Help:IPA/Taiwanese Hokkien
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 | This is the pronunciation key for IPA transcriptions of Taiwanese Hokkien on Wikipedia. It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Taiwanese Hokkien in Wikipedia articles, and example words that illustrate the sounds that correspond to them. Integrity must be maintained between the key and the transcriptions that link here; do not change any symbol or value without establishing consensus on the talk page first. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between , / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters. |
The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Taiwanese Hokkien (also called Taiwanese) pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see Template:IPA and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.
Note that the Pe̍h-ōe-jī (POJ) applied in this page is Ernest Tipson's version, while Chinese Examples are pronounced with literary reading with Taiwanese Romanization System (TL) spelling in default unless specified.
Consonants
| Consonants | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPA | POJ | TL | Phonetic Symbols | Chinese Example | English approximation | |||
| p | p | ㄅ | 布 (pòo) | span | ||||
| pʰ | ph | ㄆ | 普 (phóo) | pan | ||||
| b | b | 
|
明 (bîng) | timber | ||||
| m | m- | ㄇ | 媽 (má) | moon | ||||
| am, om, im |  , 
|
暗 (àm), 參 (som), 心 (sim) | rim | |||||
| t | t | ㄉ | 端 (tuan) | stop | ||||
| tʰ | th | ㄊ | 透 (thò) | top | ||||
| l | l | ㄌ | 來 (lâi) | lime | ||||
| n | n | ㄋ | 泥 (nî) | noon | ||||
| -n | ㄣ, ㄢ | 因 (in), 安 (an) | ||||||
| k | k | ㄍ | 見 (kiàn) | skin | ||||
| kʰ | kh | ㄎ | 溪 (khe) | kin | ||||
| g | g | 
|
義 (gī) | finger | ||||
| ŋ | ng- | 
|
吳 (ngôo) | singer | ||||
| eng, ang, ong | ing, ang, ong | ㄥ, ㄤ, 
|
櫻 (ing), 幫 (pang), 王 (ông) | song | ||||
| h | h | ㄏ | 曉 (hiáu) | hit | ||||
| ʔ | ∅ | 影 (íng, ) | uh-oh | |||||
| t͡s | ch | ts | ㄗ | 走 (tsáu) | cats, usually retracted in most cases | |||
| t͡ɕ | ㄐ | 精 (tsing) | like itchy, pronounced further forward toward the teeth (palatalized). | |||||
| t͡sʰ | chh | tsh | ㄘ | 菜 (tshài) | cats | |||
| t͡ɕʰ | ㄑ | 市 (tshī) | like cheap, pronounced more forward, toward the teeth (palatalized). | |||||
| s | s | ㄙ | 三 (sam) | same | ||||
| ɕ | ㄒ | 審 (sím) | like sheep, pronounced more forward, toward the teeth (palatalized). | |||||
| d͡z | j | 
|
熱 (jua̍h) | pads | ||||
| z | zoo | |||||||
| d͡ʑ | 
|
日 (ji̍t) | like jeep, pronounced further forward toward the teeth (palatalized). | |||||
| ʑ | like zip, pronounced further forward toward the teeth (palatalized). | |||||||
| Note: Alveolo-palatal consonants (, , , and ) always precede ⟨i / e⟩ as ⟨chi (tsi) / che⟩, ⟨chhi (tshi) / chhe⟩, ⟨si / se⟩, and ⟨ji⟩. | ||||||||
| Syllabic consonants | ||||||||
| m̩ | -m | 
|
姆 (ḿ) | rhythm | ||||
| ŋ̍ | -ng | 
|
光 (kng) | song | ||||
| Stop consonant finals | ||||||||
| p̚ | -p | ◌ㄅ | 合 (ha̍p) | like sip, but no audible release; apt | ||||
| t̚ | -t | ◌ㄉ | 七 (tshit) | like sit, but no audible release | ||||
| k̚ | -k | ◌ㄍ | 角 (kak) | like sick, but no audible release | ||||
| ʔ | -h | ◌ㄏ | 桌 (toh) | uh-oh | ||||
Vowels
| Vowels | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPA | POJ | TL | Phonetic Symbols | Chinese Example | English approximation | |||
| a | a | ㄚ | 鴨 (ah) | father | ||||
| e | e | 
|
家 (ke) | day | ||||
| ɤ | o | o/or | ㄜ | 高 (kor) | Roughly like bird | |||
| o | o | ㄛ | 高 (ko) | snow | ||||
| ɔ | o͘ | oo | 
|
烏 (oo) | thought | |||
| ong, om, op, ok |
, ,ㄅ, ㄍ
|
福 (hok) | ||||||
| i | i | ㄧ | 一 (it) | see | ||||
