Social:Phofsit Daibuun

Short description: Orthography in the Latin alphabet for Taiwanese Hokkien

Phofsit Daibuun (PSDB) (普實臺文) is an orthography in the Latin alphabet for Taiwanese Hokkien based on Modern Literal Taiwanese. It is able to use the ASCII character set to indicate the proper variation of pitch without any subsidiary scripts or diacritic symbols.

Phonology

Consonants

			Dental	Alveolo-palatal	Bilabial	Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	voiceless	unaspiration			p	d	k	' ([ʔ])
		aspiration			ph	t	q
	voiced	unaspiration			b		g
Affricate	voiceless	unaspiration	z	c
		aspiration	zh	ch
	voiced	unaspiration		j
Fricative	voiceless	unaspiration	s	si
		aspiration						h
Nasal	voiced	unaspiration			m/v	n	ng/v
Lateral	voiced	unaspiration				l

Nasalized syllables are indicated by "v" preceding the syllable nucleus. Except for b, j, l, which do not precede nasalized vowels, and m and n, which are already nasals.

Normal

c

ch

d

g

h

k

p

ph

q

s

t

z

zh

ø

Nasalized

cv

chv

dv

gv

hv

kv

pv

phv

qv

sv

tv

zv

zhv

v

Example

爭(cvy)

星(chvy)

鄭(dve)

硬(gve)

耳(hvi)

件(kvia)

病(pve)

鼻(phvi)

扲(qvii)

漬(svi)

縫(tvi)

濺(zvoa)

青(zhvef)

院(vi)

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Close-mid	e		oi(2)
Mid		oi(1)
Open-mid			o
Open	a

Regarding the pronunciation of "oi":

• in southern regions such as Tainan, the pronunciation tends toward oi(1), the mid central vowel ə
• in central and northern regions, the pronunciation tends toward oi(2), the close-mid back unrounded vowel ɤ

Tone spellings

• The table below shows the spelling of the basic tone (7) mid tone, and the four sub-tones (1) high, (5) rising, (3) low falling/low, (2) falling/high falling
• (') indicates a changed tone
• (**) indicates a tone that does not exist in standard Taiwanese

Monophthongs

a (ha)夏	af 阿	aa (gaa)牙	ax (pax)豹	ar (kar)絞
i 異	y 伊	ii 姨	ix 意	ie 椅
u 有	w 污	uu (guu)牛	ux 熨	uo 羽
e 下	ef (qef)溪(qef)	ee 的	ex (kex)嫁	ea 矮
o 芋	of 黑	oo 湖	ox (tox)兔	or 挖
oi (goi)餓	oy 渦	ooi 蚵	oix 奧	oir 襖
ng (hng)遠	ngf 秧	ngg 黃	ngx 怏	ngr 阮
m 毋	mf' (mfpooi)姆婆	mm 蕾	mx' (mxsi)不是	mr 姆

Diphthongs

ai (dai)代	ay 哀	aai (daai)台	aix 愛	ae 藹
au 後	aw 歐	aau 喉	aux 懊	ao (kao)狗
ia 夜	iaf 埃	iaa 爺	iax 厭	iar 野
iau 耀	iaw 邀	iaau 姚	iaux (tiaux)跳	iao (ciao)鳥
ioi (bioi)廟	ioy 腰	iooi 搖	ioix (kioix)叫	ioir (cioir)少
iu 柚	iw 憂	iuu 油	iux 幼	iuo 友
oa (doa)大	oaf (koaf)歌	oaa (zoaa)蛇	oax (hoax)化	oar (zoar)紙
oai (hoai)壞	oay (koay)乖	oaai (hoaai)懷	oaix (koaix)怪	oae (koae)拐
oe 話	oef 鍋	oee 唯	oex (hoex)貨	oea 挖
ui 位	uy 威	uii 圍	uix 畏	uie 委

