Bopomofo

Mandarin Phonetic Symbols
Type
Semisyllabary (letters for onsets and rimes; diacritics for tones)
Creator Commission on the Unification of Pronunciation
Introduced by the Gov't of the ROC
Time period
 1918 to 1958 in China
1945 to the present in Taiwan
Parent systems
Oracle Bone Script
  • Seal Script
    • Clerical Script
      • Mandarin Phonetic Symbols
Child systems
 Taiwanese Phonetic Symbols
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
Mandarin Phonetic Symbol
Traditional Chinese 注音符號
Simplified Chinese 注音符号

Zhuyin fuhao, Zhuyin or Bopomofo is a system of phonetic notation for the transcription of spoken Chinese, particularly the Mandarin dialect. The first two are traditional terms, whereas Bopomofo is the colloquial term, also used by the ISO and Unicode. Consisting of 37 characters and four tone marks, it transcribes all possible sounds in Mandarin. Zhuyin was introduced in China by the Republican Government in the 1910s and used alongside the Wade-Giles system, which used a modified Latin alphabet. The Wade system was replaced by Hanyu Pinyin in 1958 by the Government of the People's Republic of China,[1] and at the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 1982.[2] Although Taiwan officially abandoned Wade-Giles in 2009, Bopomofo remains widely used as an educational tool and electronic input method in Taiwan.

Name

The informal name "Bopomofo" is derived from the first four syllables in the conventional ordering of available syllables in Mandarin Chinese. The four Bopomofo characters (ㄅㄆㄇㄈ) that correspond to these syllables are usually placed first in a list of these characters. The same sequence is sometimes used by other speakers of Chinese to refer to other phonetic systems.

The original formal name of the system was Guóyīn Zìmǔ (國音字母, lit. "Phonetic Alphabet of the National Language") and Zhùyīn Zìmǔ (t 註音字母, s 注音字母, lit. "Phonetic Alphabet" or "Annotated Phonetic Letters").[3] It was later renamed Zhùyīn Fúhào (注音符號), meaning "phonetic symbols".

In official documents, Zhuyin is occasionally called "Mandarin Phonetic Symbols I" (國語注音符號第一式), abbreviated as "MPS I" (注音一式).

In English translations, the system is often also called either Chu-yin or the Mandarin Phonetic Symbols.[3][4] A romanized phonetic system was released in 1984 as Mandarin Phonetic Symbols II (MPS II).

History

The Commission on the Unification of Pronunciation, led by Wu Zhihui from 1912 to 1913, created a system called Zhuyin Zimu,[3] which was based on Zhang Binglin's shorthand. 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.[3] It was later renamed first Guoyin Zimu and then, in April 1930, Zhuyin Fuhao. The last renaming addressed fears that the alphabetic system might independently replace Chinese characters.[5]

Modern use

Zhuyin 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 to look up characters in a dictionary in Taiwan.

In elementary school, particularly in the lower years, Chinese characters in textbooks are often annotated with Zhuyin as ruby characters as an aid to learning. Additionally, one newspaper in Taiwan, the Mandarin Daily News annotates all articles with Zhuyin ruby characters.

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

Etymology

Table showing Zhuyin in Gwoyeu Romatzyh.

The Zhuyin characters were created by Zhang Binglin, and taken mainly from "regularised" forms of ancient Chinese characters, the modern readings of which contain the sound that each letter represents. It is to be noted that the first consonants are articulated from the front of the mouth to the back, /b/, /p/, /m/, /f/, /d/, /t/, /n/, /l/ etc.

