Mandarin Phonetic Symbols II

"MPS II" redirects here. For Hunter Syndrome, a lyosomal storage disease, see mucopolysaccharidosis.

Chinese romanization
Mandarin for Standard Chinese     Hanyu Pinyin (ISO standard)     EFEO     Gwoyeu Romatzyh         Spelling conventions     Latinxua Sin Wenz     Mandarin Phonetic Symbols II     Chinese Postal Map Romanization     Tongyong Pinyin     Wade–Giles     Yale     Legge romanization     Simplified Wade     Comparison chart for Sichuanese Mandarin     Sichuanese Pinyin     Scuanxua Ladinxua Xin Wenz
Yue for Cantonese     Guangdong Romanization     Hong Kong Government     Jyutping     Meyer-Wempe     Sidney Lau     S. L. Wong (phonetic symbols)     S. L. Wong (romanisation)     Cantonese Pinyin     Standard Romanization     Yale     Barnett–Chao
Wu for Shanghai and Suzhou dialects     Long-short for Wenzhounese     Wenzhounese romanisation
Min Nan for Taiwanese, Amoy, and related     Pe̍h-ōe-jī     Bbínpīn Hōngàn     Daighi tongiong pingim     Modern Literal Taiwanese     Phofsit Daibuun     Tâi-lô     TLPA for Hainanese     Hainanhua Pinyin Fang'an for Teochew     Peng'im
Min Dong for Fuzhou dialect     Foochow Romanized
Hakka for Moiyan dialect     Kejiahua Pinyin Fang'an For Siyen dialect     Pha̍k-fa-sṳ     TLPA
Gan for Nanchang dialect     Pha̍k-oa-chhi
See also:    General Chinese    Cyrillization    Xiao'erjing    'Phags-pa script    Bopomofo    Taiwanese kana    Romanisation in Singapore    Romanisation in the ROC
This box: view · talk · edit

Mandarin Phonetic Symbols II (國語注音符號第二式), abbreviated MPS II, is a romanization system formerly used in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was created to replace the complex tonal-spelling Gwoyeu Romatzyh, and to co-exist with the popular Wade-Giles (romanization) and Zhuyin (non-romanization). It is sometimes referred to as Gwoyeu Romatzyh 2 or GR2.

History

Based on the earlier and more complex Gwoyeu Romatzyh, the tentative version of MPS II was released on May 10, 1984 by the Ministry of Education. After two years of feedback from the general public, the official version was established on January 28, 1986.^[1] To distinguish Zhuyin from the Mandarin Phonetic Symbols II ("Mandarin Zhuyin Symbols II"), the first Zhuyin is officially called "Mandarin Phonetic Symbols I" (國語注音符號第一式).

Despite its official status for almost two decades until it was replaced by Tongyong Pinyin in 2002, MPS II existed only in some governmental publications (such as travel brochures and dictionaries). However, MPS II was not used for the official Romanized names of Taiwanese places. It never gained the same status as did Wade-Giles. In mainstream overseas communities, it is virtually unused and unheard of.

Features

Tonal spelling of Gwoyeu Romatzyh is eliminated, and syllables of all tones are spelled identical (as in Gwoyeu Romatzyh's tone one). And the four diacritics representing the tones are identical to Zhuyin's.

• The Romanization of the consonants is identical to Gwoyeu Romatzyh's.
• It uses r for both:
  • ㄖ (pinyin r), and
  • what is written in pinyin as i after zh, ch, sh, r. (Although this use of r has a tonal diacritic on it and is always final.) This use is identical to Yale.
• It uses z for both:
  • ㄗ (pinyin z), and
  • what is written in pinyin as i after z, c, s. (Although this use of z has a tonal diacritic on it and is always final.) This use is somewhat like Yale.
    • The z is not written after tz (i.e., no tzz), however. Tz corresponds to Pinyin zi.
• Like Gwoyeu Romatzyh, -iou, -uen, and -uei are all written out, unlike the Pinyin/Wade -iu, -un, and -ui.
• Gwoyeu Romatzyh's au persists (as opposed to the ao of Pinyin, Wade-Giles, and the later Tongyong Pinyin.)
• Gwoyeu Romatzyh's iu (Pinyin ü) is written as -iu and yu (alone).
• Gwoyeu Romatzyh's -ong is spelled now -ung (like Wade-Giles).
• Gwoyeu Romatzyh's el is spelled now er (like Pinyin).
• Y- and w- are added to or replace i and u (respectively) in ways similar to Gwoyeu Romatzyh and identical to Pinyin.

An example of MPS II: "國語注音符號第二式" is written as guó-yǔ jù-yīn fú-hàu dì-èr shr̀. Compare with pinyin, which writes it as guóyǔ zhùyīn fúhào dì'èr shì.

Spaces are generally used in place of hyphens, except in personal names, which use hyphens in between the syllables of the given names.

References

1. ^ "MPS2". Pinyin Info. 10 March 2004. http://www.pinyin.info/romanization/mps2/. 

External links

• Standard Mandarin Pinyin Table The complete listing of all Pinyin syllables used in standard Mandarin, along with native speaker pronunciation for each syllable.
• Conversion chart (syllable level)
• ROC government booklet on MPS II (in English and Chinese)
• Taiwan's official romanization system: MPS2

Preceded by Gwoyeu Romatzyh

Official romanization adopted by the Republic of China (Taiwan) 1986-2002

Succeeded by Tongyong Pinyin