Bopomofo

Bopomofo
Traditional Chinese	注音符號
Simplified Chinese	注音符号
Bopomofo	ㄓㄨˋ ㄧㄣ ㄈㄨˊ ㄏㄠˋ
Literal meaning	Symbols for Annotating Sounds
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhùyīn fúhào Bopomofo ㄓㄨˋ ㄧㄣ ㄈㄨˊ ㄏㄠˋ Gwoyeu Romatzyh Juhin fwuhaw Wade–Giles Chu4-yin1 fu2-hao4 Tongyong Pinyin Jhùyin fúhào Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization jyu yām fùh houh Jyutping zyu3 jam1 fu4 hou6*2 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Chù-im hû-hō
Burmese name
Burmese	Jùyīn fúhàu

Zhuyin fuhao
Script type	Semi-syllabary (letters for onsets and rimes; diacritics for tones)
Time period	1913 to the present, now used as ruby characters in Taiwan for Chinese, and as the principal script for Formosan
Direction	Left-to-right, right-to-left script
Languages	Chinese languages, Formosan languages
Related scripts
Parent systems	Chinese characters Zhuyin fuhao
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Bopo (285), ​Bopomofo
Unicode
Unicode alias	Bopomofo

Zhuyin fuhao, often abbreviated zhuyin (or jhuyin), is a phonetic system for transcribing Chinese, especially Mandarin, for people learning to read, write or speak Mandarin. This semi-syllabary is currently in wide use in the Republic of China of Taiwan (see Uses). Consisting of 37 letters and 4 tone marks, it is a comprehensive system that can transcribe all the possible sounds in Mandarin.

Although often thought of as an alphabet, zhuyin is not based on consonants and vowels but on syllable onsets and rimes, based on the Chinese rime tables but with diacritics rather than separate rimes for the tones. As in an alphabet, the consonants (onsets) are represented by distinct letters. These constitute 21 of zhuyin's 37. However, excluding the medial glide, each rime also has a distinct letter, which conflates vowels, diphthongs, and final consonants. For example, luan is written ㄌㄨㄢ (l-u-an), where the last letter ㄢ represents the entire final -an. These finals constitute the other 16 letters of zhuyin. (However, final -p, -t, -k, which are not found in Mandarin, are written as subscript letters after a final that represents only the vowel.)

In everyday speech, zhuyin is known as bopomo or bopomofo (ㄅㄆㄇㄈ) after the first letters in the alphabet. In official documents, it is occasionally called the "Mandarin Phonetic Symbols I" (國語注音符號第一式), abbreviated as the "MPS I" (注音一式); however, this official name is almost never used in English. Either chu-yin or the Mandarin Phonetic Symbols (without the numeral suffix) is preferred in official translations. The Roman numeral serves to distinguish it from its lesser known counterpart, the MPS II, a romanization system invented around the same period but now defunct (c.f. Romanization of Chinese in Taiwan).

History

The Commission on the Unification of Pronunciation, led by Woo Tsin-hang from 1912 to 1913, created a system called guóyīn zìmǔ (國音字母 "National Pronunciation Letters") or zhùyīn zìmǔ (註音字母 or 注音字母 "Sound-annotating Letters") which is based on Zhang Binglin's shorthands. For differences with the Zhang system, see Commission on the Unification of Pronunciation. A draft was released on July 11, 1913 by the Republic of China National Ministry of Education, but it was not officially proclaimed until November 23, 1918. Zhùyīn zìmǔ was renamed zhùyīn fúhào in April 1930. According to John DeFrancis in The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy:

The symbols were initially called Zhùyīn Zìmǔ ("Phonetic Alphabet"); later they were also called Guóyīn Zìmǔ ("National Phonetic Alphabet"). The fear that they might be considered an alphabetic system of writing independent of characters led in 1930 to their being renamed Zhùyīn Fúhào ("Phonetic Symbols").

The use of zhuyin continued after 1949 in the Republic of China on Taiwan. In mainland China, zhuyin was superseded by the pinyin system promulgated by the People's Republic of China, although the pronunciation of words in standard dictionaries are sometimes given in both pinyin and zhuyin.

