Bopomofo

Bopomofo
Type Semisyllabary (letters for onsets and rimes; diacritics for tones)
Languages Chinese languages, Formosan languages
Creator Commission on the Unification of Pronunciation
Time period 1913 to the present, now used as ruby characters in Taiwan for Chinese, and as the principal script for Formosan
Parent systems
Sister systems Simplified Chinese, Kanji, Hanja, Chữ Nôm, Khitan script
ISO 15924 Bopo, 285
Direction Left-to-right
Unicode alias Bopomofo
Unicode range U+3100–U+312F,
U+31A0–U+31BF
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols.
Bopomofo
Traditional Chinese 注音符號
Simplified Chinese 注音符号
Chinese romanization
Mandarin
for Standard Chinese
    Hanyu Pinyin (ISO standard)
    EFEO
    Gwoyeu Romatzyh
        Spelling conventions
    Latinxua Sin Wenz
    Mandarin Phonetic Symbols II
    Chinese Postal Map Romanization
    Tongyong Pinyin
    Wade–Giles
    Yale
    Legge romanization
    Simplified Wade
    Comparison chart
for Sichuanese Mandarin
    Sichuanese Pinyin
    Scuanxua Ladinxua Xin Wenz
Yue
for Cantonese
    Guangdong Romanization
    Hong Kong Government
    Jyutping
    Meyer-Wempe
    Sidney Lau
    S. L. Wong (phonetic symbols)
    S. L. Wong (romanisation)
    Cantonese Pinyin
    Standard Romanization
    Yale
    Barnett–Chao
Wu
for Shanghai and Suzhou dialects
    Long-short
for Wenzhounese

    Wenzhounese romanisation
Min Nan
for Taiwanese, Amoy, and related
    Pe̍h-ōe-jī
    Bbínpīn Hōngàn
    Daighi tongiong pingim
    Modern Literal Taiwanese
    Phofsit Daibuun
    Tâi-lô
    TLPA
for Hainanese
    Hainanhua Pinyin Fang'an
for Teochew
    Peng'im
Min Dong
for Fuzhou dialect
    Foochow Romanized
Hakka
for Moiyan dialect
    Kejiahua Pinyin Fang'an
For Siyen dialect
    Pha̍k-fa-sṳ
    TLPA
Gan
for Nanchang dialect
    Pha̍k-oa-chhi
See also:
   General Chinese
   Cyrillization
   Xiao'erjing
   'Phags-pa script
   Bopomofo
   Taiwanese kana
   Romanisation in Singapore
   Romanisation in the ROC

Proto-Sinaitic script? 19 c. BCE
Meroitic 3 c. BCE
Ogham 4 c. CE
Hangul 1443
Zhuyin (Bopomofo) 1913

Zhuyin fuhao (pinyin: Zhùyīn fúhào; Zhuyin Fuhao: ㄓㄨˋ ㄧㄣ ㄈㄨˊ ㄏㄠˋ; literally "phonetic symbol"), often abbreviated as zhuyin and colloquially called bopomofo,[1] was introduced in the 1910s as the first official phonetic system for transcribing Chinese, especially Mandarin.

Consisting of 37 characters and four tone marks, it transcribes all possible sounds in Mandarin. Although phased out in Mainland China in the 1950s, this system is still widely used as an educational tool and Chinese computer input method in Taiwan.

Contents

Name

Zhuyin is often called bopomofo whose name is derived from the first four letters of the system (ㄅㄆㄇㄈ) and occasionally used to refer to pinyin in mainland China. 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).

In English translations, the system is often called either Chu-yin or the Mandarin Phonetic Symbols.[2][3] A romanized version of bopomofo, released in 1984, is called MPS II.

History

Main article: Commission on the Unification of Pronunciation#Phonetic symbols

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")[2] which is based on Zhang Binglin's shorthands.

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, 1928.[2] zhùyīn zìmǔ was renamed zhùyīn fúhào in April 1930.

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 to their being renamed Zhùyīn Fúhào ("Phonetic Symbols") in 1930.[4]

After 1949, bopomofo was superseded in mainland China by the pinyin system promulgated by the People's Republic of China, but its use is retained in Taiwan.

Modern use

Bopomofo remains the predominant phonetic system in teaching reading and writing in elementary school in Taiwan. It is also one of the most popular ways to enter Chinese characters into computers and look up characters in a dictionary in Taiwan.

In grade one, Chinese characters in textbooks are often annotated with bopomofo as students take ten weeks to learn them.

In teaching Mandarin, Taiwan institutions and some overseas communities still use bopomofo as a learning tool.

