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[edit]

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 [a]
m m- ㄇ 媽 (má) moon
am, om, im , 暗 (àm), 參 (som)[b], 心 (sim) rim
t t ㄉ 端 (tuan) stop
tʰ th ㄊ 透 (thò) top
l l ㄌ 來 (lâi) lime [c]
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 [a]
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, [ʔiə̯ŋ˥˩]) uh-oh
t͡s ch [d] ts ㄗ 走 (tsáu) cats, usually retracted in most cases
t͡ɕ ㄐ 精 (tsing) like itchy, pronounced further forward toward the teeth (palatalized).[e]
t͡sʰ chh [d] tsh ㄘ 菜 (tshài) cats
t͡ɕʰ ㄑ 市 (tshī) like cheap, pronounced more forward, toward the teeth (palatalized).[e]
s s ㄙ 三 (sam) same
ɕ ㄒ 審 (sím) like sheep, pronounced more forward, toward the teeth (palatalized).[e]
d͡z j 熱 (jua̍h) pads [f]
z zoo [g]
d͡ʑ 日 (ji̍t) like jeep, pronounced further forward toward the teeth (palatalized).[f][e]
ʑ like zip, pronounced further forward toward the teeth (palatalized).[g][e]
Note: Alveolo-palatal consonants ([t͡ɕ], [t͡ɕʰ], [ɕ], and [d͡ʑ / ʑ]) always precede [i] ⟨i / e⟩ as ⟨chi (tsi) / che⟩, ⟨chhi (tshi) / chhe⟩, ⟨si / se⟩, and ⟨ji⟩.
Syllabic consonants
m̩ -m 姆 (ḿ) rhythm
ŋ̍ -ng 光 (kng)[h] song [i]
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[edit]

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[j] ㄜ 高 (kor) Roughly like bird [k]
o o ㄛ 高 (ko) snow [l]
ɔ o͘ [m] oo 烏 (oo) thought
ong, om,
op, ok 		, ,
ㄅ, ㄍ 		福 (hok)
i i ㄧ [n] 一 (it) see [o]
u u ㄨ 武 (bú) shoe [p]
Diphthongs
ai̯ ai ㄞ 愛 (ài) fight [o]
au̯ au ㄠ 交 (kau) out [p]
i̯a ia ㄧㄚ 射 (siā) Russia
i̯ɛ ian, iat ㄧㄢ, ㄧㄚㄉ 電 (tiān), 結 (kiat) yes [q]
iə̯ eng, ek ing, ik ㄧㄥ, ㄧㄍ 英 (ing), 色 (sik) eon [r][k]
i̯ə io ior ㄧㄜ 腰 (ior)[k]
i̯o io ㄧㄛ 腰 (io)[l] 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)[b] question
u̯i ui ㄨㄧ 水 (suí) we
Triphthongs
i̯au̯ iau ㄧㄠ 妖 (iau) meow [o][p]
u̯ai̯ oai uai ㄨㄞ 怪 (kuài) quiet [o]
Nasal vowels
◌̃ m◌, n◌, ng◌ ㄇ◌, ㄋ◌, ◌ 鰻 (muâ), 梁 (niû), 迎 (ngiâ) Nasalized vowel(s) [s]
ã an ann 衫 (sann) like naive; nasalized [a]
ẽ en enn 青 (tsenn)[b] like next; nasalized [e] [t]
ĩ in inn [n] 圓 (înn) like niece; nasalized [i]
ɔ̃ on onn 否 (hónn) French: son; nasalized [ɔ]
ãĩ̯ ain ainn 載 (tsáinn) like nine; nasalized [ai̯]
ĩ̯ã ian iann ㄧ 兄 (hiann) roughly like civilian; nasalized [i̯a]
ĩ̯ũ iun iunn ㄧ 羊 (iûnn)[h] like nuance; nasalized [i̯u] [u]
ũ̯ã oan uann ㄨ 官 (kuann) roughly like wander nasalized [u̯a]
ũ̯ĩ uin uinn ㄨ 快 (khuìnn)[h] roughly like twin; nasalized [u̯i]
ĩ̯ãũ̯ iaun iaunn ㄧ 喓 (iaunn) like meow; nasalized [i̯au̯]
ũ̯ãĩ̯ oain uainn ㄨ 關 (kuainn)[b] roughly like wine; nasalized [u̯ai̯] [v]
Note: ⟨◌n⟩ in POJ is sometimes written as ⟨◌N⟩ when superscript ⟨n⟩ is not supported.

