Foochow Romanized, also known as Bàng-uâ-cê (BUC for short; 平話字) or Hók-ciŭ-uâ Lò̤-mā-cê (Chinese: 福州話羅馬字), is a Latin alphabet for the Fuzhou dialect of Eastern Min adopted in the middle of the 19th century by Western missionaries. It had varied at different times, and became standardized in the 1890s. Foochow Romanized was mainly used inside of church circles, and was taught in some mission schools in Fuzhou.[1] However, unlike its counterpart Pe̍h-ōe-jī for Hokkien, even in its prime days Foochow Romanized was by no means universally understood by Christians.[2]
Foochow Romanized
Hók-ciŭ-uâ Lò̤-mā-cê, Bàng-uâ-cê
Bible in Foochow Romanized (Exodus), published by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1908
An English-Chinese Dictionary of the Foochow Dialect, 2nd Edition, published in 1905
Dictionary of the Foochow dialect, 3rd Edition, published in 1929
Hand-written note in Foochow Romanized, ca. 1910. It reads: "...You are our dwelling place. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. And we are thankful, because Jesus died for us, resurrected, and enabled us to live in the life full of abundance. He helps us conform to the image of the Lord, and be patient and serve Him with all our heart. He teaches us to willingly forgive people..."
After Fuzhou became one of the five Chinese treaty ports opened by the Treaty of Nanjing at the end of First Opium War (from 1839 to 1842), many Western missionaries arrived in the city. Faced with widespread illiteracy, they developed Latin alphabets for the Fuzhou dialect.
The first attempt in romanizing the Fuzhou dialect was made by the American MethodistM. C. White, who borrowed a system of orthography known as the System of Sir William Jones. In this system, 14 initials were designed exactly according to their voicing and aspiration. ⟨p⟩, ⟨t⟩, ⟨k⟩ and ⟨ch⟩ stand for [p], [t], [k] and [ts]; while the Greek spiritus lenis⟨᾿⟩ were affixed to the above initials to represent their aspirated counterparts. Besides the default five vowels of Latin alphabet, four diacritic-marked letters⟨è⟩, ⟨ë⟩, ⟨ò⟩ and ⟨ü⟩ were also introduced, representing [ɛ], [ø], [ɔ], and [y], respectively. This system is described at length in White's linguistic work The Chinese Language Spoken at Fuh Chau.
Subsequent missionaries, including Robert S. Maclay from American Methodist Episcopal Mission, R. W. Stewart from the Church of England and Charles Hartwell from the American Board Mission, further modified White's system in several ways. The most significant change was made for the plosiveconsonants, where the spiritus lenis⟨᾿⟩ of the aspirated initials was removed and the letters ⟨b⟩, ⟨d⟩ and ⟨g⟩ substituted for [p] [t] and [k]. In the aspect of vowels, ⟨è⟩, ⟨ë⟩, ⟨ò⟩ and ⟨ü⟩ were replaced by ⟨a̤⟩, ⟨e̤⟩, ⟨o̤⟩ and ⟨ṳ⟩. Since the diacritical marks were all shifted to underneath the vowels, this left room above the vowels which was occupied by the newly introduced tonal marks. Thus Foochow Romanized avoids the potentially awkward diacritic stacking seen for instance in the Vietnamese script, where tone and vowel quality marks both sit above the vowel.
Alphabet
The sample characters are taken from the Qi Lin Bayin, a renowned phonology book about the Fuzhou dialect written in the Qing Dynasty. The pronunciations are recorded in standard IPA symbols.
