The spelling ofGwoyeu Romatzyh (GR) can be divided into its treatment ofinitials,finals andtones. GR uses contrastingunvoiced/voiced pairs of consonants to representaspirated and unaspirated initials in Chinese: for exampleb andp representIPA [p] and [pʰ]. The lettersj, ch andsh represent two different series of initials: thealveolo-palatal and theretroflex sounds. Although these spellings create no ambiguity in practice, readers more familiar withPinyin should pay particular attention to them: GRju, for example, corresponds to Pinyinzhu, notju (which is spelledjiu in GR).

Many of the finals in GR are similar to those used in otherromanizations. Distinctive features of GR include the use ofiu for theclose front rounded vowel spelledü or simplyu in Pinyin. Final-y represents certainallophones ofi: GRshy andsy correspond to Pinyinshi andsi 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 but complexrules for the other three tones. For example the syllable spelledai (first tone) becomesair, ae anday in the other tones. A neutral (unstressed) tone can optionally be indicated by preceding it with a dot or full stop: for exampleperng.yeou "friend".

Rhotacization, a common feature ofMandarin (especiallyBeijing) Chinese, is marked in GR by the suffix-l. Owing to the rather complex orthographical details, a given rhotacized form may correspond to more than one non-rhotacized syllable: for example,jiel can mean either "today" (fromjin) or "chick" (fromji).

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

GR, likePinyin, uses contrastingunvoiced/voiced pairs of consonants to representaspirated and unaspirated sounds in Chinese. For exampleb andp representIPA [p] and [pʰ] (p and p' inWade-Giles). Another feature of GR surviving in Pinyin is the representation of words (usually of two syllables) as units: e.g.Beeijing rather than the Wade-GilesPei³-ching¹.

The basic features of GR spelling are shown in the following tables of initials and finals, the latter referring to the basic T1 forms.^[1] Many of the spelling features are the same as in Pinyin; differences are highlighted in the tables anddiscussed in detail after the second table. Therules 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 (parentheses). The tables also give thepronunciation in [brackets].

Key

GR differs from Pinyin

alveolo-palatal consonants (GR differs from Pinyin)

retroflex consonants (GR coincides with Pinyin)

		Coda
		∅				/i/		/u/		/n/		/ŋ/			/ɻ/
Medial	∅	-y [ɨ] ㄭ (-i)	e [ɤ] ㄜ	è [ɛ] ㄝ	a [a] ㄚ	ei [ei] ㄟ	ai [ai] ㄞ	ou [ou] ㄡ	au [au] ㄠ (ao)	en [ən] ㄣ	an [an] ㄢ	ong [ʊŋ] ㄨㄥ	eng [əŋ] ㄥ	ang [aŋ] ㄤ	el [aɚ] ㄦ (er)
	/j/	i [i] ㄧ	ie [je] ㄧㄝ		ia [ja] ㄧㄚ		iai [jai] ㄧㄞ	iou [jou] ㄧㄡ (iu)	iau [jau] ㄧㄠ (iao)	in [in] ㄧㄣ	ian [jɛn] ㄧㄢ	iong [jʊŋ] ㄩㄥ	ing [iŋ] ㄧㄥ	iang [jaŋ] ㄧㄤ
	/w/	u [u] ㄨ	uo/o [wo] ㄨㄛ		ua [wa] ㄨㄚ	uei [wei] ㄨㄟ (ui)	uai [wai] ㄨㄞ			uen [wən] ㄨㄣ (un)	uan [wan] ㄨㄢ		ueng [wəŋ] ㄨㄥ	uang [waŋ] ㄨㄤ
	/ɥ/	iu [y] ㄩ (ü)	iue [ɥe] ㄩㄝ (üe)							iun [yn] ㄩㄣ (ün)	iuan [ɥɛn] ㄩㄢ (üan)

Key

GR differs from Pinyin

GR basic (T1) spellings are compared to the spelling conventions of Pinyin in thetable below. Aseparate table, after thetonal rules, compares spellings using all four tones.

The letterj and thedigraphsch andsh represent two different series of sounds. When followed byi they correspond to thealveolo-palatal sounds (Pinyinj,q, andx); otherwise they correspond to theretroflex sounds (Pinyinzh,ch, andsh). In practice this feature creates no ambiguity, because the two series of consonants are incomplementary distribution. Nevertheless it does make the correspondence between GR and Pinyin spellings difficult to follow. In some cases they agree (chu is the same syllable in both systems); but in other cases they differ—sometimes confusingly so (for example, GRju,jiu andjiou correspond to Pinyinzhu,ju andjiu respectively).

This potential for confusion can be seen graphically in thetable of initials, where the bold lettersj, ch andsh cut across the highlighted division betweenalveolo-palatal andretroflex.

