Gwoyeu Romatzyh
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
diacritics or
numerals).
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 (pinyin: aī, aí, aǐ, and aì) is written in GR as
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.
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"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.
The differences and unique similarities unrelated to tone rendering that GR has with
Wade-Giles (Wade) and
Hanyu Pinyin (Pinyin):
* The three symbols,
j,
ch, and
sh, represent six sounds. When followed by "i", they are Pinyin
j,
q, and
x. Otherwise, they correspond to
zh,
ch, and
sh.
*
Y represents both the empty rimes (Wade
-u and
-ih; Pinyin
-i) and
i (Wade and Pinyin
i). The empty rime
y may stand alone or be followed by a consonant. The vowel
y is always followed by a vowel (including
i), and is never alone.
* While GR
iu is Pinyin/Wade
ü, GR
iou is Pinyin/Wade
iu.
* Like Pinyin/Wade
iu is spelled out as
iou in GR, the Pinyin/Wade
un and
ui is spelled out as
uen and
uei.
*
Au is Pinyin/Wade
ao.
* Wade
ts (formerly
tz) is split into
ts for
ts' (Pinyin
c) and
tz for
ts (Pinyin
z)
* Like most Romanizations, it has a diacritic mark for the rarely used sound "
eh!", which is
è or
ê, which behaves like
e ("uh!"). But when in combination,
è loses its accent.
*
-ong is as in Pinyin, and unlike Wade's
-ung.
* Like Pinyin, an
apostrophe is used to disambiguate syllable sequence.
* It also has three letters for dialectal sounds:
v (万 in extended
Zhuyin),
ng (兀), and
gn (广).
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:#* Those beginning with
l,
r,
m, and
n have
-h after them. And tone-two syllables with
l,
r,
m, and
n initials behave like tone-one syllable.# For tone-two syllables, all vowels (and last vowel of the diphthongs) are followed by
r, except:#*
I becomes
y, unless it is final, then
i has
y preceding it:
yi.#*
U becomes
w, unless it is final, then
u has
w preceding it:
wu.# Tone-three vowels are doubled, except:#* Diphthongs with
a do not double. Instead, the
I becomes
e or the
U becomes
o.#* Note that, for diphthongs without
a, the letter that comes first in alphabet order is doubled, i.e.,#** Double
e, not
i.#** Double
o, not
u.#* There may also be an additional cosmetic change.
See below.# For tone-four syllables, all vowels (and last vowel of the
diphthongs) are followed by
h, except:#* Those syllables end in
-n double the consonant:
-nn.#* Those end in
-l double the consonant:
-ll.#* Those end in
-ng become
-nq.#* In diphthongs with final "I" or "U"...#**
I becomes
y.#**
U becomes
w.#* There may also be an additional cosmetic change.
See below.# A dot (often written as
period) is placed before neutral tone syllables (which otherwise appear in those syllables' exact original tonal spelling). However, this is sometimes ignored by the writer.
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.
*
i and
e can be replaced or preceded by a
y*
u and
o can be replaced or preceded by a
wFor 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.
Because
r is already used for the consonant and as a tone two marker,
el is used instead to signify the Pinyin
er.
Erhua ('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,
*
Jiel corresponds to the Pinyin
jīr and
jīnr.
*
Jial corresponds to the Pinyin
jīer and
jīanr.
The final
i,
y, and
n are deleted when rhotacized. For
i,
y, and
iu, the rhotic
el is added, for others, just
l.
The following are words or characters that always disobey the rules:
* The name
Romatzyh (should be "Luomaatzyh") is parallel to
Roma internationally.
* Although the tones for the characters "one" (一), "seven" (七), "eight" (八), and "no" (不) change in different contexts, in GR, they are always written
i,
chi,
ba, and
bu, respectively.
*
A short course (around 10 pages)
*
Rules and examples (one page) from
Everything2*
Comparison chart*
Comparison chart II*
Zhuyin-GR comparison vowel chart