foochow, romanized, also, known, bàng, short, 平話字, hók, ciŭ, chinese, 福州話羅馬字, latin, alphabet, fuzhou, dialect, eastern, adopted, middle, 19th, century, western, missionaries, varied, different, times, became, standardized, 1890s, mainly, used, inside, church,. Foochow Romanized also known as Bang ua ce BUC for short 平話字 or Hok ciŭ ua Lo ma ce Chinese 福州話羅馬字 is a Latin alphabet for the Fuzhou dialect of Eastern Min adopted in the middle of the 19th century by Western missionaries It had varied at different times and became standardized in the 1890s Foochow Romanized was mainly used inside of church circles and was taught in some mission schools in Fuzhou 1 However unlike its counterpart Pe h ōe ji for Hokkien even in its prime days Foochow Romanized was by no means universally understood by Christians 2 Foochow RomanizedHok ciŭ ua Lo ma ce Bang ua ceBible in Foochow Romanized Exodus published by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1908Script typeLatin alphabet modified CreatorMoses Clark White Robert Samuel Maclay Caleb Cook Baldwin Robert StewartTime periodlate 19th century LanguagesFuzhou dialect of the Eastern Min languageRelated scriptsChild systemsHinghwa Romanized Kienning Colloquial Romanized This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet IPA For an introductory guide on IPA symbols see Help IPA For the distinction between and see IPA Brackets and transcription delimiters This article contains special characters Without proper rendering support you may see question marks boxes or other symbols Contents 1 History 2 Alphabet 2 1 Initials 2 2 Finals 2 2 1 Finals without codas 2 2 2 Finals with coda ʔ 2 2 3 Finals with codas ŋ and k 2 3 Tones 3 Sample text 3 1 IPA 4 References 5 External linksHistory Edit An English Chinese Dictionary of the Foochow Dialect 2nd Edition published in 1905 Dictionary of the Foochow dialect 3rd Edition published in 1929 Hand written note in Foochow Romanized ca 1910 It reads You are our dwelling place Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world from everlasting to everlasting you are God And we are thankful because Jesus died for us resurrected and enabled us to live in the life full of abundance He helps us conform to the image of the Lord and be patient and serve Him with all our heart He teaches us to willingly forgive people After Fuzhou became one of the five Chinese treaty ports opened by the Treaty of Nanjing at the end of First Opium War from 1839 to 1842 many Western missionaries arrived in the city Faced with widespread illiteracy they developed Latin alphabets for the Fuzhou dialect The first attempt in romanizing the Fuzhou dialect was made by the American Methodist M C White who borrowed a system of orthography known as the System of Sir William Jones In this system 14 initials were designed exactly according to their voicing and aspiration p t k and ch stand for p t k and ts while the Greek spiritus lenis were affixed to the above initials to represent their aspirated counterparts Besides the default five vowels of Latin alphabet four diacritic marked letters e e o and u were also introduced representing ɛ o ɔ and y respectively This system is described at