Taiwanese kana

Mapped sounds are mostly similar to katakana in Japanese, with the kana ヤ, ユ, ヨ, ワ, ヰ, and ヱ not used. Each syllable is written with two or three kana (with a few exceptions). Notable differences include:

• There are six vowels in Taiwanese: ア [a], イ [i], ウ [u], エ [e], オ [ɔ], ヲ [o]. The pronunciations of ウ, オ, and ヲ are different from Japanese (which are [ɯ], [o], and [(w)o] respectively.)
• The vowel ヲ is pronounced [u] in the diphthongs ヲア [ua] and ヲエ [ue], also their extensions such as ヲァイ [uai], ヲァッ [uat̚]. In some dialects ヲ may be pronounced [o] or [ɤ].
• In syllables with a single vowel, the kana for the vowel is repeated, like the long vowels in Japanese. For example, カア [ka], キイ [ki], オオ [ɔ], ヲヲ [o].
• The small kana ァ, ィ, ゥ, ェ, ォ, 𛅦 are defined as short vowels. They are used to represent the second vowel in the middle of a syllable, or a final glottal stop. For example, キァウ [kiau], キェㇰ for [kiɪk̚], キァゥ [kiauʔ].
• There are two optional vowel kana for the Choân-chiu accent (Quanzhou dialect): ウ [ɯ] and オ [ə]. For example, クウ [kɯ], オ [kə], クゥヌ [kɯn].

• フ is pronounced [hu], not [ɸɯ] as in Japanese.
• There are six overlined kana to distinguish [t] and [ts]/[tɕ]. サ [tsa], チ [ti], ツ [tu] or [tɯ], セ [tse], ソ [tso] or [tsɔ] or [tsə], ト [tə].

	Taiwanese kana						Modern Japanese kana
IPA	a	i	u/ɯ	e/ɛ	o/ɔ	ə	ä	i	ɯ̟/ɯ̟ᵝ	e̞	o̞
t	タ	チ	ツ	テ	ト	ト	タ	ティ	トゥ	テ	ト
ts/tɕ	サ	チ	ツ	セ	ソ	ソ	ツァ	チ	ツ	ツェ	ツォ

• The aspirated consonants [pʰ], [tʰ], [kʰ], [tsʰ]/[tɕʰ] are represented by adding an underdot to the kana. For example, ク̣ for [kʰu].
• Final nasal consonants are written as ム [m], ヌ [n], ン [ŋ]. Note that ム, ヌ are pronounced [mu], [nu] when they are used as initials. For example, カヌ [kan], ヌヌ for [nun].
• The syllabic consonant [ŋ̍] is spelt (u+)ン, for example クン [kŋ̍]. Note that [ŋ̍] without a preceding vowel is written as a single ン, not ウン or ンン.
• The syllabic consonant [m̩] is spelt (u+)ム, for example フム [hm̩]. Note that [m̩] without a preceding vowel is written as a single ム, not ウム or ムム.
• Initial [ŋ] is spelt as [ɡ] with a nasal tone sign. For example, ガア𚿰 [ɡa˥˩], ガア𚿸 [ŋa˥˩].
• Final plosives (which have no audible release) are ㇷ゚ [p̚], ッ [t̚], ㇰ [k̚], similar to the kana used in Ainu.
• Final glottal stops [ʔ] are represented by the short-vowel small kana (ァ, ィ, ゥ, ェ, ォ, 𛅦) at the end. For example, カァ [kaʔ], カゥ [kauʔ].

There are different tone signs for oral vowels and nasal vowels.

Tone number	1	2(6)	3	4	5	7	8
Pitch	˦	˥˩	˧˩	ʔ˨	˨˦	˧	ʔ˥
Oral vowels	None	𚿰	𚿱	𚿲	𚿳	𚿵	𚿶
Nasal vowels	𚿷	𚿸	𚿹	𚿺	𚿻	𚿽	𚿾
Pe̍h-ōe-jī	a	á	à	ah	â	ā	a̍h

• When a text is written vertically, these signs are written on the right side of letters. Taiwanese kana is only attested in vertical orientation, so it is unknown where the signs would be placed if it were written horizontally.
• Initial consonants [m], [n], [ŋ] are always written with nasal vowel tone signs, whereas [b], [l], [ɡ] are always with oral vowels. Note that [ŋ] and [ɡ] share the same initial kana.

1. Tone signs are always needed for a syllable.
2. [ɡ] always takes oral vowel tone signs; [m], [n], [ŋ] always take nasal vowel tone signs.
3. 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.
4. [ɔ] is spelt with オ, such as in オオ, ポオ, イオ, ピオ, and so on.

Amongst software/encodings, Mojikyo fully supports the system.

Unicode has been able to represent small ku (ㇰ) and small pu (ㇷ゚) since Unicode 3.2, small katakana wo (𛅦) since Unicode 12.0, and tone signs since Unicode 14.0 (2021).

It also requires the use of the combining overline and combining dot below with kana to represent overlined and underdotted kana (like so: チ̅, ツ̣). Font support for these small kana and for sensible rendering of these uncommon combining sequences is in practice limited; overlines are simulated in the tables above using markup.