Simplified Wade

Simplified Wade, abbreviated ''SW'', is a modification of the Wade–Giles romanization system for writing Standard Mandarin Chinese. It was devised by the Swedish linguist Olov Bertil Anderson (1920–1993), who first published the system in 1969. Simplified Wade uses tonal spelling: in other words it modifies the letters in a syllable in order to indicate tone differences. It is one of only two Mandarin romanization systems that indicate tones in such a way (the other being Gwoyeu Romatzyh). All other systems use diacritics or numbers to indicate tone.

Initials

One of the important changes that Anderson made to Wade–Giles to was to replace the apostrophe following aspirated consonants with an .The IPA also indicates aspiration with a (superscript) ^h. This modification, previously used in the Legge romanization, was also adopted by Joseph Needham in his ''Science and Civilisation in China'' series. The table below illustrates the spelling difference.

While Wade–Giles spells the initials differently before the vowel (written ''ŭ'' in WG but ''y'' in SW), Simplified Wade spells them the same as everywhere else:

Like most romanization systems for Standard Mandarin, Simplified Wade uses ''r'' for Wade–Giles ''j'': WG ''jih'', ''jê'', ''jên'', ''jêng'', ''jo'', ''jui'', ''jung'', etc., become SW ''ry'', ''re'', ''ren'', ''reng'', ''ro'', ''ruei'', ''rung'', etc.

All other initials are the same as in Wade–Giles.

Finals

The finals of Simplified Wade differ from those of Wade–Giles in the following ways:

* An ''-h'' at the end of a Wade–Giles final is dropped in Simplified Wade: WG ''-ieh'', ''yeh'', ''-üeh'', ''yüeh'', ''êrh'' become SW ''-ie'', ''ye'', ''-üe'' (but see below), ''yüe'' (but see below), ''er''.

* A circumflex in a Wade–Giles final is dropped in Simplified Wade: WG ''ê'', ''-ên'', ''wên'', ''-êng'', ''wêng'', ''êrh'' become SW ''e'', ''-en'', ''wen'', ''-eng'', ''weng'', ''er''.

* The Wade–Giles ''ê/o'' final is always ''e'' in Simplified Wade: for Wade–Giles ''ko'', ''ko'', ''ho''; ''ê'' or ''o''; ''tê'', ''tê'', ''chê'', ''chê'' ''tsê'', ''tsê'', ''jê'', etc., Simplified Wade has ''ke'', ''khe'', ''he''; ''e''; ''te'', ''the'', ''che'', ''chhe'', ''tse'', ''tshe'', ''re'', etc.

* The Wade–Giles ''ui/uei'' final is always ''uei'' in Simplified Wade (except when it forms a syllable on its own; then it is ''wei'' in both WG and SW). Wade–Giles writes ''kuei'' and ''kuei'' but otherwise ''-ui'' (''hui'', ''shui'', ''jui'', etc.), while Simplified Wade writes not only ''kuei'' and ''khuei'' but also ''huei'', ''shuei'', ''ruei'', etc.

* While Wade–Giles writes the syllable as ''i'' or ''yi'' depending on the character, Simplified Wade consistently uses ''yi''.

* Like Gwoyeu Romatzyh, Simplified Wade uses ''-y'' for Wade–Giles ''-ih'' and ''-ŭ'': WG ''chih'', ''chih'', ''shih'', ''jih'', ''tzŭ'', ''tzŭ'', ''ssŭ'' become SW ''chy'', ''chhy'', ''shy'', ''ry'', ''tsy'', ''tshy'', ''sy''.

Equivalents of Wade–Giles ''ü''

When ''ü'' is available, it is used as in Wade–Giles. Otherwise, the following rules apply:

* The Wade–Giles syllable ''yu'' becomes ''you'' and WG ''yü'' becomes ''yu'': WG ''yu'', ''yü'', ''yüeh'', ''yüan'', ''yün'' become ''you'', ''yu'', ''yue'', ''yuan'', ''yun'' (''yung'' remains ''yung'').

* Wade–Giles ''hsü'' becomes ''hsu'' or : WG becomes or ; WG becomes or ; WG becomes or ; WG becomes or .

*In all other cases, Wade–Giles ''ü'' becomes ''yu'', e.g., , , , , , , and .

Tones

Both Gwoyeu Romatzyh and Simplified Wade use tonal spelling, but in two very different fashions. In Gwoyeu Romatzyh, the spelling of the tone and the spelling of the final often fuse together: WG ''-iao'' has the basic spelling ''-iau'' in GR, which becomes ''-yau'' in the 2nd tone, ''-eau'' in the 3rd tone, ''-iaw'' in the 4th tone, and remains ''-iau'' in the 1st tone – hence WG ''chiao¹'', ''chiao²'', ''chiao³'', ''chiao⁴'' become GR , , , . There are different rules for different cases: WG ''pin¹'', ''pin²'', ''pin³'', ''pin⁴'' become GR ''pin'', ''pyn'', ''piin'', ''pinn'', but WG ''sui¹'', ''sui²'', ''sui³'', ''sui⁴'' become GR ''suei'', ''swei'', ''soei'', ''suey''.

In Simplified Wade, on the other hand, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th tones are always indicated by an otherwise silent letter following the final: ''-v'' for the 2nd tone, ''-x'' for the 3rd tone, and ''-z'' for the 4th tone. The spelling of the tone and the spelling of the final are always separable from each other. Simplified Wade's tonal spelling is therefore similar to the adding of a digit at the end of the syllable.

The 1st tone is always indicated by the absence of a letter following the final. Examples:

When a ''vertical apostrophe'' is used above one or more syllables, any syllable without a vertical apostrophe carries the neutral tone: Hànyǔ Pīnyīn ''lái le'' is ''la̍iv-le'' in Simplified Wade.

The right apostrophe

A right apostrophe is used to indicate a syllable break in an otherwise ambiguous spelling, e.g., for WG ''pi¹-ao³'', freeing up the spelling to unambiguously mean WG .Anderson (1973). Due to the tone letters, this is only needed when the first syllable carries tone 1.

See also

*Wade–Giles
*Wade–Giles table
*Comparison of Chinese transcription systems
*Spelling in Gwoyeu Romatzyh

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

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*{{cite book , last = Malmqvist , first = N. G. D. , author-link = Göran Malmqvist , year = 2011 , title = Bernhard Karlgren: Portrait of a Scholar , place = Bethlehem, Pennsylvania , publisher = Lehigh University Press

External links

A review of Anderson (1970), explaining Simplified Wade with an example

Romanization of Chinese