Spelling in Gwoyeu Romatzyh

The spelling of Gwoyeu Romatzyh (GR) can be divided into its treatment of initials, finals and tones. GR uses contrasting unvoiced/voiced pairs of consonants to represent aspirated and unaspirated initials in Chinese: for example "b" and "p" represent IPA [p] and [pʰ] . The letters "j, ch" and "sh" represent two different series of initials: the alveolo-palatal and the retroflex sounds. Although these spellings create no ambiguity in practice, readers more familiar with Pinyin should pay particular attention to them: GR "ju", for example, corresponds to Pinyin "zhu", not "ju" (which is spelt "jiu" in GR).

Many of the finals in GR are similar to those used in other romanizations. Distinctive features of GR include the use of "iu" for the close front rounded vowel spelt "ü" or simply "u" in Pinyin. Final "-y" represents certain allophones of "i": GR "shy" and "sy" correspond to Pinyin "shi" and "si" respectively.

The most striking feature of GR is its treatment of tones. The first tone is represented by the basic form of each syllable, the spelling being modified according to precise rules for the other three tones. For example the syllable spelt "ai" (first tone) becomes "air, ae" and "ay" in the other tones. A neutral (unstressed) tone can optionally be indicated by preceding it with a dot or full stop: for example "perng.yeou" "friend".

Rhotacization, a common feature of Mandarin (especially Beijing) Chinese, is marked in GR by the suffix "-(e)l". Owing to the rather complex orthographical details, a given rhotacized form may correspond to more than one basic syllable: for example "jiel" may be either "ji(n) + el" ("today") or "ji + el" ("chick").

A number of frequently-occurring morphemes have abbreviated spellings in GR. The commonest of these, followed by their Pinyin equivalents, are: "-g" (-ge), "-j" (-zhe), "-m" (-me), "sh" (shi) and "-tz" (-zi).

Basic forms

GR introduced several innovations in Chinese romanization. One of these, later adopted by Pinyin, was to use contrasting unvoiced/voiced pairs of consonants to represent aspirated and unaspirated sounds in Chinese. For example "b" and "p" represent IPA [p] and [pʰ] ("p" and " p' " in Wade-Giles). Another feature of GR surviving in Pinyin was to write words (usually of two syllables) as units: eg "Gwoyeu" rather than the Wade-Giles "Kuo²-yü³".

The basic features of GR spelling are shown in the following tables of initials and finals, the latter referring to the basic T1 forms. [See Chao(1948):19-24 and Chao(1968a):20-25 for tables and fuller discussion.] Many of the spelling features are the same as in Pinyin; differences are highlighted in the tables and discussed in detail after the second table. The rules of tonal spelling follow in a separate section.

In the tables Pinyin spellings are given only where they differ from GR, in which case they appear in "italics" below the GR spelling. The tables also give IPA pronunciations in [brackets] .

Initials

Tonal rules

:"Note:" In this section the word "tone" is abbreviated as "T": thus T1 stands for Tone 1, or first tone, etc.

Wherever possible GR indicates tones 2, 3 and 4 by respelling the basic T1 form of the syllable, replacing a vowel with another having a similar sound ("i" with "y", for example, or "u" with "w"). But this concise procedure cannot be applied in every case, since the syllable may not contain a suitable vowel for modification. In such cases a letter ("r" or "h") is added or inserted instead. The precise rule to be followed in any specific case is determined by the rules given below. [The rules are given, though in a different form, in Chao (1948): 28-30 (synopsis p 336) and Chao (1968a): 29-30 (synopsis p 847). See also Table IX in Simon,W.(1947):lviii.]

A colour-coded rule of thumb is given below for each tone: the same colours are used below in a . Each rule of thumb is then amplified by a comprehensive set of rules for that tone. These codes are used in the rules:

:* V = a vowel:* NV = a non-vowel (either a consonant or zero in the case of an initial vowel):* ⇏ = "but avoid forming [the specified combination] "

Pinyin equivalents are given in brackets after each set of examples. To illustrate the GR tonal rules in practice, a comparing Pinyin and GR spellings of some Chinese provinces follows the detailed rules.