length in White s linguistic work The Chinese Language Spoken at Fuh Chau Subsequent missionaries including Robert S Maclay from American Methodist Episcopal Mission R W Stewart from the Church of England and Charles Hartwell from the American Board Mission further modified White s system in several ways The most significant change was made for the plosive consonants where the spiritus lenis of the aspirated initials was removed and the letters b d and g substituted for p t and k In the aspect of vowels e e o and u were replaced by a e o and ṳ Since the diacritical marks were all shifted to underneath the vowels this left room above the vowels which was occupied by the newly introduced tonal marks Thus Foochow Romanized avoids the potentially awkward diacritic stacking seen for instance in the Vietnamese script where tone and vowel quality marks both sit above the vowel Alphabet EditThe sample characters are taken from the Qi Lin Bayin a renowned phonology book about the Fuzhou dialect written in the Qing Dynasty The pronunciations are recorded in standard IPA symbols Initials Edit BUC Sample character Pronunciationb 邊 p p 波 pʰ m 蒙 m d 低 t t 他 tʰ n 日 n l 柳 l g 求 k k 氣 kʰ ng 語 ŋ h 喜 h c 爭 ts ch 出 tsʰ s 時 s None 鶯 Null InitialFinals Edit Finals without codas Edit BUC Sample character Traditional pronunciation Modern pronunciationa 嘉 a a ia 奇 ia ia ua 花 ua ua a 西 ɛ e or a ie 雞 ie ie o 歌 ɔ o or ɔ io 橋 io yo uo 過 uo uo e ae 初 o or ao o or ɔ au 郊 au au eu aiu 溝 eu or aiu eu or au ieu 燒 ieu iu iu eu 秋 iu or eu iu oi o i 催 oi or ɔi oy or ɔy ai 開 ai ai uai 歪 uai uai uoi 杯 uoi ui ui oi 輝 ui or oi ui i e 之 i or ei i or ɛi u o 孤 u or ou u or ɔu u e u 須 y or oy y or œy Finals with coda ʔ Edit BUC Traditional pronunciation Modern pronunciationah aʔ aʔ iah iaʔ iaʔ uah uaʔ uaʔ a h ɛʔ eʔ ieh ieʔ ieʔ o h ɔʔ oʔ or ɔʔ ioh ioʔ yoʔ uoh uoʔ uoʔ e h oʔ oʔ Finals with codas ŋ and k Edit BUC Sample character Traditional pronunciation Modern pronunciationang 山 aŋ aŋ iang 聲 iaŋ iaŋ uang 歡 uaŋ uaŋ ieng 天 ieŋ ieŋ iong 香 ioŋ yoŋ uong 光 uoŋ uoŋ ing eng 賓 iŋ or eiŋ iŋ or ɛiŋ ung ong 春 uŋ or ouŋ uŋ or ɔuŋ u ng e u ng 銀 yŋ or oyŋ yŋ or œyŋ eng aing 燈 eiŋ or aiŋ eiŋ or aiŋ ong aung 釭 ouŋ or auŋ ouŋ or ɔuŋ e ng ae ng 東 oŋ or aoŋ oyŋ or ɔyŋ Tones Edit Name Tone numeral BUC symbol ExampleShangping 上平 BUC Siong bing 55 君 GŭngShǎngsheng 上聲 BUC Siōng siăng 33 滾 GungShangqu 上去 BUC Siong ke u 213 貢 GongShangru 上入 BUC Siong ĭk 24 谷 GokXiaping 下平 BUC Ha bing 53 群 GungXiaqu 下去 BUC Ha ke u 242 郡 GongXiaru 下入 BUC Ha ĭk 5 掘 GŭkNote that Foochow Romanized uses the breve not the caron ˇ to indicate Yinping and Yangru tones of Fuzhou dialect Sample text Edit This section includes inline links to audio files If you have trouble playing the files see Wikipedia Media help Foochow Romanized Chinese characters traditional English Translation Audio FileBae k hŭng gae ng Nĭk tau 北風共日頭 The North Wind and the Sun listenO sŏ h huoi Bae k hŭng gae ng Nĭk tau duŏh hi do i căng kang die ne ng buōng se u duai 有蜀回 北風共日頭著許塊爭 看底儂本事大 Once upon a time the North Wind and the Sun were disputing which was stronger listenCăng li căng ko mo suŏ iang 爭來爭去無輸贏 They disputed on and on without reaching a conclusion listenCia seng