Taiwan's Education Ministry has attempted for many years to phase out the use of zhuyin in favor of a system based on Latin characters (such as MPS II). However, this transition has been extremely slow due to the difficulty in teaching elementary school teachers a new Latin-based system.

Input method

Zhuyin can be used as an input method for Chinese characters. It is one of the few input methods that can be found on most modern personal computers without the user 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 certain cell phones.

File:Zhuyin on cell phone detail.jpg

Zhuyin keypads are typical on cell phones in Taiwan

A typical keyboard layout for zhuyin on computers

On-screen translations

On-screen Chinese translation software can be used in several ways. For students learning Chinese, zhuyin is one way for them to learn how to pronounce Mandarin.

Compared to pinyin, zhuyin's more compact alphabet makes it easier for some students--without remembering special pronunciation rules. Since the zhuyin characters are similar, and sometimes identical to, Chinese characters, students learning zhuyin are also making incremental steps to learn reading and writing Chinese.

Typical on-screen software translation tool from Chinese to zhuyin (bopomofo)

Origin of the letters

The zhuyin letters are created by Zhang Binglin, where the symbols are mainly taken from ancient or cursive Chinese characters, or parts of such characters, the modern readings of which contain the sound that each letter represents.

Origin of Zhuyin Symbols

Zhuyin		Origin
ㄅ	b	From 勹, the top portion 包 bāo
ㄆ	p	From 攵, the combining form of 攴 pū
ㄇ	m	From 冂, the archaic form of the radical 冖 mì
ㄈ	f	From 匚 fāng
ㄪ	v, vo	From 万 wàn, dialectically vàn
ㄉ	d	From the archaic form of 刀 dāo. Compare the bamboo form .
ㄊ	t	From ? tú, the upside-down 子 seen at the top of 充
ㄋ	n	From File:Nai3 chu silk form.png, ancient form of 乃 nǎi
ㄌ	l	Calligraphic form of 力 lì
ㄍ	g	From the obsolete character 巜 guài 'river'
ㄎ	k	From 丂 kǎo
ㄫ	ng	From 兀 wù, dialectically ngō
ㄏ	h	From 厂 hàn
ㄐ	j	From the archaic character 丩 jīu
ㄑ	q	From the archaic character ㄑ quǎn, graphic root of the character 巛 chuān (modern 川)
ㄬ	ny	From 广 iǎn, dialectically nyiǎn
ㄒ	x	From 丅, a seal form of 下 xià.
ㄓ	zh	From , archaic form of 之 zhī.
ㄔ	ch	From the radical 彳 chì
ㄕ	sh	From the old character 尸 shī
ㄖ	r	A semi-cursive form of 日 rì
ㄗ	z	From the radical 卩 jié, dialectically zié
ㄘ	c	Variant of 七 qī, dialectically ciī. Compare semi-cursive form and seal-script .
ㄙ	s	From the old character 厶 sī, which was later replaced by its compound 私 sī.
ㄧ	i, y	From 一 yī
ㄨ	u, w	From 㐅, ancient form of 五 wǔ.
ㄩ	ü, yu	From the ancient character 凵 qū, which remains as a radical
ㄚ	a	From 丫 yā
ㄛ	o	From the obsolete character 𠀀 hē, inhalation, the reverse of 丂 kǎo, which is preserved as a phonetic in the compound 可 kě.
ㄜ	e	Derived from its allophone in Standard Mandarin, ㄛ o
ㄝ	e	From 也 yě. Compare the Warring States bamboo form
ㄞ	ai	hài, ancient form of 亥.
ㄟ	ei	From 乁 yí, an obsolete character meaning 移 yí "to move".
ㄠ	ao	From 幺 yāo
ㄡ	ou	From 又 yòu
ㄢ	an	From the obsolete character ㄢ hàn "to bloom", preserved as a phonetic in the compound 犯 fàn
ㄣ	en	From 乚 yǐn
ㄤ	ang	From 尢 wāng
ㄥ	eng	From 厶, an obsolete form of 厷 gōng
ㄦ	er	From 儿, the bottom portion of 兒 ér used as a cursive form

The zhuyin characters usually are represented in typographic fonts as if drawn with an ink brush (as in Regular Script). They are encoded in Unicode in the bopomofo block, in the range U+3105..U+312D, including the 3 dialect (non-Mandarin) letters at the last four through last second, and the apical vowel ㄭ (perhaps from 市 shì) at the end.

