Keeping the Chinese syllabic structure of ‘initial + final + tone’ in mind, we use the concept of ‘null initial’ as a convenient way to group together all syllables that start with vowels (that is, have no onset).
As Jyutping already groups all syllables that start with high vowels under either /w-/ or /j-/, so the syllables that start with all other vowels are grouped under the ‘null initial’.
1. The null initial is not represented with any letters.
For example:
| 丫 | 埃 | 屋 | 握 |
|---|---|---|---|
| aa1 | oi1 | uk1 | aak1 |