Besides transcribing Chinese, bopomofo is also used as the primary writing system for a few aboriginal languages of Taiwan, such as Atayal,[5] Seediq,[6] Paiwan,[7] or Tao.[8] It is sometimes used to annotate Taiwanese Hokkien,[9] a widely spoken Chinese language in Taiwan, however pe̍h-ōe-jī romanization is more common in use.

Etymology

The zhuyin letters were created by Zhang Binglin, and mainly taken from "regularized" forms of ancient Chinese characters, the modern readings of which contain the sound that each letter represents.

Origin of zhuyin symbols
Zhuyin Pinyin Origin
ㄅ b From 勹, the ancient form and current top portion of 包 bāo
ㄆ p From 攵, the combining form of 攴 pū
ㄇ m From 冂, the archaic character and current radical 冖 mì
ㄈ f From 匚 fāng
ㄉ d From the archaic form of 刀 dāo. Compare the bamboo form .
ㄊ t From the upside-down 子 seen at the top of 充
ㄋ n From /𠄎, ancient form of 乃 nǎi
ㄌ l From the archaic form of 力 lì
ㄍ g From the obsolete character 巜 guì/kuài" 'river'
ㄎ k From the archaic character 丂 kǎo
ㄏ h From the archaic character and current radical 厂 hàn
ㄐ j From the archaic character 丩 jiū
ㄑ q From the archaic character ㄑ quǎn, graphic root of the character 巛 chuān (modern 川)
ㄒ x From 丅, an ancient form of 下 xià.
ㄓ zh From /㞢, archaic form of 之 zhī.
ㄔ ch From the character and radical 彳 chì
ㄕ sh From the character 尸 shī
ㄖ r Modified from the seal script form of 日 rì
ㄗ z From the archaic character and current radical 卩 jié, dialectically zié
ㄘ c Variant of 七 qī, dialectically ciī. Compare semi-cursive form and seal-script .
ㄙ s From the archaic 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.[10]
ㄜ e Derived from its allophone in Standard Chinese, ㄛ o
ㄝ ê From 也 yě. Compare the Warring States bamboo form
ㄞ ai From 𠀅 hài, bronze 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
ㄭ -i (, and inverted ㄓ) Perhaps 市, in addition to ㄓ. It is the minimal vowel of ㄓ, ㄔ, ㄕ, ㄖ, ㄗ, ㄘ, ㄙ that is spelled "ih" in Tongyong Pinyin and Wade-Giles and "i" in pinyin.

The zhuyin characters 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.

Writing

Stroke order

Bopomofo is written in the same stroke order rule as Chinese characters. Note that ㄖ is written with three strokes, unlike the character from which it is derived (日, Hanyu Pinyin: rì), which has four strokes.

Tonal marks

Tone bopomofo Pinyin
1 none ¯
2 ˊ ´
3 ˇ ˇ
4 ˋ ˋ
short ˙ none

The tone marks used in Bopomofo for the second, third, and fourth tones are the same as the ones used in Hanyu Pinyin. In Bopomofo, no marker is used for the first tone and a dot denotes the neutral tone, whereas in Pinyin, a dash (¯) represents the first tone and no marker is used for the neutral tone.

Alignment

Unlike Hanyu Pinyin, bopomofo aligns well with the hanzi characters in books whose texts are printed vertically, making bopomofo better suited for annotating the pronunciation of vertically oriented Chinese text.

Bopomofo, when used in conjunction with Chinese characters, are typically placed to the right of the Chinese character vertically or to the top of the Chinese character in a horizontal print (see Ruby character).

Below is an example for the word "bottle" (pinyin: píngzi):

