Taiwanese kana

Chinese
t=臺灣語假名
s=台湾语假名
poj=Tâi-oân-gí ká-bêng
p=Táiwānyǔ jiǎmíng
tp=Táiwanyǔ jiǎmíng
w=T'ai²-wan¹-yü³ chia³-ming²
kyujitai=臺灣語假名
shinjitai=台湾語仮名
romaji=Taiwan-go kanaInfobox Writing system
name=Taiwanese kana
type=Syllabary
typedesc=with some features of an alphabet
time=1896 - 1945
languages=Holo Taiwanese
fam1=Chinese character
fam2=Man'yōgana
fam3=Katakana
sisters=Hakka kana

Taiwanese kana (タイ.

The system was imposed by Japan at the time, and used in a few dictionaries, as well as textbooks. The Taiwanese-Japanese Dictionary (臺日大辭典), published in 1931-1932, 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 (Xiamen) dialect of Min Nan.

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 the ones who study aforementioned dictionary, learn Taiwanese kana.

Currently, Mojikyo is the only piece of software/encoding that fully supports the system. Unicode lacks some overlined kanas and tone signs.

The system has some varieties throughout the times. This article is mainly about the last edition, used roughly from 1931.

Basic rules

Mapped sounds are mostly similar to katakana in Japanese. Notable differences include:
* All the syllables (with a few exceptions) are written with 2 or 3 kana. When a vowel is not followed by another vowel or a consonant, kana for the vowel is repeated. (e.g. カア for POJ "ka", キイ for "ki".)
* When a syllable contains 3 vowels, or 2 vowels followed by a consonant, a vowel in middle is written with a small vowel kana. (e.g. キァウ for "kiau", キェク for "kiek".)
* The sound /ɔ/ (.) Unlike in Japanese, ヲ is never /wo/.
* Cosonant is written with a vowel "o", when it precedes ヲ. (e.g. コヲ for "ko".)
* Final nasals "n/m/ng" are ヌ/ム/ン respectively. ヌ/ム can also be used for "nu/mu" in initials. (e.g. カヌ for "kan", ヌヌ for "nun".)
* Syllabic "ng" (/ŋ̩/) is spelt as (u+)ン. (e.g. クン for "kng".) The syllable "ng" (without a preceding vowel) is ン, not ウン or ンン.
* Syllabic "m" (/m̩/) is spelt as (u+)ム. (e.g. フム for "hm".) The syllable "m" (without a preceding vowel) is ム, not ウム or ムム.
* Initial "ng" is spelt as "g" with a nasal tone sign. (e.g. ガア for "ngá".)
* Final consonants "k/t/p" are small ク/ツ/プ respectively, similar to the kana used in Ainu.
* Final consonant "h" (/ʔ/) is written as a small kana after the preceding vowel. (e.g. カァ for "kah", カゥ for "kauh".)
* Aspirated consonants are written as kana with a dot under it. (e.g. ト̣ for "tho".)
* There are five (ten if one counts aspirates) overlined kana to deal with "t" and "ch". チ sounds similar to "ティ" in modern Japanese katakana. ツ is similar to "トゥ", サ to "ツァ", セ to "ツェ", and ソ to "ツォ".

* Some combinations don't exist in reality.
* You always have to put tone signs.
*¹: "g" always takes normal vowel tone signs, "ng" always takes nasal vowel tone signs.
*²: 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.
*³: Nasal vowels ("oⁿ, ioⁿ") are spelt with オ, such as オオ, ポオ, イオ, ピオ, and so on.

Example

:（Audio|Taiwanese Kana Example.ogg|Sound file）:シェヌ シイ。

:Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Sian-siⁿ kóng, ha̍k-seng tiām-tiām thiaⁿ.:Traditional Chinese: 先生講、學生恬恬聽。:Translation: A teacher is speaking. Students are quietly listening.

External links

* [http://www.ntl.gov.tw/ National Taichung Library] (Mandarin Chinese, English), including the scan of The Taiwanese-Japanese Dictionary. [http://jdlib.ntl.gov.tw/cgi-bin/browse.cgi?bookid=bjn00172v01] [http://jdlib.ntl.gov.tw/cgi-bin/browse.cgi?bookid=bjn00172v02]
* [http://lomaji.com/siau-sit/2005/09/923.php 台灣總督府ê日本國民讀本 (Japanese textbook by the Governor-General of Taiwan)] (Holo Taiwanese)
* (Mandarin Chinese)