Spelling in Gwoyeu Romatzyh
The spelling of Gwoyeu Romatzyh 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 and . 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.
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 spelled 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 but complex [|rules] for the other three tones. For example the syllable spelled ai becomes air, ae and ay in the other tones. A neutral 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 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 basic syllable: for example jiel may be either ji + el or ji + el.
A number of frequently-occurring morphemes have abbreviated spellings in GR. The most common of these, followed by their Pinyin equivalents, are: -g, -j, -m, sh and -tz.
Basic forms
GR, like Pinyin, uses contrasting unvoiced/voiced pairs of consonants to represent aspirated and unaspirated sounds in Chinese. For example b and p represent IPA and . Another feature of GR surviving in Pinyin is the representation of words as units: e.g. 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. 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. The tables also give the pronunciation in .
Initials
Finals
Spelling
GR basic spellings are compared to the spelling conventions of Pinyin in the below. A, after the [|tonal rules], compares spellings using all four tones.Alveolar and retroflex series
The letter j and the digraphs ch and sh represent two different series of sounds. When followed by i they correspond to the alveolo-palatal sounds ; otherwise they correspond to the retroflex sounds. In practice this feature creates no ambiguity, because the two series of consonants are in complementary distribution. Nevertheless it does make the correspondence between GR and Pinyin spellings difficult to follow. In some cases they agree ; but in other cases they differ—sometimes confusingly so.This potential for confusion can be seen graphically in the [|table of initials], where the bold letters j, ch and sh cut across the highlighted division between alveolo-palatal and retroflex.
Other differences from Pinyin
GR also differs from Pinyin in its transcription of vowels and semivowels:- GR uses iu for the close front rounded vowel spelled ü or in many cases simply u in Pinyin.
- Final -y represents the allophone of i: GR shy and sy correspond to Pinyin shi and si respectively.
- No basic forms in GR begin with w- or y-: Pinyin ying and wu are written ing and u in GR.
- GR writes au for Pinyin ao.
- el corresponds to Pinyin er. The most important use of -l is as a [|rhotacization] suffix.
- GR uses ts for Pinyin c and tz for Pinyin z.
- -uen and -uei correspond to the contracted Pinyin forms -un and -ui.
- GR also has three letters for dialectal sounds: v, ng, and gn.
Pinyin comparison: basic forms
The following list summarizes the differences between GR and Pinyin spelling. The list is in GR alphabetical order.| GR | Pinyin |
| au | ao |
| ch | q |
| el | er |
| iau | iao |
| iou | iu |
| iu | u, ü |
| iue | ue, üe |
| iuan | uan |
| iun | un |
| j | zh |
| sh | x |
| ts | c |
| tz | z |
| uei | ui |
| uen | un |
| y | i |
Tonal rules
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. 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 is added or inserted instead. The precise rule to be followed in any specific case is determined by the rules given below.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:
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 : insert -h- as second letter. rheng, mha
- Otherwise use the basic form.
- Initial sonorants: use basic form. reng, ma
- NVi → NVy. chyng, chyan, yng, yan, pyi
- NVu → NVw. chwan, wang, hwo, chwu
- Vi or iV → Ve or eV. chean, bae, sheau, but not
gee - Vu or uV → Vo or oV. doan, dao, shoei, but not
hoo - When both i and u can be found, only the first one changes, i.e. jeau, goai, sheu, not
jeao,goae,sheo - For basic forms starting with i-/u-, change the starting i-/u- to e-/o- and add initial y-/w-. yean, woo, yeu
- Otherwise double the vowel. chiing, daa, geei, huoo, goou
- Vi → Vy. day, suey
- Vu → Vw. daw, gow, but not
chiw - -n → -nn. duann
- -l → -ll. ell
- -ng → -nq. binq
- Otherwise add h. dah, chiuh, dih
- For basic forms starting with i-/u-, replace initial i-/u- with y-/w-, in addition to the necessary tonal change. yaw, wuh
A dot may be placed before neutral tone syllables, which appear in their original tonal spelling: perng.yeou, dih.fang. 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 to indicate an optional neutral tone, as in bujyodaw, "don't know".
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.
Rime Table
The term Rime, as used by linguists, is similar to rhyme. See Rime table.| IPA | Tone 1 | Tone 2 | Tone 3 | Tone 4 | IPA | Tone 1 | Tone 2 | Tone 3 | Tone 4 | IPA | Tone 1 | Tone 2 | Tone 3 | Tone 4 | IPA | Tone 1 | Tone 2 | Tone 3 | Tone 4 | |||
| -y | -yr | -yy | -yh | i | yi | ii | ih | u | wu | uu | uh | iu | yu | eu | iuh | |||||||
| a | ar | aa | ah | ia | ya | ea | iah | ua | wa | oa | uah | |||||||||||
| ai | air | ae | ay | iai | yai | eai | iay | uai | wai | oai | uay | |||||||||||
| au | aur | ao | aw | iau | yau | eau | iaw | |||||||||||||||
| an | arn | aan | ann | ian | yan | ean | iann | uan | wan | oan | uann | iuan | yuan | euan | iuann | |||||||
| ang | arng | aang | anq | iang | yang | eang | ianq | uang | wang | oang | uanq | |||||||||||
| e | er | ee | eh | ie | ye | iee | ieh | uo | wo | uoo | uoh | iue | yue | eue | iueh | |||||||
| ei | eir | eei | ey | uei | wei | oei | uey | |||||||||||||||
| ou | our | oou | ow | iou | you | eou | iow | |||||||||||||||
| en | ern | een | enn | in | yn | iin | inn | uen | wen | oen | uenn | iun | yun | eun | iunn | |||||||
| eng | erng | eeng | enq | ing | yng | iing | inq | ong | orng | oong | onq | iong | yong | eong | ionq | |||||||
| el | erl | eel | ell |
Pinyin comparison: all tones
This table illustrates the GR tonal rules in use by listing some Chinese provinces in both GR and Pinyin. 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, for example, is spelled using the basic form of both syllables.| GR | Pinyin |
| Chinghae | Qīnghǎi |
| Fwujiann | Fújiàn |
| Goangdong | Guǎngdōng |
| Herbeei | Héběi |
| Hwunan | Húnán |
| Jehjiang | Zhèjiāng |
| Neymengguu | Nèiménggǔ |
| Shaanshi | Shǎnxī |
| Shanshi | Shānxī |
| Shinjiang | Xīnjiāng |
| Shitzanq | Xīzàng |
| Syhchuan | Sìchuān |
Rhotacization
Erhua, or the rhotacized or retroflex 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 and ideal.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:
- -el replaces final -y
- -l replaces final -i and -n, but -in becomes -iel
- -el is added to -i and -iu
- -l is added to all other finals, but -ing acquires an additional -e- to become -iengl.
- jiel corresponds to both jīr and jīnr.
- jial corresponds to both jiār and jiānr.
Tone sandhi
Abbreviations
A number of frequently-occurring morphemes have abbreviated spellings in GR. The commonest of these, followed by their Pinyin equivalents, are:- -g
- -j
- -m
- sh
- -tz
Reduplication
This concise but completely unphonetic, and hence unintuitive, device appears in Chao's Mandarin Primer and all W. Simon's texts. 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 follows international usage.
- The characters 一, 七, 八, and 不 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.