Note: Since Pinyin is now the most widely known form of Chinese romanization, I have described Romatzyh in comparison to Pinyin spelling. Pinyin equivalents are given between square brackets ([]).
This Web page, in its present form (date 27 December 1995) is a draft and still in need of correction. The author would be greatly obliged to anyone who would honor him with lists of errata or well-intended suggestions. But please do not write to us to debate the merits of Romatzyh or other systems - the point of this page is to make the rules of GR accessible to people. If you don't like it, don't use it.
Gwoyeu Romatzyh is probably too complicated for most people to bother with. Indeed, some people seem to become enraged merely on seeing it in print or hearing it praised. For the student who is willing to spend a little time to learn it, however, the investment brings an enormous reward. The great value of Romatzyh is that tonal distinctions are ineradicably built into the spelling of all syllables, and so anyone who can remember the letters of the alphabet can remember the tones of the words, which seems to be much easier for many Westerners than remembering diacritic marks.
Even if it were easier to learn, Gwoyeu Romatzyh would still never be a widely used system. Although it was adopted by the Nationalist government early on and although it has been used in Taiwan until quite recently, it was the subject of vociferous attacks by the Communists almost from the beginning and for reasons of Communist face it can never be promulgated again. Perhaps that is just as well. Today, daring to use Romatzyh marks the cranky Western scholar as someone who cares a great deal about language and is willing to take the trouble to indicate tones in print. And perhaps also as one who is not willing to let politicians dictate his or her choice of scholarly tools.
Table of Initials
b p m f
t d n l
g k h
j ch r sh
tz ts s
y/i
w/u
The initials are mostly the same as in Pinyin, with a few exceptions.
Table of Endings
.___________________________________________________________________________.
| | (open) | -i | -u | -n | -ng | -l (L)|
|____|___________|__________|__________|__________|_________________|_______|
|Row | | | | | | |
| A: | y a i | ai ei | au ou | an en | ang eng ong | el(EL)|
| I: | i ia ie | iai | iau iou | ian in | iang ing iong| |
| U: | u ua uo | uai uei| | uan uen| uang ueng | |
| IU:| iu iue| | | iuan iun| | |
|____|___________|__________|__________|__________|_________________|_______|
There are a number of differences between this and the Pinyin final system. The most important are:The most important feature of Romatzyh, however, and the one that makes it look utterly different from Pinyin, is tonal spelling. Romatzyh does not use diacritic marks to indicate tones. Instead, tone is actually spelled into each syllable. This is what makes Romatzyh hard to learn but at the same time extremely valuable. Tonal spelling is much easier for many non-Chinese to remember - especially people whose native languages do not use diacritics - than Pinyin. This means that people who use Romatzyh will find it easier to remember the tones of well-known proper nouns that they might otherwise only know in toneless romanized spelling.
Since Romatzyh uses only symbols that appear in the ordinary lower ASCII character set, it can be used to write fully tonal Mandarin on the internet or in telegrams, without forcing you to resort to all sorts of ad hoc tricks to indicate tone.
cha goes to char [cha2],
he goes to her [he2],
tsai goes to tsair [cai2],
chen goes to chern [chen2]
hong goes to horng [hong2].(go to the list of examples, below)
shiang goes to shyang [xiang2],
hua goes to hwa [hua2],
ching goes to chyng [qing2],
iuan goes to yuan [yuan2].Note, however, that
as complete finals of themselves, i is changed into
yi, (not plain *y!) and u into wu (not plain
*w!). E.g.:
chi goes to chyi [qi2],
hu goes to hwu [hu2],
i goes to yi [yi2],
u goes to wu [wu2].(go to the list of examples, below)
jy goes to jyy [zhi3],
da goes to daa [da3],
ching goes to chiing [qing3],
gei goes to geei [gei3],
jie goes to jiee [jie3],
shou goes to shoou [shou3],
huo goes to huoo [huo3].(go to the list of examples, below)
jiang goes to jeang [jiang3],
guen goes to goen [gun3],
jiuan goes to jeuan [juan3],
mai goes to mae [mai3],
hau goes to hao [hao3].But if the medial is changed, the ending is left unchanged.
E.g.:
shiau goes to sheau [xiao3] (not *sheao or *shiao),
guai goes to goai [guai3] (not *goae or *guae). (go to the list of examples, below)
ju goes to juh [zhu4],
mai goes to may [mai4],
gou goes to gow [gou4],
man goes to mann [man4],
shang goes to shanq [shang4],
el goes to ell [er2].(go to the list of examples, below)
Rule #7
ma [ma2],
nian [nian2],
lai [lai2],
ren [ren2].To make these syllables into Tone #1, add h after the initial. E.g.:
ma goes to mha [ma1],
nie goes to nhie [nie1],
la goes to lha [la1],
reng goes to rheng [reng1]].(go to the list of examples, below)
iou goes to yeou [you3] (compare jeou [jiu3]),
ua goes to woa [wa3] (compare goa [gua3]),
iuan goes to yoan [yuan3] (compare cheuan [quan3]).
