Taiwanese Hangul

Taiwanese Hangul
Taiwanese Hangul;
	Chinese characters "臺語諺文" written in Taiwanese Hangul
Script type	Featural alphabet
Creator	Hsu Tsao-te (first proposed)
Period	since 1987
Languages	Taiwanese Hokkien
Related scripts
Parent systems	Hangul Taiwanese Hangul;

Taiwanese Hangul (Hangul: 대끼깐뿐; Chinese: 臺語諺文; pinyin: Táiyǔ Yànwén; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tâi-gí Gān-bûn; Korean: 대만어 한글/타이완어 한글) is an orthography system for Taiwanese Hokkien (Taiwanese). Developed and promoted by Taiwanese linguist Hsu Tsao-te (許曹德) ^[1]^[2]^[3] in 1987, it uses modified Hangul letters to represent spoken Taiwanese, and was later supported by Ang Ui-jin.^[4]^[5]

Because both Chinese characters and Hangul are both written in the space of square boxes, unlike letters of the Latin alphabet, the use of Chinese-Hangul mixed writing is able to keep the spacing between the two scripts more consistent compared to Chinese-Latin mixed writing. Anecdotally, the system was boosted by in the 1990s as an early attempt to communicate in spoken Taiwanese using the then newly introduced mail servers being implemented at the National Taiwan University.^[6]

Letters

Initials

		Bilabial		Alveolar		Alveolo-palatal		Velar		Glottal
		Voiceless	Voiced	Voiceless	Voiced	Voiceless	Voiced	Voiceless	Voiced	Voiceless
Nasal			ᄆ [m] ㄇ毛 (mo͘ )		ᄂ [n] ㄋ耐 (nāi)				ㄸ [ŋ] ㄫ雅 (ngá)
Stop	Unaspirated	ᄇ [p] ㄅ邊 (pian)	ᄈ [b] ㆠ 文 (bûn)	ᄃ [t] ㄉ地 (tē)				ᄀ [k] ㄍ求 (kiû)	ᄁ [ɡ] ㆣ 語 (gí)
Stop	Aspirated	ᄑ [pʰ] ㄆ波 (pho)		ᄐ [tʰ] ㄊ他 (thaⁿ)				ᄏ [kʰ] ㄎ去 (khì)
Affricate	Unaspirated			ᄌ [ts] ㄗ曾 (tsan/chan)	ᄍ [dz] ㆡ 熱 (joa̍h)	ᄌ [tɕ] ㄐ尖 (tsiam/chiam)	ᄍ [dʑ] ㆢ 入 (ji̍p)
Affricate	Aspirated			ᄎ [tsʰ] ㄘ出 (tshut/chhut)		ᄎ [tɕʰ] ㄑ手 (tshiú/chhiú)
Fricative				ㅅ [s] ㄙ衫 (saⁿ)		ㅅ [ɕ] ㄒ寫 (siá)				ᄒ [h] ㄏ喜 (hí)
Lateral					ᄅ [l] ㄌ柳 (liú)

Vowels

Monophthongs
	Front		Central	Back
	Simple	Nasal	Simple	Simple	Nasal
Close	ᅵ [i] ㄧ衣 (i)	잇 [ĩ] ㆪ 圓 (îⁿ)		ᅮ [u] ㄨ污 (u)	웃 [ũ] ㆫ 張 (tiuⁿ)
Mid	ᅦ [e] ㆤ 禮 (lé)	엣 [ẽ] ㆥ 生 (seⁿ)	ᅥ [ə] ㄜ高 (ko)	ᅩ [ɔ] ㆦ 烏 (o͘ )	옷 [ɔ̃] ㆧ 翁 (oⁿ)
Open	ᅡ [a] ㄚ查 (cha)	앗 [ã] ㆩ 衫 (saⁿ)

Diphthongs & Triphthongs
Diphthongs	ᅢ [aɪ] ㄞ (ai)	알 [aʊ] ㄠ (au)	ᅣ [ɪa] ㄧㄚ (ia)	ᅧ [ɪo] ㄧㄜ (io)
Diphthongs	ᅲ [iu] ㄧㄨ (iu)	ᅪ [ua] ㄨㄚ (oa)	ᅰ [ue] ㄨㆤ (oe)	ᅱ [ui] ㄨㄧ (ui)
Triphthongs	얄 [ɪaʊ] ㄧㄠ (iau)		ᅫ [uai] ㄨㄞ (oai)

Coda endings

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal consonant	ᄆ [m] ㆬ (-m)	ᄂ [n] ㄣ (-n)	ㅇ [ŋ] ㆭ (-ng)
Stop consonant	ᄇ [p̚] ㆴ (-p)	ᄃ [t̚] ㆵ (-t)	ᄀ [k̚] ㆻ (-k)	ᄒ [ʔ] ㆷ (-h)