Uses

These phonetic symbols sometimes appear as ruby characters printed next to the Chinese characters in young children's books, and in editions of classical texts (which frequently use characters that are uncommon in modern writing). In advertisements, these phonetic symbols are sometimes used to write certain particles (e.g., ㄉ instead of 的); other than this, one seldom sees these letters used in mass media adult publications except as a pronunciation guide (or index system) in dictionary entries. Bopomofo letters are also mapped to the ordinary Latin character keyboard (1 = bo, q = po, a = mo, and so forth) used in one method for inputting Chinese text when using a computer.

Unlike pinyin, the sole purpose for zhuyin in elementary education is to teach Standard Mandarin pronunciation to children. Grade one textbooks of all subjects (including Mandarin) are entirely in zhuyin. After that year, Chinese character texts are given in annotated form (as a phonetic guide next to hanzi. Around grade four, presence of zhuyin annotation is greatly reduced, remaining only in the new character section. Schoolchildren learn the letters so that they can decode pronunciations given in a Chinese dictionary, and also so that they can find how to write words for which they know only the sounds.

Pinyin, on the other hand, is multipurpose. Besides being a pronunciation notation, pinyin is used widely in publications in mainland China. Some books from mainland China are published purely in pinyin with not even a single Chinese character. Those books are targeted to minority tribal groups or Westerners who know spoken Mandarin but have not yet learned written Chinese characters. There are also many books, which have both hanzi and pinyin (as a phonetic guide). Pinyin is the sole standard in mainland China for romanising Chinese (mainly Mandarin-speaking) geographical and personal names, the pinyin-based romanisation of most Chinese names has become standard in English as well.

Zhuyin is also used to write some of the aboriginal languages of Taiwan, such as Atayal [2], Seediq [3], Paiwan [4], or Tao [5]. For these it is a primary writing system, not an ancillary system as it is for Chinese.

For non-native speakers of Mandarin Chinese, zhuyin can be useful as a learning tool. Because it does not use romanization, confusion over "Latin alphabet" sounds and "Chinese" sounds is not an issue. As well zhuyin's formation of initials and finals to form syllables is more straightforward than pinyin's. However, for one not familiar with zhuyin, it can be more difficult to first understand the proper pronunciations. With its own keyboard layout, it is also less easily used to enter Chinese by people using a standard Latin-based keyboard.

It is also the basis for Chinese Braille.

Writing

The boxes represent the outermost extent of the zhuyin and hanzi.

graphic version of the tone marks

graphic version of the tone marks

Zhuyin letters are written like Chinese characters, including the general order of strokes and positioning. They are always placed to the right of the Chinese characters, whether the characters are arranged vertically or horizontally. Technically, these are Ruby characters. Very rarely do they appear on top of Chinese characters when written horizontally as furigana would be written above kanji in a Japanese text. Because a syllable block contains usually two or three zhuyin letters (which themselves fit in a square format) stacked on top of each other, the blocks are rectangular.

The tone marks are similar to the later developed pinyin tone symbols, except that the natural tone (5th tone) is denoted with a black dot (natural dot), while pinyin does not carry any accent mark. The neutral dot is the only mark to be placed on top of the vertical zhuyin syllable block; the remaining three are in a vertical strip to the right of the character.

The tone marks are sometimes given in Regular Script style, matching the associated Chinese characters, and have the same basic shape as do those of the pinyin tone symbols. However, they vary in detail. The thickened end of zhuyin's second (rising) tone is always at the lower left, whereas the second tone mark in the pinyin system is a straight line of uniform width. The third tone mark displays the greatest variation.