Origin of zhuyin symbols
Consonants
ZhuyinOriginIPAPinyinWGExample
ㄅ From 勹, the ancient form and current top portion of 包 bāo pbp八 (ㄅㄚ, bā)
ㄆ From 攵, the combining form of 攴 pū pʰpp'杷 (ㄆㄚˊ, pá)
ㄇ From 冂, the archaic character and current radical 冖 mì mmm馬 (ㄇㄚˇ, mǎ)
ㄈFrom 匚 fāng fff法 (ㄈㄚˇ, fǎ)
ㄉ From the archaic form of 刀 dāo. Compare the bamboo form . tdt地 (ㄉㄧˋ, dì)
ㄊ From the upside-down 子 seen at the top of 充 chōng tʰtt'提 (ㄊㄧˊ, tí)
ㄋ From /𠄎, ancient form of 乃 nǎi nnn你 (ㄋㄧˇ, nǐ)
ㄌ From the archaic form of 力 lì lll利 (ㄌㄧˋ, lì)
ㄍ From the obsolete character 巜 guì/kuài "river" kgk告 (ㄍㄠˋ, gào)
ㄎ From the archaic character 丂 kǎo kʰkk'考 (ㄎㄠˇ, kǎo)
ㄏ From the archaic character and current radical 厂 hàn xhh好 (ㄏㄠˇ, hǎo)
ㄐ From the archaic character 丩 jiū ʨjch叫 (ㄐㄧㄠˋ, jiào)
ㄑ From the archaic character ㄑ quǎn, graphic root of the character 巛 chuān (modern 川) ʨʰqch'巧 (ㄑㄧㄠˇ, qiǎo)
ㄒ From 丅, an ancient form of 下 xià. ɕxhs小 (ㄒㄧㄠˇ, xiǎo)
ㄓ From /㞢, archaic form of 之 zhī. ʈʂzhch主 (ㄓㄨˇ, zhǔ)
ㄔ From the character and radical 彳 chì ʈʂʰchch'出 (ㄔㄨ, chū)
ㄕ From the character 尸 shī ʂshsh束 (ㄕㄨˋ, shù)
ㄖ Modified from the seal script form of 日 rì ʐrj入 (ㄖㄨˋ, rù)
ㄗ From the archaic character and current radical 卩 jié, dialectically zié tszts在 (ㄗㄞˋ, zài)
ㄘ Variant of 七 qī, dialectically ciī. Compare semi-cursive form and seal-script . tsʰcts'才 (ㄘㄞˊ, cái)
ㄙ From the archaic character 厶 sī, which was later replaced by its compound 私 sī. sss塞 (ㄙㄞ, sāi)
Rhymes & Medials
ZhuyinOriginIPAPinyinWGExample
ㄚ From 丫 yā aaa大 (ㄉㄚˋ, dà)
ㄛ From the obsolete character 𠀀 hē, inhalation, the reverse of 丂 kǎo, which is preserved as a phonetic in the compound 可 kě.[6] uɔoo多 (ㄉㄨㄛ, duō)
ㄜ Derived from its allophone in Standard Chinese, ㄛ o ɯʌeo/ê得 (ㄉㄜˊ, dé)
ㄝ From 也 yě. Compare the Warring States bamboo form ɛêeh爹 (ㄉㄧㄝ, diē)
ㄞ From 𠀅 hài, bronze form of 亥. aɪaiai晒 (ㄕㄞˋ, shài)
ㄟ From 乁 yí, an obsolete character meaning 移 yí "to move". eɪeiei誰 (ㄕㄟˊ, shéi)
ㄠ From 幺 yāo ɑʊaoao少 (ㄕㄠˇ, shǎo)
ㄡ From 又 yòu oʊouou收 (ㄕㄡ, shōu)
ㄢ From the obsolete character ㄢ hàn "to bloom", preserved as a phonetic in the compound 犯 fàn ananan山 (ㄕㄢ, shān)
ㄣ From 乚 yǐn ənenên申 (ㄕㄣ, shēn)
ㄤ From 尢 wāng ɑŋangang上 (ㄕㄤˋ, shàng)
ㄥ From 厶, an obsolete form of 厷 gōng əŋengêng生 (ㄕㄥ, shēng)
ㄦ From 儿, the bottom portion of 兒 ér used as a cursive form ɑɻerêrh而 (ㄦˊ, ér)
ㄧ From 一 yī ii/yi逆 (ㄋㄧˋ, nì)
ㄨ From 㐅, ancient form of 五 wǔ. uu/wu/w努 (ㄋㄨˇ, nǔ)
ㄩ From the ancient character 凵 qū, which remains as a radical yü/yuü/yü女 (ㄋㄩˇ, nǚ)
ㄭ
 Perhaps 帀, in addition to ㄓ. It represents the minimal vowel of ㄓ, ㄔ, ㄕ, ㄖ, ㄗ, ㄘ, ㄙ, though it's not used after them in transcription.[7] ɨ-iih/û資 (ㄗ, zī); 知 (ㄓ, zhī); 死 (ㄙˇ, sǐ)

The Zhuyin characters are encoded in Unicode in the "bopomofo" block, in the range U+3105 ... U+312D.

Writing

Stroke order

Zhuyin 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

ToneZhuyinPinyin
1none¯
2ˊˊ
3ˇˇ
4ˋˋ
5˙none

The tone marks used in Zhuyin for the second, third, and fourth tones are the same as the ones used in Hanyu Pinyin. In Zhuyin, 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.

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

Zhuyin, 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
ㄆ丨ㄥˊㄗ˙
瓶子

Comparison

Zhuyin 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 'Zhuyin' and 'pinyin' rows show equivalency.

Vowels a, e, o, i
IPA ä ɔ ɛ ɯʌ aɪ eɪ ɑʊ ou än ən ɑŋ ɤŋ ɑɻ i iɛ iou 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 呗 俄 艾 黑 凹 偶 安 恩 昂 冷 二 一 也 又 言 音 英
Vowels u, y
IPA u uɔ ueɪ uən uɤŋ 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 pʰuɔ muɔ fɤŋ tioʊ tueɪ tuən tʰɯʌ ny ly kɯʌɻ kʰɯʌ xɯʌ
Pinyin bo po mo feng diu dui dun te nü lü ger ke he
Tongyong Pinyin bo po mo fong diou duei dun te nyu lyu ger ke he
Wade–Giles po p'o mo fêng tiu tui tun t'ê nü lü kêrh k'o ho
Zhuyin ㄅㄛ ㄆㄛ ㄇㄛ ㄈㄥ ㄉㄧㄡ ㄉㄨㄟ ㄉㄨㄣ ㄊㄜ ㄋㄩ ㄌㄩ ㄍㄜㄦ ㄎㄜ 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 tsɯ tsʰɯʌ tsʰɯ sɯʌ sɯ
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 tzu ts'ê tz'u sê szu
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 mä˥˥ mä˧˥ mä˨˩˦ mä˥˩ mä
Pinyin mā má mǎ mà ma
Tongyong Pinyin ma má mǎ mà må
Wade–Giles ma1 ma2 ma3 ma4 ma,
ma0, or
ma5
Zhuyin ㄇㄚ ㄇㄚˊ ㄇㄚˇ ㄇㄚˋ •ㄇㄚ
example (traditional/simplified) 媽/妈 麻/麻 馬/马 罵/骂 嗎/吗

Non-Standard Mandarin dialects

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

ZhuyinIPAGRPinyin
ㄪvvv
ㄫŋngng
ㄬɲgnny

Computer uses

Input method

An example of a Zhuyin keypad for Taiwan.

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.

A typical keyboard layout for Zhuyin on computers.

Unicode

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

The Unicode block for Zhuyin, called 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
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 7.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

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][2]
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
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 7.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Pinyin celebrates 50th birthday". Xinhua News Agency. 2008-02-11. Retrieved 2008-09-20.
  2. ↑ "ISO 7098:1982 – Documentation – Romanization of Chinese". Retrieved 2009-03-01.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 The Republic of China government, Government Information Office. "Taiwan Yearbook 2006: The People & Languages". |Also available at Archived May 9, 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ Taiwan Headlines. "Taiwan Headlines: Society News: New Taiwanese dictionary unveiled". Government Information Office, Taiwan(ROC).
  5. ↑ John DeFrancis. The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy. Honolulu, HI, USA: University of Hawaii Press, 1984. p. 242.
  6. ↑ "Unihan data for U+ 20000".
  7. ↑ Michael Everson, H. W. Ho, Andrew West, "Proposal to encode one Bopomofo character in the UCS", SC2 WG2 N3179.

External links

Look up bopomofo in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.