瓶 ㄆ
ㄧ
ㄥˊ
子 ˙
ㄗ
or
ㄆㄧㄥˊ ㄗ˙
瓶 子

Comparison

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

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

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

Bopomofo vs. Pinyin
Initials
Bopomofo Hanyu Pinyin Tongyong Pinyin[11] Wade-Giles Example (Bopomofo, 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 q c ch' 巧 (ㄑㄧㄠˇ, qiǎo)
ㄒ x s hs 小 (ㄒㄧㄠˇ, xiǎo)
ㄓ zhi 【zh】 jhih 【jh】 chih 【ch】 主 (ㄓㄨˇ, zhǔ)
ㄔ chi 【ch】 chih 【ch】 ch'ih 【ch'】 出 (ㄔㄨ, chū)
ㄕ shi 【sh】 shih 【sh】 shih 【sh】 束 (ㄕㄨˋ, shù)
ㄖ ri 【r】 rih 【r】 jih 【j】 入 (ㄖㄨˋ, rù)
ㄗ zi 【z】 zih 【z】 tzû 【ts】 在 (ㄗㄞˋ, zài)
ㄘ ci 【c】 cih 【c】 tz'û 【ts'】 才 (ㄘㄞˊ, cái)
ㄙ si 【s】 sih 【s】 ssû 【s】 塞 (ㄙㄞ, sāi)
Finals
Bopomofo Hanyu Pinyin Tongyong Pinyin Wade-Giles Example(Bopomofo, Hanyu)
ㄚ a a a 大 (ㄉㄚˋ, dà)
ㄛ o o o 多 (ㄉㄨㄛ, duō)
ㄜ e e e 得 (ㄉㄜˊ, dé)
ㄝ ê e 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)
ㄧㄣ yin 【in】 yin 【in】 yin 【in】 音 (ㄧㄣ, yīn)
ㄧㄥ ying 【ing】 ying 【ing】 ying 【ing】 英 (ㄧㄥ, yīng)
ㄨ wu 【u】 wu 【u】 wu 【u】 努 (ㄋㄨˇ, nǔ)
ㄨㄣ wen 【un】 wun 【un】 wen 【un】 文 (ㄨㄣˊ, wén)
ㄨㄥ weng 【ong】 wong 【ong】 ng 【ung】 翁 (ㄨㄥ, wēng)
ㄩ yu 【u, ü】 yu 【u, yu】 yü 【ü】 女 (ㄋㄩˇ, nǚ)
ㄩㄣ yun 【un】 yun 【un, yun】 yün 【ün】 韻 (ㄩㄣˋ, yūn)
ㄩㄥ yong 【iong】 yong yung 【iung】 永 (ㄩㄥˇ, yǒng)

Another comparison table

Vowels a, e, o, i
IPA ɑ ɔ ɛ ɯʌ aɪ eɪ ɑʊ ɤʊ an ən ɑŋ əŋ ɑɻ i iɛ iɤʊ iɛn in iŋ
Pinyin a o ê e ai ei ao ou an en ang eng er yi ye you yan yin ying
Tongyong Pinyin a o e e ai ei ao ou an en ang eng er yi ye you yan yin ying
Wade-Giles a o eh o/ê ai ei ao ou an ên ang êng êrh i yeh yu yen yin ying
Zhuyin ㄚ ㄛ ㄝ ㄜ ㄞ ㄟ ㄠ ㄡ ㄢ ㄣ ㄤ ㄥ ㄦ ㄧ ㄧㄝ ㄧㄡ ㄧㄢ ㄧㄣ ㄧㄥ
example 阿 哦 俄 艾 黑 凹 偶 安 恩 昂 冷 二 一 也 又 言 音 英
Vowels u, y
IPA u uɔ ueɪ uən uəŋ ʊŋ y yœ yɛn yn iʊŋ
Pinyin wu wo/o wei wen weng ong yu yue yuan yun yong
Tongyong Pinyin wu wo/o wei wun wong ong yu yue yuan yun yong
Wade-Giles wu wo/o wei wên wêng ung yü yüeh yüan yün yung
Zhuyin ㄨ ㄨㄛ/ㄛ ㄨㄟ ㄨㄣ ㄨㄥ ㄩ ㄩㄝ ㄩㄢ ㄩㄣ ㄩㄥ
example 五 我 位 文 翁 中 玉 月 元 云 用
Non-sibilant consonants
IPA puɔ pʰ m fəŋ tiɤʊ tueɪ tuən tʰ ny ly kɯʌɻ kʰ xɯʌ
Pinyin bo p m feng diu dui dun t nü lü ger k he
Tongyong Pinyin bo p m fong diou duei dun t nyu lyu ger k he
Wade-Giles po p' m fêng tiu tui tun t' nü lü kêrh k' ho
Zhuyin ㄅㄛ ㄆ ㄇ ㄈㄥ ㄉㄧㄡ ㄉㄨㄟ ㄉㄨㄣ ㄊ ㄋㄩ ㄌㄩ ㄍㄜㄦ ㄎ ㄏㄜ
example 玻 婆 末 封 丟 兌 顿 特 女 旅 歌儿 可 何
Sibilant consonants
IPA tɕiɛn tɕiʊŋ tɕʰin ɕyɛn ʈʂɯʌ ʈʂɨ ʈʂʰɯʌ ʈʂʰɨ ʂɯʌ ʂɨ ʐɯʌ ʐɨ tsɯʌ tsuɔ tsɨ tsʰɯʌ tsʰɨ sɯʌ sɨ
Pinyin jian jiong qin xuan zhe zhi che chi she shi re ri ze zuo zi ce ci se si
Tongyong Pinyin jian jyong cin syuan jhe jhih che chih she shih re rih ze zuo zih ce cih se sih
Wade-Giles chien chiung ch'in hsüan chê chih ch'ê ch'ih shê shih jê jih tsê tso tzŭ ts'ê tz'ŭ sê szŭ
Zhuyin 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 mɑ˥˥ mɑ˧˥ mɑ˨˩˦ mɑ˥˩ mɑ
Pinyin mā má mǎ mà ma
Tongyong Pinyin ma má mǎ mà må
Wade-Giles ma1 ma2 ma3 ma4 ma0
Zhuyin ㄇㄚ ㄇㄚˊ ㄇㄚˇ ㄇㄚˋ ㄇㄚ・
example (traditional/simplfied) 媽/妈 麻/麻 馬/马 罵/骂 嗎/吗

