Bopomofo

The bopomofo (ㄅㄆㄇㄈ) or zhuyin fuhao (traditional characters: 注音符號; simplified characters: 注音符号; Pinyin: Zhùyīn fúhào; Tongyong pinyin: Jhùyin fúhào; Lagging-Gilles: Chu-yin fu-hao) is a Alphabet created to be used in the transcription of the Mandarin at teaching and didactic ends (see also the article Pinyin). Today, with Taiwan it is, with the Cangjie and the Dayi one of the 3 methods most used for the seizure of the writing on the Taiwanese keyboards. It can - by means of additional signs - allow the notation of others Chinese languages, in particular the Hakka and Minnan, two other principal languages of Taiwan. In continental China, this system was abandoned with the profit of the pinyin founded on a Latin Translittération at the time of the seizure of power of the Chinese Communist party.

The word bopomofo comes from the first four letters of this Alphabet:

  • bo (ㄅ) for the consonant B /p/;
  • Po (ㄆ) for the consonant p /p h/;
  • Mo (ㄇ) for the consonant m /m/;
  • fo (ㄈ) for the consonant F /f/.

The Chinese name this alphabet of transcription 注音符號/注音符号, zhùyīn fúhào , i.e. “phonetic symbols”.

History and technique of the creation of the Bopomofo characters

It was created at the 19th century in China, in order to simplify the training of the phonetics of Mandarin. Until its creation, characters very much used were assembled to represent the phonetics of the other characters. The idea was to learn the pronunciation from Mandarin to all Chinese, those reading all the same writing, but having a different pronunciation, according to the language.

For example the character “ㄖ” is derived from the character old sun. The modern form being “日”. This character deciding rì in Mandarin (transcription (pinyin) it is used to represent the consonant “R”. The majority of the zhuyin function on the same principle.

It is about the same principle which is used in the kana Japanese. Indeed, if the grammar and the pronunciation of Japanese are very different from those of Chinese Mandarin, the Japanese writing is founded all the same on the sinogrammes.

Graphèmes of the bopomofo

Bopomofo/zhuyin (the columns zhuyin and pinyin show equivalences)

Reading and writing rules

Notation of the finales

Three of the signs noting the final vowels, ㄣ /en/, ㄤ /ang/ and ㄥ /eng/, are also used to only note the nasal consonants when the vowels ㄧ /i/ and ㄨ /u/ precede them: thus ㄧㄣ is read /in/, ㄧㄥ /ing/ and ㄨㄥ /ung/ (written - ong in pīnyīn). It should be noted that the pīnyīn yong / - iong is returned by ㄩㄥ/üng/, in conformity with the phonetic history: /ü/coming historically from /iu/, the notation by/üng/amounts writing /iung/. One pronounces of course normally. Same manner, ㄦ /er/ is also used to indicate the Rétroflexion of a vowel: ㄅㄧㄢㄦ is read /bianr/, that is to say (see also Suffixe - er ).

Vowels

The transcription in bopomofo follows sometimes same conventions as in pīnyīn: it does not indicate the allophonic alternatives vowels. Thus ㄧㄢ /ian/ is worth and not. The differences are especially due to the fact that the bopomofo is more one transcription Phonétique (one notes what one hears) that phonological (one notes the phonemes as units functioning in opposition).

Some irregularities of the pīnyīn disappear: whereas, for example, the final complexes /jou/ is noted in pīnyīn by you but - iu after a consonant, these are always the signs ㄧㄡ that one uses in bopomofo. In the same way, /wei/ (pīnyīn: wei / - ui ) is always returned by ㄨㄟ, /w ǝn/(pīnyīn: wen /- a ) by ㄨㄣ, and the vowel/ü/is written ㄩ whatever its position in the Syllabe (in pīnyīn, one can write it yu , U in ju , qu , xu , and U in naked Lu and ).

Lastly, the bopomofo clearly distinguishes the Allophone S from /e/, ㄝ and ㄜ, both noted by E in pīnyīn; one finds ㄝ only after one front vowel - /i/ or/ü/─ or when it only constitutes the syllable with him.

Initial and final null

The syllables with closed vowel without initial consonant, those noted in pīnyīn by the digraphs yi /i/, wu /u/ and yu /ü/, are returned in bopomofo by the vowel alone, are ㄧ, ㄨ and ㄩ respectively.

In the same way, syllables without final vowel but whose consonant is vocalized (in pīnyīn zhi , chi , shi , zi , Ci and are laughed ) are simply transcribed in bopomofo by the simple letters ㄓ, ㄔ, ㄕ, ㄗ, ㄘ, ㄙ and ㄖ, without sign of vowel.

Note: it is of use, in the sinological tradition, to make the realization vocalic of a consonant by means of the symbols and, this last after a consonant rétroflexe; it is, in pīnyīn, the vowel - I which plays this part. Into API, finally, it is necessary to use the subscribed symbol. In all the cases, the symbol used does not transcribe a vowel but an absence of vowel: it is the consonant alone which is vocalized, i.e. made syllabic.

Example

Count of sinogramme-zhuyin-pinyin example.

王之渙 《登鸛雀樓》 (Wáng Zhīhuàn, Dēng Guànquè Lóu )

Note: the tonal marks can be also written above the vowel (ㄌ一̌, 一̀). Tone 1 is not noted and the fifth tone is noted by a point, whereas in pinyin the first tone is a horizontal bar and the fifth tone is not noted.

Keyboard

Keyboard of the Republic of China (Taiwan), using bopomofo (zhuyin, in top on the right), Cangjie (in bottom on the left) and dayi (in bottom on the right).

Others

Related articles

  • Mandarin and Pronunciation of Mandarin;
  • romanisation and Pinyin.

External bond

  • : Educational site of the commission of Chinese overseas of Répuplique of China (Taiwan), Chinese courses, minnan (Taiwanese) and hakka the linguistic methods use the zhuyin.
  • pin1yin1.com, a tool of romanisation on line associated with a dictionary (English) and which gives also the Bopomofo
  • http://www.mandarintools.com/pyconverter.html: converters towards various romanisations and bopomofo

Zh-min-nan: Chù-im hû-hō

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