zih | cih | sih | ||||||||
| Wade–Giles | chien | chiung | chʻin | hsüan | chê | chih | chʻê | chʻih | shê | shih | jê | jih | tsê | tso | tzŭ | tsʻê | tzʻŭ | sê | ssŭ |
| Bopomofo | ㄐㄧㄢ | ㄐㄩㄥ | ㄑㄧㄣ | ㄒㄩㄢ | ㄓㄜ | ㄓ | ㄔㄜ | ㄔ | ㄕㄜ | ㄕ | ㄖㄜ | ㄖ | ㄗㄜ | ㄗㄨㄛ | ㄗ | ㄘㄜ | ㄘ | ㄙㄜ | ㄙ |
| example | 件 | 囧 | 秦 | 宣 | 哲 | 之 | 扯 | 赤 | 社 | 是 | 惹 | 日 | 仄 | 左 | 字 | 策 | 次 | 色 | 斯 |
| IPA | ma˥ | ma˧˥ | ma˨˩˦ | ma˥˩ | ma |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pinyin | mā | má | mǎ | mà | ma |
| Tongyong Pinyin | ma | må | |||
| Wade–Giles | ma1 | ma2 | ma3 | ma4 | ma |
| Bopomofo | ㄇㄚ | ㄇㄚˊ | ㄇㄚˇ | ㄇㄚˋ | ˙ㄇㄚ |
| example (Chinese characters) | 媽 | 麻 | 馬 | 罵 | 嗎 |
Bopomofo symbols for non-MandarinChinese varieties are added to Unicode in theBopomofo Extended block.
In Taiwan, Bopomofo is used to teachTaiwanese Hokkien, and is also used to transcribe it phonetically in contexts such as on storefront signs, karaoke lyrics, and film subtitles.
Three letters no longer used for Mandarin are carried over from the 1913 standard:
| Bopomofo | IPA | GR | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|---|
| ㄪ | v | v | v |
| ㄫ | ŋ | ng | ng |
| ㄬ | ɲ | gn | gn |
23 more letters were added specifically for Taiwanese Hokkien:
| Bopomofo | IPA | TL | Derivation |
|---|---|---|---|
| ㆠ | b | b | ㄅ with voicing circle |
| ㆣ | g | g | ㄍ with voicing circle |
| ㆢ | d͡ʑ | ji | ㄐ with voicing circle |
| ㆡ | d͡z | j | ㄗ with voicing circle |
| ㆨ | ɨ | ir | ㄨ andㄧ combined (?) |
| ㆦ | ɔ | oo | fromㄛ |
| ㆤ | e | e | fromㄝ |
| ㆩ | ã | ann | ㄚ with nasal curl |
| ㆧ | ɔ̃ | onn | ㆦ with nasal curl |
| ㆥ | ẽ | enn | ㆤ with nasal curl |
| ㆪ/ㆳ | ĩ | inn | ㄧ with nasal curl |
| ㆫ | ũ | unn | ㄨ with nasal curl |
| ㆮ | ãĩ | ainn | ㄞ with nasal curl |
| ㆯ | ãũ | aunn | ㄠ with nasal curl |
| ㆰ | am | am | ㄚ andㄇ combined |
| ㆱ | ɔm | om | ㆦ andㄇ combined |
| ㆲ | ɔŋ | ong | |
| ㆬ | m̩ | m | ㄇ with syllabic stroke |
| ㆭ | ŋ̍ | ng | ㄫ with syllabic stroke |
| ㆴ | -p̚ | -p | smallㄅ |
| ㆵ | -t̚ | -t | smallㄉ |
| ㆻ/ㆶ | -k̚ | -k | smallㄍ (and variant smallㄎ) |
| ㆷ | -ʔ | -h | smallㄏ |
Two tone marks were added for the additional tones:˪,˫
The following letters are used inCantonese.[27]
| Bopomofo | IPA | Jyutping |
|---|---|---|
| ㆼ | kʷ | gw |
| ㆽ | kʷʰ | kw |
| ㆾ | ɵ | eo |
| ㆿ | ɐ | a |
If a syllable ends with a consonant other than-an or-aan, the consonant's letter is added, then followed by a final middle dot.
