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Gwoyeu Romatzyh

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Gwoyeu Romatzyh
Comparison between Gwoyeu Romatzyh (top) andpinyin(bottom) for Gwoyeu Romatzyh's official nameQuốc âm tự mẫu đệ nhị thức('Second Pattern of the National Alphabet'; middle)
Script typeromanization
CreatorNational Languages Committee
Created1925–1926
Official script
LanguagesStandard Chinese
Chinese name
Traditional ChineseQuốc ngữ la mã tự
Simplified ChineseQuốc ngữ la mã tự
Literal meaningNational language romanization
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinGuóyǔ Luómǎzì
Bopomofoㄍㄨㄛˊㄩˇㄌㄨㄛˊㄇㄚˇㄗˋ
Gwoyeu RomatzyhGwoyeu Romatzyh
Wade–GilesKuo2-yü3Lo2-ma3-tzu4
Tongyong PinyinGuó-yǔ Luó-mǎ-zìh
Yale RomanizationGwóyǔ Lwómǎdz̀
IPA[kwǒỳ lwǒmàtsɹ̩̂]
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationGwokyu Lòhmáhjih
JyutpingGwok3 jyu3 Lo4 ma5 zi6
IPA[kʷɔ̄ːkjȳːlɔ̀ːmɐ̬tɕìː]
Southern Min
HokkienPOJKok-gí Lô-má-jī
Official name
Traditional ChineseQuốc âm tự mẫu đệ nhị thức
Simplified ChineseQuốc âm tự mẫu đệ nhị thức
Literal meaningSecond pattern of the national alphabet
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinGuóyīn zìmǔ dì'èr shì
Bopomofoㄍㄨㄛˊㄧㄣㄗˋㄇㄨˇㄉㄧˋㄦˋㄕˋ
Gwoyeu RomatzyhGwoin tzyhmuu dihell shyh

Gwoyeu Romatzyh[a](/ˌɡwoʊjuːroʊˈmɑːtsə/GWOH-yoo roh-MAHT-sə;abbr.GR) is a system for writingStandard Chineseusing theLatin alphabet.It was primarily conceived byYuen Ren Chao(1892–1982), who led a group oflinguistson theNational Languages Committeein refining the system between 1925 and 1926. In September 1928, it was adopted by theRepublic of Chinaas the national romanization system for Standard Chinese.[1]GR indicates the fourtones of Standard Chineseby varying the spelling of syllables, a method originally proposed by team memberLin Yutang(1895–1976). Distinct sets of spellings are assigned to syllables in GR according to particular rules. This differs from approaches used by other systems to denote tones, like thenumeralsused by the earlierWade–Gilessystem, or thediacriticsused by the laterHanyu Pinyinsystem.

Despite support from linguists both in China and overseas—including some early proponents who hoped it would eventually replaceChinese charactersaltogether—GR never achieved widespread use among the Chinese public, who generally lacked interest in the system or viewed it with hostility due to its complex spelling rules. In places where GR had gained traction, it was eventually replaced—largely by Hanyu Pinyin (or simply "pinyin" ), which became the international standard during the 1980s, and itself follows principles originally introduced by GR. Widespread adoption of the system was also hindered by its narrow calibration to the Beijing dialect, during a period when China lacked the strong central government needed to impose use of a national spoken language.

From 1942 to 2000, a small number of reference works published in Hong Kong and overseas also used the system, and Chao would use it throughout his later linguistics work, including in his most influential publications. Chao said that tonal spelling could possibly aid students of Chinese learning to articulate tones. However, later study of tonal accuracy in students has not substantiated Chao's hypothesis.

