What is Gwoyeu Romatzyh?
Q: What is Gwoyeu Romatzyh?
A: Gwoyeu Romatzyh (GR) is a romanization of Mandarin Chinese, or a way to write Mandarin using the Roman alphabet. It was created by Yuen Ren Chao and other linguists in the late 1920s as a way to write Mandarin using tonal spelling, which changes the syllable's spelling depending on its tone.
Q: Why was GR created?
A: GR was created in order to increase literacy in China because China's illiteracy rate was very high in the early 20th century. It also made it easier for people to print words without having to add long and difficult tone markers.
Q: How does GR compare with other Asian languages that use tonal spelling?
A: Other Asian languages that use tonal spelling typically represent tones by using the same letter each time the tone is used, while GR has its own set of rules and exceptions for each syllable final. For example, first tone words with the final -a as in bā are written with just one vowel like ba, except when the syllable begins with an l-, m-, or n-, which then must be written as lha, mha, and nha respectively.
Q: Are there any studies that support learning Chinese through GR instead of Pinyin?
A: Studies have not supported this claim; actually one study showed that after one year, subjects who learned Chinese using Pinyin could more accurately speak Mandarin with tones than those who learned using GR.
Q: What happened after Communist Party took over China?
A: After Communist Party took over China they tried to replace all romanizations of Chinese including GR with Pinyin. However there are still some exceptions where GR can be seen such as road signs and product names even though Hanyu Pinyin is officially used in Taiwan.
Q: What is an example of an exception made when writing province names in mainland China today?
A: An example of an exception made when writing province names in mainland China today is Shaanxi which is written in GR rather than Shǎnxī with tone markers because there is already another province named Shanxi which would be impossible to tell apart if both were written without tones markers (Shanxi).