-ㄞ is used for[aːi] (aai) (e.g.敗,ㄅㄞbaai6, "to be defeated").
-ㄣ is used for[ɐn] (an) (e.g.跟,ㄍㄣgan1, "to follow"), and-ㄢ is used for[aːn] (aan) (e.g.間,ㄍㄢgaan1, "within"). Other vowels that end with-n use-ㄋ· for the finalㄋ. (e.g.見,ㄍㄧㄋ·gin3, "to see").
-ㄡ is used for[ɐu] (au). (e.g.牛,ㄫㄡ,ngau4, "cow") To transcribe[ou] (ou), it is written asㄛㄨ (e.g.路,ㄌㄛㄨlou6, "path").
ㄫ is used for both initialng- (as in牛,ㄫㄡ,ngau4) and final-ng (as in用,ㄧㄛㄫ·,jung6 "to use").
ㄐ is used for[t͡s] (z) (e.g.煑,ㄐㄩzyu2, "to cook") andㄑ is used for[t͡sʰ] (c) (e.g. 全,ㄑㄩㄋ·cyun4, "whole").
During the time when Bopomofo was proposed for Cantonese, tones were not marked.
Bopomofo can be used as aninput method for Chinese characters. It is one of the few input methods that can be found on most modern personal computers without having to download or install any additional software. It is also one of the few input methods that can be used for inputting Chinese characters on certaincell phones.[citation needed]. On theQWERTY keyboard, the symbols are ordered column-wise top-down (e.g.1+Q+A+Z)
Bopomofo was added to theUnicode Standard in October 1991 with the release of version 1.0.
The Unicode block for Bopomofo 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 | ㄮ | ㄯ |
| Notes | ||||||||||||||||
Additional characters were added in September 1999 with the release of version 3.0.
The Unicode block for these additional characters, called Bopomofo Extended, is U+31A0–U+31BF:
| Bopomofo Extended[1] 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
| ||||||||||||||||
Unicode 3.0 also added the charactersU+02EA ˪MODIFIER LETTER YIN DEPARTING TONE MARK andU+02EB ˫MODIFIER LETTER YANG DEPARTING TONE MARK, in theSpacing Modifier Letters block. These two characters are now (since Unicode 6.0) classified as Bopomofo characters.[28]
| Tonal marks for bopomofo Spacing Modifier Letters | |||
| Tone | Tone Marker | Unicode | Note |
| 1 Yin Ping (Level) | ˉ | U+02C9 | Usually omitted |
| 2 Yang Ping (Level) | ˊ | U+02CA | |
| 3 Shang (Rising) | ˇ | U+02C7 | |
| 4 Qu (Departing) | ˋ | U+02CB | |
| 4a Yin Qu (Departing) | ˪ | U+02EA | ForMinnan andHakka languages |
| 4b Yang Qu (Departing) | ˫ | U+02EB | ForMinnan andHakka languages |
| 5 Qing (Neutral) | ˙ | U+02D9 | |
The term "Bopomofo" is derived from the first four characters of the system's alphabet [ㄅㄆㄇㄈ – B'P'M'F'].
韻符「ㄭ」，陰平調號「¯」，注音時省略不標{...}陰平 以一短橫代表高平之聲調，注音時可省略不標。標注在字音最後一個符號右上角。
the rhyme symbol, "ㄭ", and the mark of Yin-ping tone, "¯", could be left out on Bopomofo notes.{...}This high and level tone is noted as a short dash mark and could be left out in Bopomofo note. If it is noted, it should be put on the upper right corner of the last Bopomofo note.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Authority control databases: National |
|---|