History

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Background

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Lin Yutang,who first proposed tonal spelling, in 1939

TheRepublic of Chinawas founded in 1912, following the overthrow of the imperialQing dynastyin theXinhai Revolution.During the final decades of the Qing, liberal reformers among the Chinese intelligentsia had begun seeking ways to modernize the country's institutions. Proposed language reforms included the replacement ofLiterary Chineseas China's primary written language with awritten vernacularthat more closely reflected ordinary speech.[2]Meanwhile, even thoughMandarinwas spoken in an official capacity by the imperial bureaucracy in the north of the country, most of China's population spoke mutually unintelligiblevarieties of Chinese;many also saw adoption of a single spoken dialect nationwide as being necessary for China's modernization.[3]The tumultuousCommission on the Unification of Pronunciationheld in 1913 resulted in the adoption of a "national pronunciation"[b]designed as a compromise featuring characteristics of numerous varieties spoken across China; however, this meant a form of speech that was itself artificial and spoken by no one, and the strugglingBeiyang governmenthad few means to promote its use among the general population.[5]

In 1916, the linguistYuen Ren Chao(1892–1982) was among the first to propose—in an English-language essay co-authored with the poetHu Shih(1891–1962)—thatChinese charactersshould be replaced with an alphabet designed to write the sounds of a national form of Chinese.[6]By 1921, Chao had joined theNational Languages Committee,and was tasked with the creation of audio recordings demonstrating the new national pronunciation, which he did in New York City.[7]However, it had become increasingly clear that the Republican government was not capable of promoting the national pronunciation, and during the 1920s efforts shifted instead towards basing the national language on Mandarin as spoken in Beijing. While Chao had supported the compromise national pronunciation, factors including his correspondence with the prominent linguistBernhard Karlgren(1889–1978) encouraged his work on a new romanization system attuned to the Beijing dialect.[8]Tonal spelling, Gwoyeu Romatzyh's most distinctive feature, was first suggested to Yuen Ren Chao byLin Yutang(1895–1976);[9]by 1922, Chao had already established the main principles of the system.[10]During 1925 and 1926, its details were developed by a team of five linguists under the auspices of the National Languages Committee: Chao, Lin,Li Jinxi(1890–1978),Qian Xuantong(1887–1939), andWang Yi[ja](Uông di;1875–1960[11]).[12]

Official status and adoption

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On 26 September 1928, Gwoyeu Romatzyh was officially adopted by the Republic'snationalist government—led at the time by theKuomintang(KMT).[1][13]The corresponding entry in Chao's diary, written in GR, readsG.R. yii yu jeou yueh 26 ry gong buh le. Hoo-ray!!!( "G.R. was officially announced on September 26. Hooray!!!" )[14]It was intended for GR to be used alongside the existingbopomofosystem, hence its designation as the "Second Pattern of the National Alphabet".[c][15]Both systems were used to indicate the revised standard of pronunciation in the new officialVocabulary of National Pronunciation for Everyday Useof 1932.[d][16]The designers of Gwoyeu Romatzyh generally represented what has been termed the "Romanization" movement, one among several interested in large-scale reform of the Chinese writing system; many within the Romanization movement sought to adopt Gwoyeu Romatzyh as a primary, practical script for the language.[17]During the 1930s, two short-lived attempts were made to teach Gwoyeu Romatzyh to railway workers and peasants inHenanandShandong.[18]Support for GR was confined to a small number of trained linguists and sinologists, includingQian XuantongandLuo Changpeiin China andWalter Simonin England.[19]During this period, GR faced increasing hostility because of the complexity of its tonal spelling. A competing "Latinization" movement coalesced around leaders likeQu Qiubai(1899–1935), and theLatinxua Sin Wenzsystems—often identifying with the Communists, and likewise opposing the KMT.[20]Conversely, Karlgren criticized GR for its lack of phonetic rigour.[21]Ultimately, like Latinxua Sin Wenz, GR failed to gain widespread support, principally because the "national" language was too narrowly based on theBeijing dialect:[22]"a sufficiently precise and strong language norm had not yet become a reality in China".[1]