Tone 1: basic form
* Initial sonorants ("l-/m-/n-/r-"): insert "-h-" as second letter. "rheng, mha" (rēng, mā)
* Otherwise use the basic form.

Tone 2: i/u → y/w; or add -r
* Initial sonorants: use basic form. "reng, ma" (réng, má)
* NV"i" → NV"y" ( + "-i" if final). "chyng, chyan, yng, yan, pyi" (qíng, qián, yíng, yán, pí)
* NV"u" → NV"w" ( + "-u" if final). "chwan, wang, hwo, chwu" (chuán, wáng, huó, chú)
*

Otherwise add "r" to vowel or diphthong. "charng, bair" (cháng, bái)

Tone 3: i/u → e/o; or double vowel
* V"i" or "i"V → V"e" or "e"V (⇏"ee"). "chean, bae, sheau" (qiǎn, bǎi, xiǎo), but not gee
*

V"u" or "u"V → V"o" or "o"V (⇏"oo"). "doan, dao, shoei" (duǎn, dǎo, shuǐ), but not hoo

* Otherwise double the (main) [In diphthongs the main vowel is the vowel bearing the tone mark in Pinyin.] vowel. "chiing, daa, geei, huoo, goou" (qǐng, dǎ, gěi, huǒ, gǒu)
* Add initial "y-/w-" if necessary. "yean, woo" (yǎn, wǒ)

Tone 4: change/double final letter; or add -h
* V"i" → V"y". "day, suey" (dài, suì)
* V"u" → V"w" (⇏"iw"). "daw, gow" (dào, gòu), but not chiw
* "-n" → "-nn". "duann" (duàn)
* "-l" → "-ll". "ell" (èr)
* "-ng" → "-nq". "binq" (bìng)
* Otherwise add "h". "dah, chiuh, dih" (dà, qù, dì)
* Add initial "y-/w-" if necessary. "yaw, wuh" (yào, wù)

Neutral tone (轻声 "Chingsheng / qīngshēng")

A dot (usually written as a period or full stop) may be placed before neutral tone (unstressed) syllables, which appear in their original tonal spelling: "perng.yeou, dih.fang" (péngyou, dìfang). Y.R. Chao used this device in the first eight chapters of the "Mandarin Primer", restricting it thereafter to new words on their first appearance. In "A Grammar of Spoken Chinese" he introduced a subscript circle (_o) to indicate an optional neutral tone, as in "bujy_odaw", "don't know" (Pinyin pronunciation "bùzhīdào" or "bùzhīdao").

GR "u-" and "i-" syllables

It is important to note that any GR syllables beginning "u-" or "i-" must be T1: in T2, T3 and T4 these syllables all begin with "w-" or "y-" respectively. An example in all four tones is the following: "ing, yng, yiing, yinq" (Pinyin "ying").

Pinyin comparison: all tones

This table illustrates the GR tonal rules in use by listing some Chinese provinces in both GR and Pinyin (to switch to Pinyin alphabetical order, click the button next to the heading). [For a complete list of provinces in GR, characters and "map spelling", see Simon,W.(1947): Table XV(1),c.] The tonal spelling markers or "clues" are highlighted using the same colour-coding scheme as above. Note that T1 is the default tone: hence "Shinjiang" (Xīnjiāng), for example, is spelt using the basic form of both syllables.

:GR tone key:Tone 1 (basic form: unmarked) Tone 2 Tone 3 Tone 4

Rhotacization

"Erhua" (兒化), or the rhotacized or retroflex [This is Chao's terminology: see Chao(1968a):46.] ending, is indicated in GR by "-el" rather than "-r", which is already used as a T2 marker. The appropriate tonal modification is then applied to the rhotacized form: for example "shell" ("shìr") and "ideal" ("yìdiǎnr"). [The temptation to read these examples as the English words "shell" and "ideal" must be resisted.]

