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4-4 Orthographies and Transcriptions-C342 Food for Thought Orthographies and Transcriptions • Could Chinese be written with an alphabet? • Should Chinese be written with an alphabet? CHIN 342/442 • Let’s explore these questions based on our knowledge of Chinese language and Autumn 2019 writing Definitions (1) Definitions (2) • script: a set of graphs used for writing • transcription: a representation of the – Roman alphabet, Cyrillic alphabet, Arabic pronunciation of a language that is not the alphabet, Korean alphabet, Yi syllabary, standard orthography used in most writing Chinese characters [logographs] – transcription usually involves representation in • orthography: a writing system (one or more a different script, or a phonetic notation (IPA) scripts and the language-specific rules for • romanization: any orthography or how to use them to represent the language) transcription that uses the Roman (i.e. – the Roman alphabet is a script; English and Latin) alphabet French orthographies are different. Purpose and function Today we will explore (implications for Chinese) 1. Some transcriptions are designed 1. Early transcriptions within East Asia primarily as notations of standard 2. Early transcriptions in Western alphabets pronunciation (e.g. reference works) 3. Modern-era transcriptions/orthographies 2. Some romanizations are designed a) Wade-Giles primarily to function as orthographies, b) Zhùyīn Fúhào independent of—or even to replace— c) Gwoyeu Romatzyh Chinese characters d) Latinxua Sin Wenz • What features should each ideally have? e) Hànyǔ pīnyīn p. 1 2. Western scholars and 1. Early transcriptions in Asia missionaries • Sporadic representations of Chinese • The Jesuits (from late 16th pronunciation in the Tibetan alphabet century) created romanizations (Táng dynasty) for teaching and learning Chinese • Transcriptions in the ’Phags-pa alphabet • 19th-century Protestant invented in the Yuán dynasty missionaries (from 19th century) • Transcriptions in the Korean alphabet in used romanizations for teaching textbooks for learning Chinese from 16th literacy and disseminating century (see Course Packet) religious texts in local dialects (see Course Packet) 3. Modern-era 2. Western scholars and transcriptions/orthographies missionaries (cont’d) • The British “Postal System” spellings • From mid 19th century, Western scholars (Peking, Hangchow) are based on early developed romanizations based on romanizations and local pronunciations Běijīng Mandarin, which was becoming (Amoy = Xiàmén, Mukden = Shěnyáng) the de facto spoken standard in China • Still seen today, e.g. Peking University • Let’s explore in detail five 20th-century systems • Follow along in Course Packet a) Wade-Giles a) Wade-Giles • Named for British scholars Thomas • Selected features Wade and Herbert Giles, 19th century 1. Use of hs- for [ɕ-] and sh- for [ʂ-] • Widely used in English-speaking world 2. Use of apostrophe for aspirated sounds through most of 20th century (IPA-like) • Frequently encountered today 3. Use of -ih for [-ʅ] 2 2 1 th • Mao Tse-tung Mao Tse -tung • Essential to learn if you are reading 20 - 4 3 2 century scholarship on China Teng Hsiao-p’ing Teng Hsiao -p’ing T’ai-pei T’ai2-pei3 p. 2 b) Zhùyīn Fúhào c) Gwoyeu Romatzyh / / • Originally called Zhùyīn zìmǔ • Developed in 1926 for the new Beijing- • Developed to notate the official 1913 based standard pronunciation standard language ( ) • Briefly served as China’s official • Example: bo representing initial [p] is Romanization derived from bāo [pau] • Committee was headed by noted linguist • Not strictly an alphabet: symbols for Y. R. Chao (remember him?) initials, medial, and rest: a, au, an are • Tones are integrated into the spelling three distinct graphs (no “a”) Y.R. Chao (Chao Yuen Ren) Y.R. Chao (Chao Yuen Ren) Zhào Yuánrèn 1892- Zhào Yuánrèn 1892- 1982 1982 c) Gwoyeu Romatzyh c) Gwoyeu Romatzyh / / • Examples: • Examples: – pan pan parn paan pann – pan pan parn paan pann – hu hu hwu huu huh – hu hu hwu huu huh – sa sa – sa sa sar saa sah – yu iu – yu iu yu yeu yuh – hao hau – hao hau haur hao haw – qing ching – qing ching chyng chiing chinq Fill the rest in using Course Packet chart! • Example: “Gwoyeu Romatzyh” p. 3 c) Gwoyeu Romatzyh d) Latinxua Sin Wenz / Wenn ta ta shiongdih tzeemeyanq meiyeou • “Latinized New Writing” yonqchuh, shyrnian lai ta mei kannjiann • Developed in early 1930s by Chinese ta, yee mei geei ta shieeguoh shinn .le. and Russian communist linguists to increase literacy among Chinese workers • No tone marks! • Intended to be a powerful and flexible orthography, not a transcription d) Latinxua Sin Wenz d) Latinxua Sin Wenz • Adopted by Mao Zedong’s Communist • Excerpted from newspaper reproduced in Party in the 1930s; given legal status in Course Packet p. 106: 1941 Iou igo Meiguo da kuolao, dao go zhou ky • Widely used in publications from 1930s lyxing. Zai Chigako ta gen rhen daagia, ba through 1950s, by hundreds of thousands rhengia daasle. of people • Pan-dialectal with variant forms • Let’s try reading it! e) Hànyǔ pīnyīn e) Hànyǔ pīnyīn / / • Drafted in mid-1950s by Communist • Drafted in mid-1950s by new PRC Party as future replacement for Chinese government as future replacement for characters Chinese characters • Final official version released in 1958 • Final official version released in 1958 • (See 1956 version in Course Packet) • (See 1956 version in Course Packet) • Because Chinese characters ended up • Because Chinese characters ended up not not being replaced, Pīnyīn has ended up being replaced, Pīnyīn has ended up as a as a transcription, not an orthography transcription, not an orthography p. 4 Comparison The Future a) Kuo4 le chi3-ko hsiao3-shih2, Niu3-Yüeh1 lai2 • After much 20th-century uncertainty and 4 1 4 le i -feng hsin . change, the Chinese writing systems b) ˋ · ˇ · ˇ ˊ seem to have stabilized ˊ ˋ ˋ ˇ · • Mainland: simplified characters, Pīnyīn c) Guoh .le jii.ge sheaushyr Neou Iue lai.le transcription yihfeng shinn. d) Guole gigo siaosh, New York laile i fung sin. • Taiwan: traditional characters, Zhùyīn Fúhào and Pīnyīn transcriptions e) Guò le jǐge xiǎoshí, Niǔ Yuē lái le yìfēng xìn. • Changes could still happen …! End • What do you think will or should happen? p. 5.
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