| u | u | ㄨ | 武 (bú) | shoe | ||||
| Diphthongs | ||||||||
| ai̯ | ai | ㄞ | 愛 (ài) | fight | ||||
| au̯ | au | ㄠ | 交 (kau) | out | ||||
| i̯a | ia | ㄧㄚ | 射 (siā) | Russia | ||||
| i̯ɛ | ian, iat | ㄧㄢ, ㄧㄚㄉ | 電 (tiān), 結 (kiat) | yes | ||||
| iə̯ | eng, ek | ing, ik | ㄧㄥ, ㄧㄍ | 英 (ing), 色 (sik) | eon | |||
| i̯ə | io | ior | ㄧㄜ | 腰 (ior) | ||||
| i̯o | io | ㄧㄛ | 腰 (io) | Leo | ||||
| i̯ɔ | iong, iok | ㄧ, ㄧㄍ
|
中 (tiong), 欲 (io̍k) | kiosk | ||||
| i̯u | iu | ㄧㄨ | 手 (tshiú) | dew | ||||
| u̯a | oa | ua | ㄨㄚ | 化 (huà) | like quality | |||
| u̯e | oe | ue | ㄨ
|
尾 (bué) | question | |||
| u̯i | ui | ㄨㄧ | 水 (suí) | we | ||||
| Triphthongs | ||||||||
| i̯au̯ | iau | ㄧㄠ | 妖 (iau) | meow | ||||
| u̯ai̯ | oai | uai | ㄨㄞ | 怪 (kuài) | quiet | |||
| Nasal vowels | ||||||||
| ◌̃ | m◌, n◌, ng◌ | ㄇ◌, ㄋ◌, ◌
|
鰻 (muâ), 梁 (niû), 迎 (ngiâ) | Nasalized vowel(s) | ||||
| ã | an | ann | 
|
衫 (sann) | like naive; nasalized | |||
| ẽ | en | enn | 
|
青 (tsenn) | like next; nasalized | |||
| ĩ | in | inn | 
|
圓 (înn) | like niece; nasalized | |||
| ɔ̃ | on | onn | 
|
否 (hónn) | French: son; nasalized | |||
| ãĩ̯ | ain | ainn | 
|
載 (tsáinn) | like nine; nasalized | |||
| ĩ̯ã | ian | iann | ㄧ
|
兄 (hiann) | roughly like civilian; nasalized | |||
| ĩ̯ũ | iun | iunn | ㄧ
|
羊 (iûnn) | like nuance; nasalized | |||
| ũ̯ã | oan | uann | ㄨ
|
官 (kuann) | roughly like wander nasalized | |||
| ũ̯ĩ | uin | uinn | ㄨ
|
快 (khuìnn) | roughly like twin; nasalized | |||
| ĩ̯ãũ̯ | iaun | iaunn | ㄧ
|
喓 (iaunn) | like meow; nasalized | |||
| ũ̯ãĩ̯ | oain | uainn | ㄨ
|
關 (kuainn) | roughly like wine; nasalized | |||
| Note: ⟨◌n⟩ in POJ is sometimes written as ⟨◌N⟩ when superscript ⟨n⟩ is not supported. | ||||||||
Tones
| Tones | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tone Number |
IPA (WP) |
POJ | TL | Phonetic Symbols | Chinese Example | Dialect values (IPA) | ||
| Kaohsiung | Taipei | Lukang | ||||||
| 0 | ◌--a | 後日 （āu--ji̍t） | (varying) | |||||
| 1 | ˦ | a | ㄚ | 東 | 55 | 44 | 33 | |
| 2 | ˥˩ | á | ㄚˋ | 黨 | 51 | 53 | 55 | |
| 3 | ˧˩ | à | ㄚ˪ | 棟 | 31 | 21 | 31 | |
| 4 | ʔ˧˨ | a◌ | ㄚ◌ | 督 | 3 | 2 | 5 | |
| 5 | ˨˦ | â | ㄚˊ | 同 | 24 | |||
| 6 | ˨ | ǎ | ㄚˋ | 動 | 22 | |||
| 7 | ˧ | ā | ㄚ˫ | 洞 | 33 | 31 | ||
| 8 | ʔ˦ | a̍◌ | ㄚ◌˙ | 毒 | 5 | 4 | 35 | |
| 9 | ˧˥ | a̋ | 引擎 | 35 | ||||
| Note: ◌ can be any of the four stop consonant finals in Taiwanese as listed in the above. | ||||||||
Dialectal segments
Choân-chiu Dialect
| Consonants | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPA | POJ | TL | Phonetic Symbols | Chinese Example | English approximation |
| d͡ʑ | j | j |
|
字 (jī / lī) | like jeep, pronounced further forward toward the teeth (palatalized). |
| l | l | ㄌ | lap | ||
| 熱 (jua̍h / lua̍h) | |||||
| d͡z | j |
|
pads | ||
| Vowels | |||||
| ə | e | er | ㄜ | 火 (hér) | about |
| ɨ | i / u | ir | 
|
豬 (tir) | roughly like glasses; sometimes pronounced as as goose (California) |
| ɘ̯e | oe | ere | ㄜ
|
雞 (kere) | |
| ɘ̯u | io | eru | ㄜㄨ | 購 (kerù) | |
| ɨ̯̃ĩ | eng | irinn |
|
肩 (kirinn) | |
Chiang-chiu Dialect
| Consonants | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPA | POJ | TL | Phonetic Symbols | Chinese Example | English approximation |
| ȵ | n | gn | 
|
耳 (gní) | like onion |
| ʑ | j | j |
|
日 (ji̍t / gi̍t) | like zip, pronounced further forward toward the teeth (palatalized). |
| g | g |
|
give | ||
| z | j |
|
熱 (jua̍h) | zoo | |
| Vowels | |||||
| ɛ | e | ee / ek / eng | ㄝ | 家 (kee) | bet |
| ɛ̃ | en | eenn | 
|
青 (tsheenn) | French: vin; nasalized |
| ĩ̯ɔ̃ | iun | ionn | ㄧ
|
羊 (iônn) | like neon; nasalized |
Notes
- ^ a b and are sometimes transcribed as and respectively.