Most other romanization systems preserve the underlying form, but GR transcribes the surface form as pronounced. These are the main principles followed when a syllable is rhotacized in GR: [For a detailed discussion of the spelling of these endings in GR, see Chao(1968a): 46-52 and Table IX in Simon,W.(1947): lix.]
# final "-y" and "-n" are deleted.
# "-el" is added to final "-i" and "-iu", and replaces the finals lost by rule (1).
# "-l" is added to all other finals (but note that "-ing" acquires an additional "-e-" to become "-iengl").As a consequence the one-to-one correspondence between GR and Pinyin is broken, since one GR rhotacized form may correspond to several Pinyin forms. [Table IX in Simon,W.(1947):lix gives a useful list of the possible plain forms corresponding to each rhotacized form.] For example:
* "jiel" corresponds to both "jīr" and "jīnr".
* "jial" corresponds to both "jiār" and "jiānr".

Tone sandhi

The most important manifestation of tone sandhi in Mandarin is the change of a T3 syllable to T2 when followed by another T3 syllable (T3 + T3 → T2 + T3). GR does not reflect this change in the spelling: the word for "fruit" is written "shoeiguoo", even though the pronunciation is closer to "shweiguoo". [In the first eight chapters of Chao(1948) such syllables are printed in italics as a reminder to students (eg "shoei"guoo").] Four common words with more complicated tone sandhi (also ignored in the spelling) are mentioned below under Exceptions.

Abbreviations

A number of frequently-occurring morphemes have abbreviated spellings in GR. [These and other abbreviations are listed in Chao(1968a):xxx.] The commonest of these, followed by their Pinyin equivalents, are:

*"-g" ("-ge")
*"-j" ("-zhe")
*"-m" ("-me"):occurs in "sherm" ("shénme"), "jemm/tzemm" ("zhème") and "tzeem" ("zěnme")
*"sh" ("shi"):also in compounds such as "jiowsh" ("jiùshi"), "dannsh" ("dànshi"), etc.
*"-tz" ("-zi")

Reduplication

In its original form GR used the two "spare" letters of the alphabet, "v" and "x", to indicate reduplication. This mimicked the method by which the Chinese script indicates repeated characters with an iteration mark (々). In GR the letter "x" indicates that the preceding syllable is repeated ("shieh.x = shieh.shieh", "thank you"), "vx" being used when the preceding "two" syllables are repeated ("haoshuo vx! = haoshuo haoshuo!" "you're too kind!"). [These symbols are introduced unobtrusively in endnotes to Lessons 2 and 4 on pp 131 and 146 of Chao(1948)—the explanation of "vx" being further hidden in a parenthesis.]

This concise but completely unphonetic, and hence unintuitive, device appears in Chao's "Mandarin Primer" and all W. Simon's texts (including his "Chinese-English Dictionary"). Eventually, however, it was silently discarded even by its inventor: in Chao's "Grammar" as well as his "Sayable Chinese" all reduplicated syllables are written out in full in their GR transcription.

Exceptions

The following words and characters do not follow the rules of GR:
* The name "Romatzyh" (which strictly speaking should be "Luomaatzyh") follows international usage (Roma).
* The characters 一 ("one"), 七 ("seven"), 八 ("eight"), and 不 ("no/not") are always written "i", "chi", "ba", and "bu", respectively, regardless of the tone in which they are pronounced. In other words changes due to tone sandhi are not reflected in GR.

Notes

References

*cite book | last = Chao | first = Yuen Ren | title = Mandarin Primer: an Intensive Course in Spoken Chinese | publisher = Harvard University Press | date = 1948
*cite book | last = Chao | first = Yuen Ren | title = A Grammar of Spoken Chinese | publisher = University of California Press | date = 1968a | id = ISBN 0520002199
*cite book | last = Simon | first = Walter | title = A Beginners' [sic] Chinese-English Dictionary | publisher = Lund Humphries & Co. Ltd | date = 1947