Tones[edit]

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[edit]

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).[f]
l l ㄌ lap
熱 (jua̍h / lua̍h)
d͡z j pads [f]
Vowels
ə e er ㄜ 火 (hér)[w] about [x]
ɨ i / u ir 豬 (tir) roughly like glasses; sometimes pronounced as [ɯ] as goose (California)[y][w]
ɘ̯e oe ere ㄜ 雞 (kere)[y]
ɘ̯u io eru ㄜㄨ 購 (kerù)[w]
ɨ̯̃ĩ eng irinn 肩 (kirinn)[z]

Chiang-chiu Dialect

Consonants
IPA POJ TL Phonetic Symbols Chinese Example English approximation
ȵ n gn 耳 (gní)[aa] like onion [t][ab]
ʑ j j 日 (ji̍t / gi̍t) like zip, pronounced further forward toward the teeth (palatalized).[g]
g g give [g]
z j 熱 (jua̍h) zoo [g]
Vowels
ɛ e ee / ek / eng ㄝ 家 (kee) [aa] bet [t]
ɛ̃ en eenn 青 (tsheenn) [aa] French: vin; nasalized [ɛ] [t][ab]
ĩ̯ɔ̃ iun ionn ㄧ 羊 (iônn) [ac] like neon; nasalized [i̯o] [t]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b [b] and [g] are sometimes transcribed as [b̃] and [g̃] respectively.
  2. ^ a b c d In Taiwanese Chiang-chiu accent.
  3. ^ In most varieties of Hokkien, /l/ is pronounced as an alveolar tap [ɾ]. Although the IPA symbol ⟨l⟩ represents a lateral approximants, ⟨l⟩ is widely used instead of ⟨ɾ⟩ in broad transcriptions of Hokkien.
  4. ^ a b In some POJ variants, ch and chh are written as ⟨ts⟩ and ⟨tsh⟩ respectively.
  5. ^ a b c d e [t͡ɕ], [t͡ɕʰ], [ɕ], and [ʑ] are pronounced as [t͡s], [t͡sʰ], [s], and [z] in some accents.
  6. ^ a b c d [d͡z] and [d͡ʑ] are used in Taiwanese Choân-chiu accent; they are pronounced as [l] in some sub-accents.
  7. ^ a b c d e [z] and [ʑ] is used in Taiwanese Chiang-chiu accent, while [ʑ] is pronounced as [g] mainly in Taiwanese Hok-Ló-Kheh [zh] sub-accents.
  8. ^ a b c In Taiwanese Choan-chiu accent.
  9. ^ ⟨-ng⟩ [ŋ̍] is pronounced as [ũĩ] mainly in Taiwanese Chiang-chiu accent.
  10. ^ ⟨o⟩ in TL can present both southern accent and northern accent, while ⟨or⟩ in TL is used to specify southern accent for differentiation.
  11. ^ a b c ⟨or⟩ [ɤ], also transcribed as [ə], is used in Taiwanese southern accent and sometimes transcribed as [ɤ].
  12. ^ a b ⟨o⟩ [o] is used in Taiwanese northern accent.
  13. ^ ⟨o͘⟩ [ɔ] is sometimes written as ⟨ou⟩ in POJ as the dot is barely visible for readers.
  14. ^ a b In horizontal writing, it might be written in 90 degrees rotated.
  15. ^ a b c d [i̯] can be transcribed as [ɪ] in ⟨-ai, -ia, -io, -iau⟩.
  16. ^ a b c [u̯] can be transcribed as [ʊ] in ⟨-au⟩
  17. ^ ⟨ian⟩ is pronounced as either [i̯ɛn], [ɛn], or [en] depending on accents.
    ⟨iat⟩ is pronounced as either [i̯ɛt̚], [ɛt̚], or [et̚] depending on accents.
  18. ^ ⟨ing⟩ is pronounced as either [iə̯ŋ], [iŋ] or [eŋ], depending on accents.
    ⟨ik⟩ is pronounced as either [iə̯k̚], [ik̚] or [ek̚] depending on accents.
  19. ^ The combination of a nasal consonant preceding vowel(s) represents nasal vowel(s) due to a natural process of assimilation.
  20. ^ a b c d e ⟨gn⟩ [ȵ], (enn) [ẽ], ⟨ee⟩ [ɛ], ⟨eeh⟩ [ɛʔ], ⟨eenn⟩ [ɛ̃], ⟨ek⟩ [ɛk̚], ⟨eng⟩ [ɛŋ], ⟨ionn⟩ [ĩ̯ɔ̃], and ⟨ionnh⟩ [ĩ̯ɔ̃ʔ] of TL are used in Taiwanese Chiang-chiu accent.
  21. ^ [ĩ̯ũ] is only used in Choân-chiu accent.
  22. ^ [ũ̯ãĩ̯] is pronounced as [ũ̯ĩ], [ũ̯ã], and [u̯ai̯] mainly in Taiwanese Choân-chiu accent.
  23. ^ a b c In Lo̍k-káng Choân-chiu accent
  24. ^ ⟨er⟩ [ə] is also transcribed as [ɘ] 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 [zh].
  25. ^ a b In Sam-Kiap Choân-chiu accent
  26. ^ In Po-tiong Choân-chiu Lâm-oaⁿ accent
  27. ^ a b c In Taiwanese Éng-tsēng old Chiang-chiu accent.
  28. ^ a b Note that ⟨gn⟩ [ȵ] and ⟨eenn⟩ [ɛ̃] are not listed in the Taiwanese Romanization System by Ministry of Education, but is featured in textbooks and dictionaries.
  29. ^ In Taiwanese Tâi-lâm Chiang-chiu accent.

References[edit]

See also[edit]

Category