- ^ a b c d In Taiwanese Chiang-chiu accent.
- ^ In most varieties of Hokkien, /l/ is pronounced as an alveolar tap . Although the IPA symbol ⟨l⟩ represents a lateral approximants, ⟨l⟩ is widely used instead of ⟨ɾ⟩ in broad transcriptions of Hokkien.
- ^ a b In some POJ variants, ch and chh are written as ⟨ts⟩ and ⟨tsh⟩ respectively.
- ^ a b c d e , , , and are pronounced as , , , and in some accents.
- ^ a b c d and are used in Taiwanese Choân-chiu accent; they are pronounced as in some sub-accents.
- ^ a b c d e and is used in Taiwanese Chiang-chiu accent, while is pronounced as mainly in Taiwanese Hok-Ló-Kheh sub-accents.
- ^ a b c In Taiwanese Choan-chiu accent.
- ^ ⟨-ng⟩ is pronounced as mainly in Taiwanese Chiang-chiu accent.
- ^ ⟨o⟩ in TL can present both southern accent and northern accent, while ⟨or⟩ in TL is used to specify southern accent for differentiation.
- ^ a b c ⟨or⟩ , also transcribed as , is used in Taiwanese southern accent and sometimes transcribed as .
- ^ a b ⟨o⟩ is used in Taiwanese northern accent.
- ^ ⟨o͘⟩ is sometimes written as ⟨ou⟩ in POJ as the dot is barely visible for readers.
- ^ a b In horizontal writing, it might be written in 90 degrees rotated.
- ^ a b c d can be transcribed as in ⟨-ai, -ia, -io, -iau⟩.
- ^ a b c can be transcribed as in ⟨-au⟩
- ^ ⟨ian⟩ is pronounced as either , , or depending on accents.
⟨iat⟩ is pronounced as either , , or depending on accents. - ^ ⟨ing⟩ is pronounced as either , or , depending on accents.
⟨ik⟩ is pronounced as either , or depending on accents. - ^ The combination of a nasal consonant preceding vowel(s) represents nasal vowel(s) due to a natural process of assimilation.
- ^ a b c d e ⟨gn⟩ , (enn) , ⟨ee⟩ , ⟨eeh⟩ , ⟨eenn⟩ , ⟨ek⟩ , ⟨eng⟩ , ⟨ionn⟩ , and ⟨ionnh⟩ of TL are used in Taiwanese Chiang-chiu accent.
- ^ is only used in Choân-chiu accent.
- ^ is pronounced as , , and mainly in Taiwanese Choân-chiu accent.
- ^ a b c In Lo̍k-káng Choân-chiu accent
- ^ ⟨er⟩ is also transcribed as by some scholars despite the slight difference. In addition, ⟨er⟩ is alternatively spelled as ⟨oe⟩ while its Phonetic Symbol is replaced with
in textbooks and academic publishing by Ngoo Siu Le.
- ^ a b In Sam-Kiap Choân-chiu accent
- ^ In Po-tiong Choân-chiu Lâm-oaⁿ accent
- ^ a b c In Taiwanese Éng-tsēng old Chiang-chiu accent.
- ^ a b Note that ⟨gn⟩ and ⟨eenn⟩ are not listed in the Taiwanese Romanization System by Ministry of Education, but is featured in textbooks and dictionaries.
- ^ In Taiwanese Tâi-lâm Chiang-chiu accent.
References
- "Tai-Hoa Dictionary". Peh-oe-ji Tai-gu-bun Bang-cham - Written Taiwanese Southern-Min.
- "Dictionary for Common Vocabulary in Taiwanese Hokkien". Ministry of Education (Taiwan).
- "Taiwanese Hokkien Romanization and Pronunciation Learning Network". National Taichung University of Education.