haiu duo la o sŏ h cieh ne ng giang la sĭng la se u ng duŏh sŏ h iong gau gau gi duai ĭ 者辰候 墿𡅏有蜀隻儂行𡅏 身𡅏頌著蜀件厚厚其大衣 Just at that moment there was a man walking along the road wearing a very heavy coat listenĬ lang cieh gōng hō die ne ng o buōng se u sĕng gae ci cieh ne ng gae ng duai ĭ taung lai go ceu saung die ne ng buōng se u duai 伊兩隻講好 底儂有本事先告玆隻儂共大衣褪唻去 就算底儂本事大 The two agreed that who first succeeded in making this man take his coat off should be considered stronger listenDăng nĭ Bae k hŭng ceu sai lĭk si miang dek chuŏi bok guo ĭ muōng chuŏi dek le hai ci cieh la giang duo gi ne ng ceu ciŏng hi iong duai ĭ muōng bău muōng ging go 仱呢 北風就使力死命的吹 不過伊罔吹的利害 玆隻𡅏行墿其儂就將許件大衣罔包罔緊去 Then the North Wind exerted all his strength to blow but the harder he blew the tighter that walking man wrapped his coat listenGau muōi haiu Bae k hŭng mo baing huak ceu cung kuang lae k go 遘尾後 北風無辦法 就總款 去 At last the North Wind was at his wits end so he gave up listenGuo nek ong Nĭk tau chok li 過仂暅 日頭出來 After a while the Sun came out listenIĕk pĕ pĕ sai sai lĭk sŏ h puŏh hi cieh la giang duo gi ne ng che u k kaik ceu ciŏng hi iong duai ĭ taung lŏ h li 熱 使使力蜀曝 許隻𡅏行墿其儂 刻就將許件大衣褪落來 He shined out forcibly with a sweltering heat and immediately that walking man took off his coat listenCi ha Bae k hŭng ceu na diong sing neng lang ga ne ng die sie go se Nĭk tau gi buōng se u duai 玆下北風就僅長承認 兩個儂底勢 故是日頭其本事大 And so the North Wind had no choice but to confess that the Sun was stronger of the two listenIPA Edit paoʔ huŋ kǎoŋ niʔ tʰau ǒu soʔ hwoi paoʔ huŋ kǎoŋ niʔ tʰau twoʔ hi toi tsaŋ kʰaŋ tje no ŋ pwōŋ so y twǎi tsaŋ li tsaŋ kʰǒ mo swo jaŋ tsja seiŋ hǎjǔ twǒ le ǒu soʔ tsjeʔ no ŋ kjaŋ le siŋ so yŋ twoʔ soʔ jǒŋ kǎu kǎu ki twǎi i i jǎŋ tsjeʔ kouŋ ho tje no ŋ ǒu pwōŋ so y seiŋ kao tsi tsjeʔ no ŋ kǎoŋ twǎi i tʰauŋ lǎi ko tseu sauŋ tje no ŋ pwōŋ so y twǎi taŋ ni paoʔ huŋ tseu sai liʔ si mjǎŋ teiʔ tsʰwoi pouʔ kwo i mwōŋ tsʰwoi teiʔ lei hǎi tsi tsjeʔ le kjaŋ twǒ ki no ŋ tseu tsjoŋ hi jǒŋ twǎi i mwōŋ pau mwōŋ kiŋ ko kau mwōi hǎjǔ paoʔ huŋ mo pǎiŋ hwǎʔ tseu tsuŋ kʰwaŋ lǎoʔ ko kwo neiʔ ouŋ niʔ tʰau tsʰǒuʔ li jeʔ pʰǿ pʰǿ sai sai liʔ soʔ pʰwoʔ hi tsjeʔ le kjaŋ twǒ ki no ŋ tsʰo yʔ kʰǎiʔ tseu tsjoŋ hi jǒŋ twǎi i tʰauŋ loʔ li tsi hǎ paoʔ huŋ tseu nǎ tjǒŋ siŋ neiŋ lǎŋ ka no ŋ tje sje kou sei niʔ tʰau li pwōŋ so y twǎi References Edit 福州女校三鼎甲 福州晚报 in Chinese a href Template Cite news html title Template Cite news cite news a CS1 maint url status link R S Maclay C C Baldwin Samuel H Leger Dictionary of the Foochow Dialect 1929External links Edit Wikisource has original text related to this article Dictionary of the Foochow Dialect Min Dong Chinese edition of Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Everything You Want To Know About Foochow Romanized in Foochowese Go Iok Cŭ The Old Testament in Foochow Romanized in Min Dong Chinese Sĭng Iok Cŭ The New Testament in Foochow Romanized in Min Dong Chinese An English Chinese Dictionary of the Foochow Dialect by T B Adam 1905 Learning material of Foochow Romanized at the Wayback Machine archived 28 February 2012 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Foochow Romanized amp oldid 1114220531, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