Historical use of Gwoyeu Romatzyh is reflected in the official spelling of the name for the province ofShaanxi,which distinguishes it from that of neighbouringShanxi;these names differ only by tone, and their systematic pinyin romanizations would be identical without the use of diacritics.[23]TheWarring States periodstate ofWeyis often spelled as such to distinguish it from the more prominentstate of Wei,whose names are homophonous in Mandarin, but were likely distinct inOld Chinese.Several prominent Chinese people have used GR to transliterate their names, such as the mathematicianShiing-Shen Chern;however, neither Chao nor Lin did. Following theproclamation of the People's Republic of Chinain 1949, GR was practically unused on the mainland.[24]In 1958, the Chinese government officially replaced it withHanyu Pinyin,which had been developed by a team led byZhou Youguang(1906–2017) over the previous two years. Pinyin is now the predominant system and an international standard used by theUnited Nations,theLibrary of Congress,and theInternational Organization for Standardization,as well as by most students learning Standard Chinese. GR saw considerable use in Taiwan during the 20th century, alongside Hanyu Pinyin, the autochthonousTongyong Pinyin,and the bopomofo syllabary.[25]It was also used there as a pronunciation aid until the 1970s, as in the monolingualGuoyu Cidian[zh]dictionary. In 1986, the Taiwanese government officially replaced GR with the modifiedMandarin Phonetic Symbols IIsystem.[26]

Description

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Main article:Spelling in Gwoyeu Romatzyh
This section containsphonetic transcriptionsin theInternational Phonetic Alphabet(IPA).For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA.For the distinction between[ ],/ /and ⟨⟩, seeIPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.
Gwoyeu Romatzyh on a park sign in Taipei –Taytzyy(Thái tử;Tàizǐ)

Basic first tone forms

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An important feature of Gwoyeu Romatzyh, inspired by its precursors and later adopted by pinyin, is the use of consonant pairs with avoicingdistinction from Latin to instead represent theaspirationdistinction present in Chinese.[27]For example,⟨b⟩and⟨p⟩represent/p/and/pʰ/,compared to⟨p⟩and⟨p'⟩in Wade–Giles. Another distinctive feature is Gwoyeu Romatzyh's use of⟨j⟩,⟨ch⟩,and⟨sh⟩to represent two different phonetic series. When followed by⟨i⟩,these letters correspond to thealveolo-palatalseries written in pinyin as⟨j⟩,⟨q⟩,and⟨x⟩;otherwise, they correspond to theretroflexseries written in pinyin as⟨zh⟩,⟨ch⟩,and⟨sh⟩.

Other notable features of Gwoyeu Romatzyhorthographyinclude:

  • ⟨iu⟩represents theclose front rounded vowel/y/,which in pinyin is spelled either as⟨ü⟩or⟨u⟩depending on context
  • Final⟨-y⟩represents the[ɨ]allophone
    Examples: GR⟨shy⟩and⟨sy⟩correspond to pinyin⟨shi⟩and⟨si⟩respectively.
  • ⟨el⟩corresponds to pinyin⟨er⟩,with⟨-r⟩being reserved to indicate the second tone. The most important use of⟨-el⟩or⟨-l⟩is as arhotacizationsuffix.
    Example:⟨ideal⟩←⟨i dean⟩+⟨-l⟩forNhất điểm nhi(yìdiǎnr;'a little').
  • A number of frequently occurringmorphemeshave abbreviated spellings in GR
    Examples:⟨-g⟩compared to pinyin⟨-ge⟩,⟨-j⟩for⟨-zhe⟩,⟨-m⟩for⟨-me⟩,⟨sh⟩for⟨shi⟩,and⟨-tz⟩for⟨-zi⟩[28]

Tonal spelling

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By default, the basic Gwoyeu Romatzyh spelling described above is used for syllables with thefirst tone.The basic form is then modified to indicate tones 2, 3, and 4.[29]This is accomplished in one of three ways, with the concise first method used whenever possible:

  • eithera letter is changed to another letter resembling it in sound, for example⟨i⟩to either⟨y⟩or⟨e⟩
  • ora letter is doubled
  • ora silent⟨r⟩or⟨h⟩is added after the vowel

Syllables beginning with a sonorant—i.e. pinyin⟨l-⟩,⟨m-⟩,⟨n-⟩,and⟨r-⟩—are an exception: the basic form is then used for tone 2, and tone 1 is indicated by adding an⟨h⟩after the initial letter.