Nasal finals

an (han)限	afn 安	aan 緊	axn 案	arn (karn)簡
ang (bang)網	afng 翁	aang 紅	axng 甕	arng (karng)講
am 頷	afm 醃	aam 涵	axm 暗	arm 洝
eng 用	efng 鷹	eeng 閒	exng 應	erng 泳
iam 艷	iafm 閹	iaam 鹽	iaxm 厭	iarm 掩
iang 恙	iafng 央	iaang 陽	iaxng 泱	iarng 養
ien 沿	iefn 煙	ieen 鉛	iexn 宴	iern 演
in 胤	yn 因	iin 云	ixn 印	irn 引
im (dim)燉	ym 音	iim 淫	ixm 蔭	irm 飲
iong 用	iofng 央	ioong 容	ioxng 擁	iorng 勇
oan 緩	oafn 冤	oaan 完	oaxn 怨	oarn 遠
ong 旺	ofng 汪	oong 王	oxng 罋	orng 往
un 運	wn 溫	uun 勻	uxn 搵	urn 隱
om' 掩'埋	ofm 掩	oom**	oxm (doxm)頓	orm' (dorm)頓'頭

Checked syllables

• # symbol represents characters used for their meaning, rather than their pronunciation

Monophthong

	Labial	Dental	Velar	Open
Low	ab 壓	ad 握	ag 渥	aq 鴨
High	ap 盒	at (bat)密	ak (bak)目	ah (tah)疊
Low	ib 揖	id 壹	ig**	iq (tiq)鐵
High	ip 佾	it 軼	ik**	ih 胰
Low	ub**	ud 熨	ug**	uq (duq)拄
High	up**	ut (kut)滑	uk**	uh (duh)刺
Low	eb**	ed**	eg 億	eq (keq)格
High	ep**	et**	役	eh 狹
Low	ob (lob)#踏	od**	og 惡	oq (moq)漏平
High	op (lop'lob)	ot**	ok (dok)獨	oh (moh)膜
Low	oib**	oid**	oig**	oiq #慢
High	oip**	oit**	oik**	oih 學

Diphthong

iab #掩藏	ied 謁	iag (siag)摔	iaq 扼
iap 葉	iet 搧	iak (diak)彈	iah 頁
	oad #轉	iog	auq (kauq)輾
	oat 悅	iok 育	auh (bauh)貿
iuq (kiuq)縮			iauq (hiauq)剝
iuh' (kiuh)縮			iauh (hiauh)剝
oaq (koaq)割	ioiq #猜	oeq (hoeq)血	uiq (huiq)血
oah 活	ioih 藥	oeh 劃	uih 劃

Rarely used vowels

Vowel	Example
io	nio, =nio 讓；svio, =sviu 想
iof	diofng 忠；hviof, =hviw香
ioo	nioo, =niuu 量，想；hioong affectionate, cruel
iox	cioxng 將，從；hioxng 向
ior	nior, =niuo 兩；bioir 秒
ioq	hioq 嗎 (interrogative)
oaiq	voaiq 瘸著走
oaih'	vih'voaih'kioix 噫椏叫
mq	hmq, =hmr strike down forcefully
mh	hmh insidious, silent; hmq'hmh
ngq	hngq (expression of agreement)
ngh	dngh 當, 擔任；hngh (expression of disapproval)

PSDB examples

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

PSDB	English
Lienhabkog seakaix jinqoaan soangieen De id diaau Sofu ee laang cit zhutsix doixsi zuxiuu ee, jichviar di zungiaam kab qoanli siong itlut pengderng. Langlaang tiensefng doi u lysexng kab liongsym, erngkay aix kafnnar hviadi kaxngqoarn laai hoxsiong duietai.	Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 1 All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

PSDB Greetings

PSDB	Translation	Remarks
Ciaqpar`boe?	Greetings.	("Have you eaten?")
Sitlea!	Sorry for my impoliteness!	(lit., "Disrespect")
Goar tviaf booi.	I don't understand.	(lit., "I hear not")
Piexnsor di doyui?	Where's the bathroom?	(lit., "bathroom is where?")
Loflat! Kafmsia!	Thank you
Ho daf `lax!	Cheers!	(lit., Let it [the cup/glass] be dry [empty]!)
Lie karm korng Engguo?	Do you speak English?
Siensvy korng, hagsefng diaxmdiam tviaf.	The teacher talks, the students quietly listen.	listen
Kin'afjit hit'ee zabor-gyn'ar laai goarn daw qvoax goar.	Today that girl came to my house to see me.	listen
Kin'axm larn beq qix Suxliim Iaxchi'ar.	Tonight, we want to go to Shilin Night Market.

External links

• PSDB(Phofsit Daibuun) (in Chinese)
• Formosa culture(Kun dor guan'de) (in Chinese)