Taiwanese kana

Updated on Nov 04, 2023

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Languages Taiwanese Hokkien Sister systems Hakka kana		Time period 1896 - 1945

Type Syllabary with some features of an alphabet Parent systems Oracle Bone Script Seal Script Clerical Script Regular script (Kanji) Man'yōgana Katakana Taiwanese kana

Taiwanese kana (タイヲァヌギイカアビェン) is a katakana-based writing system that was used to write Taiwanese Hokkien (commonly called "Taiwanese") when the island of Taiwan was under Japanese rule. It functioned as a phonetic guide to hanzi, much like furigana in Japanese or Zhuyin fuhao in Chinese. There were similar systems for other languages in Taiwan as well, including Hakka and Formosan languages.

The system was imposed by Japan at the time, and used in a few dictionaries, as well as textbooks. The Taiwanese-Japanese Dictionary, published in 1931–32, is an example. It uses various signs and diacritics to denote sounds that do not exist in Japanese. The system is chiefly based on the Amoy dialect of Hokkien.

Through the system, the Office of the Governor-General of Taiwan aimed to help Taiwanese people learn the Japanese language, as well as help Japanese people learn the Taiwanese language. Linguistically speaking, however, the syllabary system was cumbersome for a language that has phonology far more complicated than Japanese. After Japanese administration ended, the system soon became obsolete. Now, only a few scholars, such as those who study the aforementioned dictionary, learn Taiwanese kana.

Currently, Mojikyo is the only piece of software/encoding that fully supports the system. Unicode lacks small katakana wo and tone signs; although it also lacks precomposed overlined and underdotted kana, combining character sequences containing the combining overline and combining dot below are sufficient for representing overlined and underdotted kana.

The system has undergone some modification over time. This article is mainly about the last edition, used from roughly 1931.

Basic rules

Mapped sounds are mostly similar to katakana in Japanese, with the kana ヤ, ユ, ヨ, ワ, ヰ, and ヱ not used. Each syllable is written with two or three kana (with a few exceptions). Notable differences include:

Vowels

There are six vowels in Taiwanese: ア [a], イ [i], ウ [u], エ [e], オ [ɔ], ヲ [ə]. Note that the pronunciations of オ and ヲ are different from Japanese.

The vowel ヲ is pronounced [u] in the diphthongs ヲア [ua] and ヲエ [ue], also their extensions such as ヲァイ [uai], ヲァッ [uat̚]. In some dialects ヲ may be pronounced [o] or [ɤ].

In syllables with a single vowel, the kana for the vowel is repeated, like the long vowels in Japanese. For example, カア [ka], キイ [ki], オオ [ɔ], ヲヲ [ə].

The small kana ァ, ィ, ゥ, ェ, ォ, ヲ are defined as short vowels. They are used to represent the second vowel in the middle of a syllable, or a final glottal stop. For example, キァウ [kiau], キェク for [kiek̚], キァゥ [kiauʔ].

There are two optional vowel kana for Choâⁿ-chiu accent (Quanzhou dialect): ウ [ɨ] and オ [ə]. For example, クウ [kɨ], コオ [kə], クゥヌ [kɨn].

Consonants

フ is pronounced [hu], not [ɸu] as in Japanese.

There are five overlined kana to distinguish [t] and [ts]/[tɕ]. サ [tsa], チ [ti], ツ [tu], セ [tse], ソ [tsə] or [tso].

The aspirated consonants [pʰ], [tʰ], [kʰ], [tsʰ]/[tɕʰ] are represented by adding an underdot to the kana. For example, ク̣ for [kʰu].

Final nasal consonants are written as ム [m], ヌ [n], ン [ŋ]. Note that ム, ヌ are pronounced [mu], [nu] when they are used as initials. For example, カヌ [kan], ヌヌ for [nun].

The syllabic consonant [ŋ̍] is spelt (u+)ン, for example クン [kŋ̍]. Note that [ŋ̍] without a preceding vowel is written as a single ン, not ウン or ンン.

The syllabic consonant [m̩] is spelt (u+)ム, for example フム [hm̩]. Note that [m̩] without a preceding vowel is written as a single ム, not ウム or ムム.

Initial [ŋ] is spelt as [ɡ] with a nasal tone sign. For example, ガア [ɡa˥˩], ガア [ŋa˥˩].

Final plosives (which have no audible release) are プ [p̚], ッ [t̚], ク [k̚], similar to the kana used in Ainu.

Final glottal stops [ʔ] are represented by the short-vowel small kana (ァ, ィ, ゥ, ェ, ォ, ヲ) at the end. For example, カァ [kaʔ], カゥ [kauʔ].

Tone signs

There are different tone signs for normal vowels and nasal vowels.

When a text is written vertically, these signs are written on the right side of letters. Taiwanese kana is only attested in vertical orientation, so it is unknown where the signs would be placed if it were written horizontally.

Initial consonants [m], [n], [ŋ] are always written with nasal vowel tone signs, whereas [b], [l], [ɡ] are always with normal vowels. Note that [ŋ] and [ɡ] share the same initial kana.

Syllable Chart

Tone signs are always needed for a syllable.
[ɡ] always takes normal vowel tone signs; [m], [n], [ŋ] always take nasal vowel tone signs.
Some spellings are not clear. 仔(á) was sometimes written as ア rather than アア. 的(ê) was sometimes written as エ rather than エエ.
[ɔ] is spelt with オ, such as in オオ, ポオ, イオ, ピオ, and so on.

References

Taiwanese kana Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA