Mandarin Phonetic Symbols II ( zh, t= ), abbreviated MPS II, is a

romanization Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, a ...

system formerly used in the Republic of China (

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

). It was created to replace the complex tonal-spelling Gwoyeu Romatzyh, and to co-exist with the popular

Wade–Giles Wade–Giles () is a romanization system for Mandarin Chinese. It developed from a system produced by Thomas Francis Wade, during the mid-19th century, and was given completed form with Herbert A. Giles's '' Chinese–English Dictionary'' o ...

(

) and

Zhuyin Bopomofo (), or Mandarin Phonetic Symbols, also named Zhuyin (), is a Chinese transliteration system for Mandarin Chinese and other related languages and dialects. More commonly used in Taiwanese Mandarin, it may also be used to transcribe ...

(non-romanization). It is sometimes referred to as Gwoyeu Romatzyh 2 or GR2.

History

Based on the earlier and more complex Gwoyeu Romatzyh, the tentative version of MPS II was released on May 10, 1984, by the

Taiwanese Ministry of Education The Ministry of Education (MOE) (; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: ''Kau-yuk Phu'') is the ministry of the Republic of China (Taiwan) responsible for incorporating educational policies and managing public schools. Organizational structure Political departmen ...

. After two years of feedback from the general public, the official version was established on January 28, 1986. To distinguish Zhuyin from the Mandarin Phonetic Symbols II ("Mandarin Zhuyin Symbols II"), the first Zhuyin is officially called "Mandarin Phonetic Symbols I" (). Despite its official status for almost two decades until it was replaced by

Tongyong Pinyin Tongyong Pinyin () was the official romanization of Mandarin in Taiwan between 2002 and 2008. The system was unofficially used between 2000 and 2002, when a new romanization system for Taiwan was being evaluated for adoption. Taiwan's Ministry ...

in 2002, MPS II existed only in some

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

al publications (such as travel brochures and dictionaries). However, MPS II was not used for the official Romanized names of Taiwanese places (though many road signs replaced during this period use MPS II). It never gained the same status as did Wade-Giles. In mainstream overseas communities, it is virtually unused and unheard of.

Table

Initials

Finals

Features

* Indication of tone by respelling, as used in Gwoyeu Romatzyh, is eliminated. Syllables are spelled like its tone one for non-nasal initials, and like tone two for nasal initials. Tone is then marked with four

diacritic A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacriti ...

s identical to Zhuyin's. * The romanization of the consonants is identical to Gwoyeu Romatzyh's. * The empty rime is treated in the same way as Yale romanization: ** It uses ''r'' for both: *** (pinyin ''r''), and *** what is written in pinyin as ''i'' after ''zh'', ''ch'', ''sh'', ''r''. (The use of ''r'' has a tonal diacritic on it and is always final.) ** It uses ''z'' for both: *** (pinyin ''z''), and *** what is written in pinyin as ''i'' after ''z'', ''c'', ''s''. (The use of ''z'' has a tonal diacritic on it and is always final.) *** The ''z'' is not written after ''tz'' (no ''tzz''), however. ''Tz'' corresponds to Pinyin ''zi'' (and Yale ''dz''). * Like GR, ''-iou'', ''-uen'', and ''-uei'' are all written out, unlike the

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally writte ...

Wade Wade, WADE, or Wades may refer to: Places in the United States * Wade, California, a former settlement * Wade, Maine, a town * Wade, Mississippi, a census-designated place * Wade, North Carolina, a town * Wade, Ohio, an unincorporated communi ...

''-iu'', ''-un'', and ''-ui''. * GR's ''au'' persists, as opposed to the ''ao'' of

, Wade-Giles, and the later

. * GR's ''iu'' (Pinyin ''ü'') is written as ''-iu'' and ''yu'' (alone). * GR's ''-ong'' is spelled now ''-ung'' (like Wade-Giles). * GR's ''el'' is spelled now ''er'' (like

). * ''Y-'' and ''w-'' are added to or replace ''i'' and ''u'' (respectively), similarly to Gwoyeu Romatzyh and identical to Pinyin. An example phrase, "The second type of Chinese phonetic symbols":

Space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually cons ...

s are generally used in place of

hyphen The hyphen is a punctuation mark used to join words and to separate syllables of a single word. The use of hyphens is called hyphenation. ''Son-in-law'' is an example of a hyphenated word. The hyphen is sometimes confused with dashes ( figure ...

s, except in personal names, which use hyphens in between the syllables of the

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a ...

References

External links

Standard Mandarin Pinyin Table
The complete listing of all Pinyin syllables used in standard Mandarin, along with native speaker pronunciation for each syllable.

ROC government booklet on MPS II (in English and Chinese)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mandarin Phonetic Symbols Ii Romanization of Chinese