But the final -iee is changed into yee (not
*yiee), and -uoo into woo (not *wuoo).
(go to the list of examples, below)
iau goes to yaw [yao4] (compare jiaw [jiao4]),
uen goes to wenn [wen4] (compare kuenn [kun4]),
iun goes to yunn [yun4] (compare jiunn [jun4]).
But add the initials y or w to the four finals
-ih, -uh, -inn, -inq (that is, N+Q). E.g.:
i goes to yih [yi4],
u goes to wuh [wu4],
in goes to yinn [yin4],
ing goes to yinq [ying4].
(go to the list of examples, below)
Certain finals become merged when rhotacized, and are treated differently by Romatzyh and Pinyin. Take a syllable like ji [ji1]. When it undergoes erlhuah it becomes homophonous with the erlhuah form of jin [jin1]. Since the two forms are homophonous, Romatzyh writes them the same way: jiel. Pinyin distinguishes them, as jir1 and jinr1. Similarly, jie [jie1] and jian [jian1] become merged when they undergo erlhuah: Romatzyh writes both as jial, but Pinyin distinguishes them as jier1 and jianr1. Clearly, Romatzyh operates at a more purely descriptive level, while Pinyin is intent on showing the syllable underlying the rhotacized syllable. If you don't happen to know the underlying syllable, however, it is easy to make mistakes in Pinyin. and if you don't know the exact rules of erlhuah, you may pronounce the Pinyin form incorrectly. Many Westerners, in fact, seeing a Pinyin form such as jianr1, pronounce it with the same nasalization as jiangr1, and this is a decidedly minority reading in Peking. Romatzyh writes jial, which is unmistakably not nasalized. The erlhuah form of jiang in Romatzyh is jiangl.
In Y.R.Chao's own writings, certain common morphemes appearing in the neutral tone are often written without vowels: for instance, sh for .shy, the copula; g for .ge, the common measure word; d for .de, the possessive particle; etc. These are not standard today, with the exception of the noun suffix tz for .tzy. Chao tended to indicate the underlying tones of neutral syllables, even though those underlying tones could not be heard.
Rule #2: Tone 1: ba po shy tai tong Tone 2: bar por shyr tair torng Pinyin: [ba] [po] [shi] [tai] [tong] Rule #3: Tone 1: shiuan uan shing chu ji Tone 2: shyuan wan shyng chwu jyi Pinyin: [xuan] [wan] [xing] [chu] [ji] Rule #4: Tone 1: tzy shan jin fei duo Tone 3: tzyy shaan jiin feei duoo Pinyin: [zi] [shan] [jin] [fei] [duo] Rule #5: Tone 1: jiau guei shiue dai shau Tone 3: jeau goei sheue dae shao Pinyin: [jiau] [gui] [xue] [dai] [shao] Rule #6: Tone 1: chiu gai dou shin fang jiel Tone 4: chiuh gay dow shinn fanq jiell Pinyin: [qu] [gai] [dou] [xin] [fang] [jir/jinr] Rule #7: Tone 1: mhi nhiou lhau rheng Tone 2: mi niou lau reng Pinyin: [mi] [niu] [lao] [reng] Rule #8 (Tone 3 only): Consonant initial: chii goan guoo jiee Vowel initial: yii woan woo yee Pinyin: [qi] [guan] [guo] [jie] Pinyin: [yi] [wan] [wo] [ye] Rule #9 (Tone 4 only): Consonant initial: guay jiow chih shuh Vowel initial : way yow yih wuh Pinyin: [guai] [jiu] [qi] [shu] Pinyin: [wai] [you] [yi] [wu]
Su Shyh (Dongpo)
Shao yan,
Yushyh yiinjeou lehshenn, kowshyan erl ge jy. Ge iue:
Keh yeou chuei donqshiau jee, yii ge erl heh jy. Chyi sheng mingmingran:
Su Tzyy cheauran, jenqjin erl wenn keh iue, 'Herwey chyi ran yee?' Keh iue:
tsyy fei Tsaur Menqder jy shy hu?
tsyy fei Menqder jy kuenn yu Jou Lang jee hu? Fang chyi poh Jingjou, shiah Jiangling, shuennliou erl dong yee,
Guh ishyh jy shyong yee, erl jin an tzay tzai? Kuanq wu yeu Tzyy, yuchyau yu Jiang duu jy shanq, leu yushia erl yeou miluh,
Su Tzyy iue: 'Keh yih jy, fwu shoei yeu yueh hu?
Gay jiang
erl yow her shiann hu? Chieefwu,