GR also differs from Pinyin in its transcription of vowels and semivowels:

• GR usesiu for theclose front rounded vowel (IPAy) spelledü or in many cases simplyu in Pinyin. (Thecontracted Pinyiniu is writteniou in GR.)
• Final-y represents the[ɨ]allophone ofi: GRshy andsy correspond to Pinyinshi andsi respectively.
• No basic forms in GR begin withw- ory-: Pinyinying andwu are writtening andu in GR (but only in T1).

Other important GR spellings which differ from Pinyin include:

• GR writesau for Pinyinao (but see therule for T3).
• el corresponds to Pinyiner (-r being reserved toindicate T2). The most important use of-(e)l is as arhotacization suffix.
• GR usests for Pinyinc andtz for Pinyinz.
• -uen and-uei correspond to the contracted Pinyin forms-un and-ui.
• GR also has three letters for dialectal sounds:v (万 in extendedZhuyin),ng (兀), andgn (广).

As in Pinyin, anapostrophe is used to clarify syllable divisions.Pin'in, the GR spelling of the word "Pinyin", is itself a good example: the apostrophe shows that the compound is made up ofpin +in rather thanpi +nin.

The following list summarizes the differences between GR and Pinyin spelling. The list is in GR alphabetical order (click the button next to the heading to change to Pinyin order).

Note: In this section the word "tone" is abbreviated as "T": thus T1 stands for Tone 1, or first tone, T2 stands for Tone 2, or second tone, etc.

Wherever possible GR indicates tones 2, 3 and 4 by respelling thebasic T1 form of the syllable, replacing a vowel with another having a similar sound (i withy ore, for example). 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 orh) is added or inserted instead. The precise rule to be followed in any specific case is determined by the rules given below.^[2]

A colour-codedrule of thumb is given below for each tone: the same colours are used below in alist of provinces. 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, atable comparing Pinyin and GR spellings of some Chinese provinces follows the detailed rules.

Tone 1 (high): basic form

• Initialsonorants (l-/m-/n-/r-): insert-h- as second letter.rheng, mha (rēng, mā)
• Otherwise use thebasic form.

Tone 2 (rising): i/u → y/w; or add -r

• Initial sonorants: use basic form.reng,ma (réng, má)
• NiV → NyV ( +-i if final).chyng, chyan,yng,yan, pyi (qíng, qián, yíng, yán, pí)
• NuV → NwV ( +-u if final).chwan,wang, hwo, chwu (chuán, wáng, huó, chú)
• Otherwise addr to vowel ordiphthong.charng, bair (cháng, bái)

Tone 3 (dipping/falling): i/u → e/o; or double vowel

• Vi oriV → Ve oreV (⇏ee).chean, bae, sheau (qiǎn, bǎi, xiǎo), but notgee
• Vu oruV → Vo oroV (⇏oo).doan, dao, shoei (duǎn, dǎo, shuǐ), but nothoo
• When bothi andu can be found, only the first one changes, i.e.jeau, goai, sheu (jiǎo, guǎi, xǔ), notjeao,goae,sheo
• For basic forms starting withi-/u-, change the startingi-/u- toe-/o- and add initialy-/w-.yean,woo,yeu (yǎn, wǒ, yǔ)
• Otherwise double the (main)^[3] vowel.chiing, daa, geei, huoo, goou (qǐng, dǎ, gěi, huǒ, gǒu)

Tone 4 (falling): change/double final letter; or add -h

• Vi → Vy.day, suey (dài, suì)
• Vu → Vw (⇏iw).daw, gow (dào, gòu), but notchiw
• -n →-nn.duann (duàn)
• -l →-ll.ell (èr)
• -ng →-nq.binq (bìng)
• Otherwise addh.dah, chiuh, dih (dà, qù, dì)
• For basic forms starting withi-/u-, replace initiali-/u- withy-/w-, in addition to the necessary tonal change.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 theMandarin Primer, restricting it thereafter to new words on their first appearance. InA Grammar of Spoken Chinese he introduced a subscript circle (˳) to indicate an optional neutral tone, as inbujy˳daw, "don't know" (Pinyin pronunciationbùzhīdào orbùzhīdao).

Any GR syllables beginningu- ori- must be T1: in T2, T3 and T4 these syllables all begin withw- ory- respectively. An example in all four tones is the following:ing, yng, yiing, yinq (Pinyinying).

The termrime, as used bylinguists, is similar torhyme. SeeRime table.

This table illustrates the GRtonal rules in use by listing some Chinese provinces in both GR and Pinyin.^[4] The tonal spelling markers or "clues" are highlighted using the samecolour-coding scheme as above. Note that T1 is the default tone: henceShinjiang (Xīnjiāng), for example, is spelled using the basic form of both syllables.