Examples of tonal spelling in Gwoyeu Romatzyh[30]
Tone 1 Tone 2 Tone 3 Tone 4
Tham'corrupt' Đạn'pluck' Thảm'blanket' Thán'charcoal'
GR tan tarn taan tann
Pinyin tān tán tǎn tàn
Ưu'superior' Du'oil' Hữu'to have' Hữu'rightward'
GR iou you yeou yow
Pinyin yōu yóu yǒu yòu
Khinh'gentle' Tình'sentiment' Thỉnh'invite' Khánh'celebrate'
GR ching chyng chiing chinq
Pinyin qīng qíng qǐng qìng
Mễ'meow' Di'full' Mễ'rice' Mật'silent'
GR mhi mi mii mih
Pinyin mī mí mǐ mì

Word segmentation

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An important principle of Gwoyeu Romatzyh is that text should usespacesasword dividers.The concept of a "word" as understood in Western linguistics has been adapted for Chinese comparatively recently. The basic unit of speech is popularly thought to be the syllable; in Chinese, each syllable almost always represents amorpheme—a language's basic unit of meaning—and writtenChinese charactersgenerally correspond with these morpheme–syllables.[31]Characters are written without spaces between words. However, most words used in modernwritten vernacular Chineseare two-syllable compounds; Chao reflected this in GR's orthography by grouping syllables in words together without hyphenation, as in Wade–Giles (e.g.Pei3-ching1).[32]

Publication history

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Yuen Ren Chao as a young man,c. 1916

Chao used Gwoyeu Romatzyh in four influential works:

  • Concise Dictionary of Spoken Chinese(1947; in collaboration withYang Lien-sheng)[33]
  • Mandarin Primer– originally used in theArmy Specialized Training Programat theHarvard UniversitySchool for Overseas Administration from 1943 to 1944, and subsequently in civilian courses; republished in 1948.[34]It was written "to supply the advanced student of spoken Chinese with reading matter which he can actually use in his speech".[35]The work consists of three volumes of Chinese text with facing GR romanization, including audio recordings of dialogue,[36]fragments of an autobiography, two plays, and a translation of Lewis Carroll'sThrough the Looking-Glass.
  • A Grammar of Spoken Chinese(1968)[37]
  • Readings in Sayable Chinese(1968)[38]– in this context,sayablemeanscolloquial,as opposed to thewritten vernacular Chineseoften read by students.[39]

In 1942,Walter Simonintroduced Gwoyeu Romatzyh to English-speaking sinologists in a pamphlet entitledThe New Official Chinese Latin Script.Over the remainder of the 1940s he published a series of textbooks and readers, as well as a Chinese-English dictionary using GR. His son Harry Simon later went on to use GR in papers he published on Chinese linguistics.[40]

In 1960, Y. C. Liu, who was a colleague of Walter Simon atSOAS,publishedFifty Chinese Stories,comprising selections from theChinese classics.It was aparallel textfeaturing the originalLiterary Chineseas well as vernacular translation,[41]in addition to GR andromanized Japanesetransliterations prepared by Simon.

Lin Yutang's Chinese-English Dictionary of Modern Usage(1972) incorporated a number of novelties, which included a simplified romanization scheme derived from GR,[42][43]though Lin eliminated most of the spelling rules.

The first 3 issues ofShin Tarngmagazine (1982–1989;Xīntáng) also used a simplified version of Gwoyeu Romatzyh. The fourth issue, now rendered asXin Talng,used a system that adapted pinyin to use tonal spelling akin to GR.[e]

Pedagogy

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Chao believed that the benefit of tonal spelling was to make the use of tones in Chinese more salient to learners:

[GR] makes the spelling more complicated, but gives anindividuality to the physiognomy of words,with which it is possible to associate meaning... as an instrument of teaching, tonal spelling has proved in practice to be a most powerful aid in enabling the student to grasp the material with precision and clearness.[16]

For example, it may be easier to memorize the difference between GRBeeijing'Beijing' andbeyjiing'background' than the pinyinBěijīngandbèijǐng.One study conducted at theUniversity of Oregonfrom 1991 to 1993 compared the results of teaching elementary level Chinese using either pinyin or GR to two matched groups of students; the study ultimately concluded that "GR did not lead to significantly greater accuracy in tonal production".[44]

