Re: Bopomofo and pinyin

From: "John Cowan"


> DOUGLAS KOLLER wrote:
>
> > Wovvv zaivvvv Zhongvguovv davvvvluvvvv zhuvvvv le sivvvv nianvv, zaivvvv
> > Taivvwanv zhuvvvv le qiv nianvv.
> >
> > Gongvvvvchanvvvzhuvvvyivvvv wanvvvvsuivvvv! (loses some of its
revolutionary
> > fervor, doesn't it?).
>
> It was a *joke*, people.  Furrfu!
Shouldn't that be Furrwwwwfuwww? ;)

> The usual convention, which works very well for Hmong and Yi, is to
recycle
> final consonants as tone markers.   This works fine in Chinese for single
syllables,
> but in multisyllabic words (and *the* issue in romanization is really
> when to write whitespace!) it promotes confusion.
Isn't this what Herman suggested? Personally, I'd like something a little
more universal, so that a rising tone, be it 25 or 35, were marked similarly
so that the system could be used from dialect to dialect. As you've noted,
the extra letter at the end works fine if you're dealing strictly with
dictionary entries, but again a page of:

Wokmanv def zhudguov shid huawyuanv...

is a strain slightly akin to GR.

Kou