Other languages

Zhuyin is used to write several varieties of Chinese, as well as some Formosan languages.

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

Char Pinyin
ㄪ v
ㄫ ng
ㄬ ny

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

Extended bopomofo
Char Pinyin   Char Pinyin   Char Pinyin   Char Pinyin
ㆠ（） bb*   ㆦ（） oo [ɔ]   ㆬ（） syllabic m   ㆲ（） ong
ㆡ（） zz*   ㆧ（） onn [õ]   ㆭ（） syllabic ng   ㆳ（） innn
ㆢ（） jj*   ㆨ（） ir [ɨ]   ㆮ（） ainn [aĩ]   ㆴ（） Final p
ㆣ（） gg*   ㆩ（） ann [ã]   ㆯ（） aunn [aũ]   ㆵ（） Final t
ㆤ（） ee [e]   ㆪ（） inn [ĩ]   ㆰ（） am   ㆶ（） Final k
ㆥ（） enn [ẽ]   ㆫ（） unn [ũ]   ㆱ（） om   ㆷ（） Final h [ʔ]
Tones
Char Tone Value Unicode
˪ (└) Chao number "11", depicts 低平"low, level tone" (陰去聲 "upper departing") in Taiwanese Minnan U+02EA
˫ (├) Chao number "33", depicts 平"mid, level tone" (陽去聲 "lower departing") in Taiwanese Minnan U+02EB

Computer uses

Input method

Bopomofo 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.

Unicode

Bopomofo was added to the Unicode Standard in October, 1991 with the release of version 1.0.

The Unicode block for Bopomofo is U+3100 ... U+312F:

Bopomofo[1]
Unicode.org 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
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 6.0

Extended Bopomofo was added to the Unicode Standard in September, 1999 with the release of version 3.0.

The Unicode block for Extended Bopomofo is U+31A0 ... U+31BF:

Bopomofo Extended[1]
Unicode.org 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
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 6.0

See also

References

  1. ^ In Chinese, "bo", "po", "mo" and "fo" are the first four of the conventional ordering of available syllables. As a result, the four syllables together have been used to indicate various phonetic systems. For Chinese speakers who were first introduced to the Zhuyin system, "bopomofo" means zhuyin fuhao. For those who first encountered a different system, such as hanyu pinyin, "bopomofo" usually means that system first encountered.
  2. ^ a b c The Republic of China government, Government Information Office. "Taiwan Yearbook 2006: The People & Languages |Also available at [http://web.archive.org/web/20070509032222/http://www.gio.gov.tw/taiwan-website/5-gp/yearbook/02PeopleandLanguage.htm web.archive.org/web/20070509032222/http://www.gio.gov.tw/taiwan-website/5-gp/yearbook/02PeopleandLanguage.htm"]. http://www.gio.gov.tw/taiwan-website/5-gp/yearbook/02PeopleandLanguage.htm. 
  3. ^ Taiwan Headlines. "Taiwan Headlines: Society News: New Taiwanese dictionary unveiled". Government Information Office, Republic of China (Taiwan). http://www.taiwanheadlines.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=85286&ctNode=10. 
  4. ^ John DeFrancis. The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy. Honolulu, HI, USA: University of Hawaii Press, 1984. p. 242.
  5. ^ "www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-atayal.html". Christusrex.org. http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-atayal.html. Retrieved 2011-09-26. 
  6. ^ "www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-sediq.html". Christusrex.org. http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-sediq.html. Retrieved 2011-09-26. 
  7. ^ "www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-paiwan.html". Christusrex.org. http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-paiwan.html. Retrieved 2011-09-26. 
  8. ^ "www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-yami.html". Christusrex.org. http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-yami.html. Retrieved 2011-09-26. 
  9. ^ "http://www.jamesforsyth.net/zhuyinfuhao.pdf" (PDF). http://www.jamesforsyth.net/zhuyinfuhao.pdf. Retrieved 2011-09-26. 
  10. ^ "Unihan data for U+ 20000". http://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin/GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=20000. 
  11. ^ Tongyong Pinyin is being phased out of use.

External links

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