Tone markings

No.	Hangul	Latin diacritics	Chinese tone name	Examples Hangul/Latin/Hanzi (Listen 🔊) meaning
1	ᄋ	absent	陰平 (yinping) dark level	카_ᄋ/kha/跤 🔊 foot; leg
2	ᄅ	◌́	上聲 (sióng-siaⁿ)/陰上 (yinshang) rising / dark rising	쥐_ㄹ/tsúi/水 🔊 water
3	ᄂ	◌̀	陰去 (yinqu) dark departing	갈_ㄴ/kàu/到 🔊 arrive
4	ᄋ	absent	陰入 (yinru) dark entering	빻_ㅇ/bah/肉 🔊 meat
5	ᄉ	◌̂	陽平 (yangping) light level	옹_ㅅ/ông/王 🔊 king
(6) appears only in Lukang dialect; merged to 7 in the prestige dialect	not devised	◌̆	陽上 (yangshang) light rising	[]/huǎn (Lukang)/犯 violate / commit (a crime)
7	ᄀ	◌̄	陽去 (yangqu) light departing	환_ㄱ/huān (prestige)/犯 🔊 violate / commit (a crime)
8	ᄇ	̍ (overstroke/vertical line above)	陽入 (yangru) light entering	쫳_ㅂ/joa̍h/熱 🔊 hot
Continuous tone sandhi	ㅣ	absent	occurs when a character/syllable is before another one in a phrase. Rule of the prestige dialect: 5→7, 7→3, 3→2, 2→1, 1→7; 4→8, 8→4	대_시끼_ㄹ/Tâi-gí/臺語 🔊 Taiwanese language

Different use of Hangul between Taiwanese and Korean

	Taiwanese Hokkien	Korean	Note
ㅃ	/b/, a voiced consonant	/p͈/, a tense consonant
ㄲ	/g/, a voiced consonant	/k͈/, a tense consonant
ㅉ	/ʣ/ or /ʥ/, a voiced consonant	/t͡ɕ͈/, a tense consonant
ㄸ	/ŋ/,	/t͈/	as the syllable onset such as 따
ㅎ	/ʔ/, a glottal stop	/t̚/	as the syllable coda such as 앟
ㅅ	/ⁿ/, vowel nasalization	/t̚/	as the syllable coda such as 앗
ㅆ	/ⁿʔ/, a combination of ㅅ and ㅎ	/s͈/ or /t̚/	as the syllable coda such as 았
ᅥ	/o/ or /ə/	/ʌ/
ᅩ	/ɔ/	/o/
ㅐ	/ai/	/ɛ/
알	/au/	/aɭ/
ㅡ	silent	/ɯ/
ㅢ	읨/m̩ʔ/, 읭/ŋ̍ʔ/	/ɰi/, /i/, /ɛ/

Examples

Matthew 6:1

Taiwanese Hangul		Pe̍h-ōe-jī
Chinese characters	關係行善的教訓恁著謹慎，毋通為著欲予儂看，故意蹛儂的面前顯示恁的善行；恁若按呢做，恁就袂當對天父得著報賞。
Chinese-Hangul mixed writing	關係行善에教訓 린뎧謹慎，음탕為뎧뼇호儂看，故意돠儂에面前顯示린에善行； 린若안네做，린就뻬당뒤天父得뎧報賞。	Chinese-Latin mixed writing	關係行善ê教訓 Lín tio̍h謹慎，m̄-thang為tio̍h boeh hō͘儂看，故意toà儂ê面前顯示lín ê善行； Lín若án-ne做，lín就bē-tàng tùi天父得tio̍h報賞。
Hangul	관헤 형센 에 갈훈 린 뎧 긴신，음탕 위뎧 뼇 호 랑 쾃，고이 돠 랑 에 삔졍 헨시 린 에 센형； 린 나 안네 저，린 쥬 뻬당 뒤 텐후 딛뎧 버슛。	Romanization	Koan-he Hêng-siān ê Kàu-hùn Lín tio̍h kín-sīn, m̄-thang ūi-tio̍h boeh hō͘ lâng khoàⁿ, kò-ì toà lâng ê bīn-chêng hián-sī lín ê siān-hêng. Lín nā án-ne chò, lín chiū bē-tàng tùi Thian-hū tit-tio̍h pò-siúⁿ.

References

^ "【民報】山人造反在立國——許曹德". www.peoplemedia.tw (in Chinese (Taiwan)). 2018-11-15. Archived from the original on 2026-03-09. Retrieved 2026-03-09.
^ "《許曹德回憶錄》下冊——台灣應該獨立". Yahoo News (in Chinese). 2018-11-15. Archived from the original on 2026-03-09. Retrieved 2026-03-09.
^ Teⁿ, Liong-Kong (ed.). "Taiwanese writing forum 台文通訊 No. 36" (PDF). Taiwanese writing forum 台文通訊. 36. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2026-03-09.
^ Dong Zhongsi (董忠司), 「台灣閩南語槪論」講授資料彙編, Taiwan Languages and Literature Society
^ 台語文運動訪談暨史料彙編
^ 台語與佛典 (2009-06-02). "台語與佛典: 九０年代以來校園台語文運動概況-2". 台語與佛典. Archived from the original on 2019-06-08. Retrieved 2026-03-09.

External links

Taiwanese Hangul

[1] "【民報】山人造反在立國——許曹德". www.peoplemedia.tw (in Chinese (Taiwan)). 2018-11-15. Archived from the original on 2026-03-09. Retrieved 2026-03-09.

[2] "《許曹德回憶錄》下冊——台灣應該獨立". Yahoo News (in Chinese). 2018-11-15. Archived from the original on 2026-03-09. Retrieved 2026-03-09.

[3] Teⁿ, Liong-Kong (ed.). "Taiwanese writing forum 台文通訊 No. 36" (PDF). Taiwanese writing forum 台文通訊. 36. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2026-03-09.

[4] Dong Zhongsi (董忠司), 「台灣閩南語槪論」講授資料彙編, Taiwan Languages and Literature Society

[台語文運動訪談暨史料彙編-5] 台語文運動訪談暨史料彙編

[6] 台語與佛典 (2009-06-02). "台語與佛典: 九０年代以來校園台語文運動概況-2". 台語與佛典. Archived from the original on 2019-06-08. Retrieved 2026-03-09.

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