Braille charts edit

Onsets edit

The first cell indicates the initial, generally in dots 1 to 4, and the medial in dots 5 and 6. This design exploits restrictions on co-occurrence of initials and medials to fit all the allowable combinations in a single cell.

The medial -i- is represented by dot 5 (), the medial -u- by dot 6 (), and the medial -ü- by both dots 5 and 6 (). The z c s series is derived from zh ch sh as if they contained a -i- medial; these two series are not distinguished in many Mandarin dialects.

A null/zero initial (a vowel-initial syllable) is indicated with the null consonant .

 
 
b-
 
p-
 
m-
 
f-
 
d-
 
t-
 
n-
 
l-
 
g-
 
k-
 
h-
 
zh-
 
ch-
 
sh-
 
r-
 
y-
 
bi-
 
pi-
 
mi-
 
di-
 
ti-
 
ni-
 
li-
 
ji-
 
qi-
 
xi-
 
z-
 
c-
 
s-
 
w-
 
du-
 
tu-
 
nu-
 
lu-
 
gu-
 
ku-
 
hu-
 
zhu-
 
chu-
 
shu-
 
ru-
 
yu-
 
nü-
 
lü-
 
ju-
 
qu-
 
xu-
 
zu-
 
cu-
 
su-

At least one letter in each place of articulation comes from international use ( f, ti, l, k, xi, zh), with at least some of the others derived from these (cf. k h g and ch sh zh).

Rimes edit

The second cell represents the rime, generally in the top half of the cell, and the tone, generally in dots 3 and 6.

Tone 1 (mā) is indicated by dot 3 (), tone 2 (má) by dot 6 (), and tone 3 (mǎ) by dots 3 and 6 (). (In rime -ei, which already contains a dot 3, the dot 3 for tones 1 and 3 is replaced by dot 5 ( or ).) Tone 4 (mà) and neutral/toneless syllables use the basic rime.

A null/zero rime (a syllable ending with medial i u ü) is written with .

 
-ì, -ù, -ǜ
 
 
-è, -ò
 
-ài
 
-èi
 
-ào
 
-òu
 
-àn
 
-èn
 
-àng
 
-èng
  
èr
 
-ī, -ū, -ǖ
 
 
-ē, -ō
 
-āi
 
-ēi
 
-āo
 
-ōu
 
-ān
 
-ēn
 
-āng
 
-ēng
 
-í, -ú, -ǘ
 
 
-é, -ó
 
-ái
 
-éi
 
-áo
 
-óu
 
-án
 
-én
 
-áng
 
-éng
  
ér
 
-ǐ, -ǔ, -ǚ
 
 
-ě, -ǒ
 
-ǎi
 
-ěi
 
-ǎo
 
-ǒu
 
-ǎn
 
-ěn
 
-ǎng
 
-ěng
  
ěr
  • is the 'zero' rime transcribed as -i after z c s zh ch sh r in pinyin; here it's also used to carry the tone for syllables where the medial is the rime, such as gu or mi. After b p m f, it is equivalent to pinyin -u.
  • is transcribed in pinyin as o after b p m f w and the medial u; otherwise it's e.

The rime er is written as if it were *ra; this is possible because *ra is not a possible syllable in Mandarin. At the end of a word, -r is erhua, as in huār (花儿). Within a word, hyphenate erhua () to avoid confusion with an initial r- in the following syllable.

The exclamation ê is ,[dubious ] yo is , and o is , with appropriate modification for tone.