Y.R. Chao
November 3, 1892 – February 25, 1982
Today, the thirtieth anniversary of the death of the brilliant linguist and all-around interesting guy Y.R. Chao (Zhao Yuanren / Zhà o Yuánrèn / 趙元任 / 赵元任), I’m remembering him by rereading some of his work. (Chao died twenty years and one day after his good friend Hu Shih.)
Here are some readings here on Pinyin.info by or about Y.R. Chao that you may wish to review:
- Responses to objections to romanization
- Y.R. Chao’s Mandarin translation (in Gwoyeu Romatzyh) of the Humpty Dumpty section of Through the Looking-Glass
- Interviews with Y.R. Chao
- Roots of the stone lions story
- Basic spelling conventions of Gwoyeu Romatzyh (GuóyÇ” LuómÇŽzì / åœ‹èªžç¾…é¦¬å— / 国è¯ç½—é©¬å— )
- Chart comparing Gwoyeu Romatzyh and Hanyu Pinyin, alphabetized by GR first tone
- Y.R. Chao works being reissued
- One State, One People, One Language
Pinyin said
Jihniahn Zhaoh Yuarnrehn, yohng zihmuu biaodiaoh.
Jìnià n Zhà o Yuánrèn, yòng zìmÇ” biÄodià o.
To remember Zhao Yuanren, to use alphabet for marking tones.
Pinyin said
Example using alphabet for marking the four tones of Mandarin:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Pinyin/Pinyin-English_News_Summary#2012-02-27
Gummy Worm said
Personally I find Guoyu Luomazi more recognizable than Hanyu Pinyin because of the different word lengths of the tonal spelling. This system was well designed but only with the obvious flaw of being overly “difficult”. If Zhao Yuanren were still alive, I wonder what improvement he would bring to the system.
Pinyin said
Simplified GR tonal spelling method uses in Hanyu Pinyin is workable.
Jiaanhuah d GR biaodiaohfaa yohngyur Hahnyuu Pinyin shih keexirng d.
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Pinyin/Pinyin-English_News_Summary#Pinyin_is_the_most_widely-used_Chinese_writing_system_in_Latin_alphabet