Notes

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  1. ^Traditional Chinese:Quốc ngữ la mã tự;simplified Chinese:Quốc ngữ la mã tự;pinyin:Guóyǔ Luómǎzì;lit.'National language romanization'
  2. ^Quốc âm(guóyīn;'national pronunciation') was often used interchangeably withQuốc ngữ(guóyǔ;'national language').[4]
  3. ^Gwoin tzyhmuu dihell shyh(Quốc âm tự mẫu đệ nhị thức;Guóyīn zìmǔ dì'èr shì)
  4. ^Gwoin charngyonq tzyhhuey(Quốc âm thường dụng tự hối;Guóyīn chángyòng zìhuì)
  5. ^"Xin Tang: a journal of romanized Mandarin"– via pinyin.info.

References

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Citations

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  1. ^abcKratochvíl 1968,p. 169.
  2. ^Zhong 2019,pp. 27–28.
  3. ^Moser 2016,pp. 24–29.
  4. ^Zhong 2019,p. 36.
  5. ^Moser 2016,pp. 54–57.
  6. ^Zhong 2019,pp. 27–28;DeFrancis 1950a.
  7. ^Moser 2016,pp. 58–61.
  8. ^Zhong 2019,pp. 39–41.
  9. ^Chao 1948,p. 11, "Without disclaiming responsibility, as a very active member of the Committee on Unification, for the merits and defects of the system, I must give credit to my colleague Lin Yutang for the idea of varying the spelling to indicate difference in tone."
  10. ^DeFrancis 1950a,n. 43, 46.
  11. ^Weng 2018,p. 623.
  12. ^DeFrancis 1950,p. 74;Chao 1976,p. 14.
  13. ^Xing & Feng 2016.
  14. ^Zhong 2019,p. 41.
  15. ^Simon 1947,p. lxxi, Table X.
  16. ^abChao 1948,p. 11.
  17. ^Chao 1968c,"While the official position was that it was to be used whenever Chinese was to be spelled in Latin letters, such as in dealing with foreigners, those who devised the system, of whom I was one, had in our minds the design of a practical system of writing."
  18. ^DeFrancis 1950,pp. 77–78.
  19. ^DeFrancis 1950,p. 75.
  20. ^Zhong 2019,p. 54.
  21. ^Karlgren 1928,p. 20, "[GR] is based on a series of very fatal phonetic lies, and for this reason it will be very difficult to learn, and consequently impractical."
  22. ^DeFrancis 1950,p. 76.
  23. ^Mair & Hu 2024,p. 39.
  24. ^Simmons 2015.
  25. ^Wiedenhof 2004,p. 391.
  26. ^Chiung 2001.
  27. ^Chao 1948,pp. 19–24;Chao 1968a,pp. 20–25.
  28. ^Chao 1968a,p. xxx.
  29. ^Chao 1948,pp. 28–30, 336;Chao 1968a,pp. 29–30, 847;Simon 1947,p. lviii, Table IX.
  30. ^Adapted fromSimmons 2015.
  31. ^Chao 1968a,pp. 138–143;Kratochvíl 1968,pp. 89–99.
  32. ^DeFrancis 1950a,note 46.
  33. ^Chao & Yang 1947.
  34. ^Chao 1948,p. v.
  35. ^Chao 1968b,pp. i, iv.
  36. ^Chao 1955.
  37. ^Kratochvíl 1968,p. 187.
  38. ^Chao 1968b.
  39. ^Chao 1968b,pp. i, vi.
  40. ^Simon 1958.
  41. ^Liu 1960,p. xii, "[The book's] primary aim is to introduce students to the Classical style through the medium of the modern spoken language."
  42. ^Lin 1972,"In the original edition, 'Guoryuu Romatzyh' (Quốc ngữ la mã tự) was used as the scheme for romanization. "Another feature was an" Instant Index System ":" an invention by Lin Yutang with the intention of providing a simple and unambiguous rule to call up any given Chinese character... [T]his index system has not been widely used since its inception. "
  43. ^Ching 1975.
  44. ^McGinnis 1997,pp. 231–232, "The results clearly indicated that GR did not lead to significantly greater accuracy in tonal production. Indeed, the use of GR reflected slightly lower rates of tonal production accuracy for native speakers of both American English and Japanese."

Bibliography

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