Meyer–Wempe


Meyer–Wempe romanization was the system used by two Roman Catholic missionaries in Hong Kong, Bernard F. Meyer and Theodore F. Wempe, for romanizing Cantonese in their Student's Cantonese English Dictionary published in 1935.

Provenance

Although some attribute development of the system to them, there was nothing new in it as their entire schema followed the system devised in the last decade of the 19th century known as Standard Romanization, which, in turn, was almost identical to John Chalmers' system of 1870. Chalmers' system was significant in that it was the first system to virtually do away with diacritics entirely, the sole survivor being final ö, which is oeh in SR.

Initials

The distinction between the alveolar sibilants and alveolo-palatal sibilants has been lost in modern Cantonese, though the distinction still existed at the time this system was devised. See Cantonese phonology for more information.

Finals

The finals m and ng can only be used as standalone nasal syllables.

Tones

Diacritics are used to mark the six tones of Cantonese. The tone mark should be placed above the first letter of the final.
No.DescriptionContourTone markExample
1high flat/high falling55 / 53No markma
2high rising35Acute accent má
3mid flat33Grave accent mà
4low falling21Circumflex mâ
5low rising23caron mǎ
6low flat22Macronmā