GR tone key

Tone 1 (basic form: unmarked)Tone 2Tone 3Tone 4

Erhua (simplified Chinese:儿化;traditional Chinese:兒化), or therhotacized or retroflex^[5] ending, is indicated in GR by-l rather than-r, which is already used as aT2 marker. The appropriatetonal modification is then applied to the basic rhotacized form: for exampleshell (Pinyinshìr) from the basic formshel, anddeal (diǎnr) from the basic formdial.^[6] In the fourth tone, certain syllables don't double thel but are instead spelled by first writing the non-rhotacized syllable in the fourth tone and then addingl:(-i/y)awl, (-i/y)owl, (-i/y/-u/w/)anql, (-i/y/w)enql, (-i/y)onql, ehl (frome’l, the basic rhotacized form ofe; compareell fromel, which is both the basic rhotacized form ofen, ei, andy and a basic Mandarin syllable).

Most other romanization systems preserve theunderlying form, but GR transcribes the surface form as pronounced. These are the principles followed to create the basic form of a rhotacized syllable in GR:^[7]

1. -l is added to the final's basic non-rhotacized form
2. -y becomes-e-
3. i becomesie-, andiu becomesiue-
4. in becomesie-, andiun becomesiue-; in all other cases,-n disappears without trace
5. ing becomesieng-
6. final asyllabic-i (found in(i/u)ai and(u)ei) disappears
7. with the finale, an apostrophe is added before the-l, i.e.e’l, er’l, ee’l (to separate them fromel, erl, eel), except in the fourth tone, where the spelling isehl (as this is sufficient to separate it fromell)
8. with the finalsie andiue, an apostrophe is added in the first and second tones only, i.e.ie’l, ye’l, -ieel/yeel, -iell/yell andiue’l, yue’l, -yeuel/-euel, -iuell/yuell

Thus, the basic rhotacized final

• el corresponds to the basic non-rhotacized finalsen, ei, and-y and is also a basic Mandarin syllable
• uel corresponds touen anduei
• iel corresponds toi andin; in the third and fourth tones, it also corresponds toie
• iuel corresponds toiu andiun; in the third and fourth tones, it also corresponds toiue
• al corresponds toa, an, andai
• ial corresponds toia, ian, andiai
• ual corresponds toua, uan, anduai

As a consequence, theone-to-one correspondence between GR and Pinyin is broken, since one GR rhotacized form may correspond to several Pinyin forms. For example,jiel corresponds to bothjīr andjīnr (both pronounced[t͡ɕjɚ˥]), andjial corresponds to bothjiār andjiānr (both pronounced[t͡ɕjaɚ̯˥]).

The most important manifestation oftone 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 writtenshoeiguoo, even though the pronunciation isshweiguoo.^[8] Four common words with more complicated tone sandhi (also ignored in the spelling) are mentioned below underExceptions.

A number of frequently-occurringmorphemes have abbreviated spellings in GR.^[9] The commonest of these, followed by their Pinyin equivalents, are:

• -g (-ge)
• -j (-zhe)
• -m (-me)

occurs insherm (shénme),jemm/tzemm (zhème) andtzeem (zěnme)

• sh (shi)

also in compounds such asjiowsh (jiùshi),dannsh (dànshi), etc.

• -tz (-zi)

In its original form GR used the two "spare" letters of the alphabet,v andx, to indicatereduplication. This mimicked the method by which the Japanese writing system indicates repeatedKanji characters with aniteration mark (々). In GR the letterx indicates that the preceding syllable is repeated (shieh.x = shieh.shieh, "thank you"),vx being used when the precedingtwo syllables are repeated (haoshuo vx! = haoshuo haoshuo! "you're too kind!").^[10]

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

The following words andcharacters do not follow the rules of GR:

• The nameRomatzyh (which strictly speaking should be "Luomaatzyh") follows international usage (Roma).
• The characters 一 ("one"), 七 ("seven"), 八 ("eight"), and 不 ("no/not") are always writteni,chi,ba, andbu, respectively, regardless of the tone in which they are pronounced. In other words changes due to tone sandhi are not reflected in GR.

• Preparatory Committee for the Unification of the National Language, ed. (1936).ㄍㄨㄛˊㄧㄣ ㄔㄤˊㄩㄥˋ ㄗˋㄏㄨㄟˋ 國音常用字彙 Gwoin Charngyonq Tzyhhuey [Commonly used Chinese Vocabulary](PDF).
• Chao, Yuen Ren (1948).Mandarin Primer: an Intensive Course in Spoken Chinese. Harvard University Press.
• Chao, Yuen Ren (1968a).A Grammar of Spoken Chinese. University of California Press.ISBN 0-520-00219-9.
• Simon, Walter (1947).A Beginners' Chinese-English Dictionary. Lund Humphries & Co. Ltd.

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