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Gwoyeu Romatzyh (), abbreviated '''GR''', is a Romanization (formerly used officially in the Republic Of China ) with complex spelling rules which allow for Tonal distinctions (unlike most other Romanizations, which require additional Diacritic s or Numeral s). As a result of its tonal spelling, many letters in Gwoyeu Romatzyh are also used to signify tones and not actual segmental sounds. For example, the Pinyin and Wade-Giles ''ai'' is written in GR as one of ''ai'', ''air'', ''ae'', or ''ay'' (tones 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively). In this case, "r" is not pronounced and simply indicates tone two. However, tone two is not always indicated by ''r'', as GR's ''iou'', ''you'', ''yeou'', or ''yow'' correspond to Pinyin and Wade-Giles ''you''. (See #Tonal Rules ) Because of these elaborate rules and irregularities, GR is difficult to read and learn, in comparison to the later ROC Romanizations ( MPS II and Tongyong Pinyin ) as well as the already popular Wade-Giles and Hanyu Pinyin . HISTORY Proposed by Lin Yutang , and developed mostly by Y.R. Chao and from 1925 to 1926 also by the Preparatory Commission For The Unification Of The National Language , GR was proclaimed by the Republican Government University (國民政府大學院 Guomin Zhengfu Daxueyuan) on September 26 , 1928 . It appeared in addition to the existing phonetic symbols, the Zhuyin . GR was renamed to Transliteration Symbols (譯音符號 Yiyin Fuhao) in 1940. It was modified into and officially replaced by MPS II in January 1986 . SEGMENTAL FEATURES The differences and unique similarities unrelated to tone rendering that GR has with Wade-Giles (Wade) and Hanyu Pinyin (Pinyin):
TONAL RULES The additional letter or modified letter (replacement of another) to signify tone is usually done to the Vowel or Diphthong . The following list number correspond to tone number. # No extra tone-letter is added to tone one, i.e., they are written as if they have no tone, and syllables with other tones are modified from tone one. Except:
# For tone-two syllables, all vowels (and last vowel of the diphthongs) are followed by ''r'', except:
# Tone-three vowels are doubled, except:
# For tone-four syllables, all vowels (and last vowel of the Diphthong s) are followed by ''h'', except:
# A dot (often written as Period ) is placed before neutral tone syllables (which otherwise appear exactly like those tone-one syllables). However, this is sometimes ignored by writer. COSMETIC CHANGES In addition, for purposes of appearance and clarity, some vowels (all ''i'', ''u'', and sometimes ''e'' and ''o'') occurring at the beginning of syllable in tones three and four should be replaced or preceded by another letter, provided that there will still be vowel left in the syllable and the changed syllable does not become identical with another.
For syllables in tone three, the ''y'' or ''w'' should precede the first vowel, except in the cases of ''iee'' and ''uoo'', when the ''y'' or ''w'' should replace the first vowel. For syllables in tone four, when the ''y'' or ''w'' should replace the first vowel, except that if ''i'' or ''u'' are complete syllables by themselves, they become ''yi'' or ''wu'' respectively. RHOTACIZATION Because ''r'' is already used for the consonant and as a tone two marker, ''el'' is used instead to signify the Pinyin ''er''. ''Erhua'' (兒化), or Rhotacization , is transcribed as is said (surface form), while most other Romanizations express the underlying form. Sometimes, one GR rhotacized form equals several Pinyin forms, for example,
The final ''i'', ''y'', and ''n'' are deleted when rhotacized. For ''i'', ''y'', and ''iu'', the rhotic ''el'' is added, for others, just ''l''. EXCEPTIONS The following are words or characters that always disobey the rules:
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