| Gwoyeu Romatzyh | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Comparison between Gwoyeu Romatzyh (top) andpinyin (bottom) for Gwoyeu Romatzyh's official name國音字母第二式 ('Second Pattern of the National Alphabet'; middle) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Script type | romanization | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Creator | National Languages Committee
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| Created | 1925–1926 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Official script |
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| Languages | Standard Chinese | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 國語羅馬字 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 国语罗马字 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | National language romanization | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Official name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 國音字母第二式 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 国音字母第二式 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Second pattern of the national alphabet | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Gwoyeu Romatzyh[a] (/ˌɡwoʊjuːroʊˈmɑːtsə/GWOH-yoo roh-MAHT-sə;abbr.GR) is a system for writingStandard Chinese using theLatin alphabet. It was primarily conceived byYuen Ren Chao (1892–1982), who led a group oflinguists on theNational Languages Committee in refining the system between 1925 and 1926. In September 1928, it was adopted by theRepublic of China as the national romanization system for Standard Chinese.[1] GR indicates the fourtones of Standard Chinese by 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 thenumerals used by the earlierWade–Giles system, or thediacritics used by the laterHanyu Pinyin system.
Despite support from linguists both in China and overseas—including some early proponents who hoped it would eventually replaceChinese characters altogether—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, which became the international standard during the 1980s, and which follows principles originally introduced by GR. Widespread adoption of GR 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.[2]
TheRepublic of China was founded in 1912, following the overthrow of the imperialQing dynasty in 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 Chinese as China's primary written language with awritten vernacular that more closely reflected ordinary speech.[3] Meanwhile, even thoughMandarin was 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.[4] The tumultuousCommission on the Unification of Pronunciation held 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 government had few means to promote its use among the general population.[6]
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 characters should be replaced with an alphabet designed to write the sounds of a national form of Chinese.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9] Tonal spelling, Gwoyeu Romatzyh's most distinctive feature, was first suggested to Yuen Ren Chao byLin Yutang (1895–1976);[10] by 1922, Chao had already established the main principles of the system.[11] 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] (汪怡; 1875–1960[12]).[13]
On 26 September 1928, Gwoyeu Romatzyh was officially adopted by the Republic'snationalist government—led at the time by theKuomintang (KMT).[1][14] 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!!!")[15] It was intended for GR to be used alongside the existingbopomofo system, hence its designation as the "Second Pattern of the National Alphabet".[c][16] Both systems were used to indicate the revised standard of pronunciation in the new officialVocabulary of National Pronunciation for Everyday Use of 1932.[d][17] 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.[18] During the 1930s, two short-lived attempts were made to teach Gwoyeu Romatzyh to railway workers and peasants inHenan andShandong.[19] Support for GR was confined to a small number of trained linguists and sinologists, includingQian Xuantong andLuo Changpei in China andWalter Simon in England.[20] 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 Wenz systems—often identifying with the Communists, and likewise opposing the KMT.[21] Conversely, Karlgren criticized GR for its lack of phonetic rigour.[22] Ultimately, like Latinxua Sin Wenz, GR failed to gain widespread support, principally because the "national" language was too narrowly based on theBeijing dialect:[23] "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.[24] TheWarring States period state ofWey is 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 China in 1949, GR was practically unused on the mainland.[25] 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.[26] 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 II system.[27]
An important feature of Gwoyeu Romatzyh, inspired by its precursors and later adopted by pinyin, is the use of consonant pairs with avoicing distinction from Latin to instead represent theaspiration distinction present in Chinese.[28] 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-palatal series written in pinyin as⟨j⟩,⟨q⟩, and⟨x⟩; otherwise, they correspond to theretroflex series written in pinyin as⟨zh⟩,⟨ch⟩, and⟨sh⟩.
Other notable features of Gwoyeu Romatzyhorthography include:
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.[30] This is accomplished in one of three ways, with the concise first method used whenever possible:
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.
| Tone 1 | Tone 2 | Tone 3 | Tone 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 貪 'corrupt' | 彈 'pluck' | 毯 'blanket' | 炭 'charcoal' | |
| GR | tan | tarn | taan | tann |
| Pinyin | tān | tán | tǎn | tàn |
| 优 'superior' | 油 'oil' | 有 'to have' | 右 'rightward' | |
| GR | iou | you | yeou | yow |
| Pinyin | yōu | yóu | yǒu | yòu |
| 輕 'gentle' | 情 'sentiment' | 請 'invite' | 慶 'celebrate' | |
| GR | ching | chyng | chiing | chinq |
| Pinyin | qīng | qíng | qǐng | qìng |
| 咪 'meow' | 彌 'full' | 米 'rice' | 宓 'silent' | |
| GR | mhi | mi | mii | mih |
| Pinyin | mī | mí | mǐ | mì |
An important principle of Gwoyeu Romatzyh is that text should usespaces asword 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 characters generally correspond with these morpheme–syllables.[32] Characters are written without spaces between words. However, most words used in modernwritten vernacular Chinese are 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).[33]
Chao used Gwoyeu Romatzyh in four influential works:
In 1942,Walter Simon introduced 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.[41]
In 1960, Y. C. Liu, who was a colleague of Walter Simon atSOAS, publishedFifty Chinese Stories, comprising selections from theChinese classics. It was aparallel text featuring the originalLiterary Chinese as well as vernacular translation,[42] in addition to GR andromanized Japanese transliterations 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,[43][44] though Lin eliminated most of the spelling rules.
The first 3 issues ofShin Tarng magazine (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]
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.[17]
For example, it may be easier to memorize the difference between GRBeeijing 'Beijing' andbeyjiing 'background' than the pinyinBěijīng andbèijǐng. One study conducted at theUniversity of Oregon from 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".[2]
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