Re: USAGE: Yet another try at Pinyin-compatible tonal spelling for Mandarin
| From: | Adam Walker <dreamertwo@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Thursday, September 20, 2001, 10:16 |
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>From: John Cowan <cowan@...>
>Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2001 08:38:24 -0400
>
>Adam Walker scripsit:
>
> > Tong Yong is the nasty little politico-linguistic beasty that the gov in
> > Taipei has chosen as the "official" romanization in Taiwan. It *is*
>HYPY
> > sans "q" and "x". Which makes for nothing but confusion if you ask me.
>
>Um. Right. It would have made more sense imho to map zh sh ch to z s c,
>given that the retroflexion probably isn't even pronounced in Taiwan
>(given this reform, should we start writing Daiwan?)
>
No, if I remember correctly, it isn't going to effect well know place names
or personal names (unless the individual so chooses). The retroflexion is
mild to non-existant in many, but not all speakers' Mandarin. Actually,
dropping the "x" would seem to legitimize the most Taiwanese pronunciation
(ie that of older folks who aren't fully competent in Mandarin) of words
like se4 se4 (xie4 xie4). They had to do SOMETHING so it wouldn't be the
same as the systemused in the PRC. Even if it will confuse every foreigner
it was "supposed" to help.
Adam
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