Zhuyin's tone symbolization was used in the ROC-sponsored romanizations created by the Mandarin Promotion Council. The tone symbols in that system were identical with the zhuyin tone symbols, except that they were not in Regular Style calligraphy, but in a Western font face and so resemble the tone symbols used in pinyin.

Most zhuyin letters are written in the same stroke order as Chinese characters. However, because they are an alphabet, some are written faster. For example, both zh (ㄓ) and r (ㄖ) are written in three strokes. ( ; )

Zhuyin vs. tongyong pinyin & Hanyu pinyin

Zhuyin and pinyin are based on the same Mandarin pronunciations, hence there is a mostly 1-to-1 mapping between the two systems. In the table below, the 'zhuyin' and 'pinyin' columns show equivalency.

【】represents the form used in combination with other letters.

A comparison between pinyin and zhuyin for Standard Mandarin can also be done by comparing the transcription of various syllables at Comparison of Chinese Phonetic Systems.

Equivalence zhuyin-pinyin, by phonetic similarities.

Zhuyin vs. Pinyin

Initials
Zhuyin	Tongyong Pinyin	Hanyu Pinyin	Wade-Giles	Example(Zhuyin, Pinyin)
ㄅ	b	b	p	八 (ㄅㄚ, bā)
ㄆ	p	p	p'	杷 (ㄆㄚˊ, pá)
ㄇ	m	m	m	馬 (ㄇㄚˇ, mǎ)
ㄈ	f	f	f	法 (ㄈㄚˇ, fǎ)
ㄉ	d	d	t	地 (ㄉㄧˋ, dì)
ㄊ	t	t	t'	提 (ㄊㄧˊ, tí)
ㄋ	n	n	n	你 (ㄋㄧˇ, nǐ)
ㄌ	l	l	l	利 (ㄌㄧˋ, lì)
ㄍ	g	g	k	告 (ㄍㄠˋ, gào)
ㄎ	k	k	k'	考 (ㄎㄠˇ, kǎo)
ㄏ	h	h	h	好 (ㄏㄠˇ, hǎo)
ㄐ	j	j	ch	叫 (ㄐㄧㄠˋ, jiào)
ㄑ	c	q	ch'	巧 (ㄑㄧㄠˇ, qiǎo)
ㄒ	s	x	hs	小 (ㄒㄧㄠˇ, xiǎo)
ㄓ	jhih 【jh】	zhi 【zh】	chih 【ch】	主 (ㄓㄨˇ, zhǔ)
ㄔ	chih 【ch】	chi 【ch】	ch'ih 【ch'】	出 (ㄔㄨ, chū)
ㄕ	shih 【sh】	shi 【sh】	shih 【sh】	束 (ㄕㄨˋ, shù)
ㄖ	rih 【r】	ri 【r】	jih 【j】	入 (ㄖㄨˋ, rù)
ㄗ	zih 【z】	zi 【z】	tzû 【ts】	在 (ㄗㄞˋ, zài)
ㄘ	cih 【c】	ci 【c】	tz'û 【ts'】	才 (ㄘㄞˊ, cái)
ㄙ	sih 【s】	si 【s】	ssû 【s】	塞 (ㄙㄞ, sāi)
Finals
Zhuyin	Tongyong Pinyin	Hanyu Pinyin	Wade-Giles	Example(Zhuyin, Hanyu)
ㄚ	a	a	a	大 (ㄉㄚˋ, dà)
ㄛ	o	o	o	多 (ㄉㄨㄛ, duō)
ㄜ	e	e	e	得 (ㄉㄜˊ, dé)
ㄝ	e	ê	eh	爹 (ㄉㄧㄝ, diē)
ㄞ	ai	ai	ai	晒 (ㄕㄞˋ, shài)
ㄟ	ei	ei	ei	誰 (ㄕㄟˊ, shéi)
ㄠ	ao	ao	ao	少 (ㄕㄠˇ, shǎo)
ㄡ	ou	ou	ou	收 (ㄕㄡ, shōu)
ㄢ	an	an	an	山 (ㄕㄢ, shān)
ㄣ	en	en	en	申 (ㄕㄣ, shēn)
ㄤ	ang	ang	ang	上 (ㄕㄤˋ, shàng)
ㄥ	eng	eng	eng	生 (ㄕㄥ, shēng)
ㄦ	er	er	erh	而 (ㄦˊ, ér)
ㄧ	yi 【i】	yi 【i】	yi 【i】	逆 (ㄋㄧˋ, nì)
	yin 【in】	yin 【in】	yin 【in】	音 (ㄧㄣ, yīn)
	ying 【ing】	ying 【ing】	ying 【ing】	英 (ㄧㄥ, yīng)
ㄨ	wu 【u】	wu 【u】	wu 【u】	努 (ㄋㄨˇ, nǔ)
	wun 【un】	wen 【un】	wen 【un】	文 (ㄨㄣˊ, wén)
	wong 【ong】	weng 【ong】	ng 【ung】	翁 (ㄨㄥ, wēng)
ㄩ	yu 【u, yu】	yu 【u, ü】	yü 【ü】	女 (ㄋㄩˇ, nǚ)
	yun 【un, yun】	yun 【un】	yün 【ün】	韻 (ㄩㄣˋ, yūn)
	yong	yong 【iong】	yung 【iung】	永 (ㄩㄥˇ, yǒng)

Another comparison table

Vowels a, e, o

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

Vowels i, u, y

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

Non-sibilant consonants

IPA	p	pʰ	m	fəŋ	tjou	twei	twən	tʰɤ	ny	ly	kɤɹ	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

Sibilant consonants

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	窘	秦	宣	哲	之	扯	赤	社	是	惹	日	仄	左	字	策	次	色	斯

Tones

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

Chinese dialects and languages other than Standard Mandarin

Three letters formerly used in non-standard dialects of Mandarin are now also used to write other Chinese languages as well. (Some zhuyin fonts do not contain these letters; see External links for PDF pictures.)

Char	Name
万	V
兀	Ng
广	Gn

In addition, diacritics were used to create new letters for Min-nan and Hakka.

Extended zhuyin

Char	Name		Char	Name		Char	Name		Char	Name
ㆠ	Bu		ㆦ	Oo		ㆬ	Im		ㆲ	Ong
ㆡ	Zi		ㆧ	Onn		ㆭ	Ngg		ㆳ	Innn
ㆢ	Ji		ㆨ	Ir		ㆮ	Ainn		ㆴ	Final P
ㆣ	Gu		ㆩ	Ann		ㆯ	Aunn		ㆵ	Final T
ㆤ	Ee		ㆪ	Inn		ㆰ	Am		ㆶ	Final K
ㆥ	Enn		ㆫ	Unn		ㆱ	Om		ㆷ	Final H

See also

• Furigana
• Zhuyin table
• Chinese language
• Mandarin (linguistics)
• Standard Mandarin
• Pinyin
• Chinese input methods for computers
• Ruby character

External links

• Unicode reference glyphs for Template:PDFlink & Template:PDFlink
• Mandarin Dictionary (need Chinese font for Big5 encoding)
• Chinese Romanization Converter - Convert between Hanyu Pinyin, Wade-Giles, Gwoyeu Romatzyh and other known or (un-)common Romanization systems.
• Zhuyin -> Wade-Giles -> Pinyin -> Word List
• NPA->IPA National Phonetic Alphabet (zhuyin fuhao) spellings of words transliterated into the International Phonetic Alphabet (The vowel values have been verified against the official IPA site. See [6] )
• Zhuyin Fuhao to Hanyu Pinyin converter and reverse
• zhuyin fuhao syllable chart, with Hanyu Pinyin equivalents
• Pinyin Annotator Add zhuyin (bopomofo) or pinyin on top of any Chinese text. Prompts alternative pronunciations to homonyms. Has the option of exporting into OpenOffice Writer for further editing.