Proposed Changes in Chinese Romanization Guidelines


The Library of Congress is reconsidering its practice of applying the new pinyin Chinese romanization guidelines. The Cataloging Policy and Support Office (CPSO) requests comment from the Council on East Asian Libraries on the proposed changes.

Comments on these proposed changes, are requested by Tuesday, May 1, 2001. Additional supporting documentation is welcome. Address comments to:

Robert M. Hiatt
Senior Cataloging Policy Specialist
Cataloging Policy and Support Office
Library of Congress
Washington, D.C. 20540-4305
email: rhia@loc.gov

1) Adding an umlaut over the letter u in the syllables lue and nue

The pinyin romanization table does not place an umlaut over the letter u in the syllables lue and nue. An umlaut is used on two Chinese syllables (lü, nü) to distinguish them from other syllables that use the same letters but are pronounced differently (lu, nu). An umlaut was not added to the syllables lue and nue because their letters do not conflict with other syllables. It was also felt that the absence of diacritic marks was convenient for users, and would lead to fewer typographical errors in transcription.

It is proposed that an umlaut be added to these syllables (lüe, nüe) so that they will conform to the Chinese guidelines, as put forth in Han yu pin yin fang an. The proposed change would cause the syllables to conform to those in the ISO standard for Chinese. Proponents say the change should be made for the sake of convenient data storage and transmission, and information exchange.

Other major institutions that use romanized Chinese data do not employ the umlaut over these syllables consistently. The US Board on Geographic Names uses the umlaut over these syllables. Romanized Chinese in the National Library of China's bibliographic records does not include the umlaut. Some of the National Library of Australia's bibliographic records employ the umlaut, some do not.

The options under consideraton are:

  1. Retain the current policy.

  2. Use an umlaut over the letter u in the syllables lue and nue in the future. Add the umlaut to these syllables on authority and bibliographic records on an “as encountered” basis.

  3. Use an umlaut over the letter u in the syllables lue and nue in the future. Locate these unattached syllables on authority and bibliographic records and add the umlaut to them. Add the umlaut to joined syllables on an “as encountered” basis.

2) Use of apostrophe in joined syllables

The pinyin romanization guidelines call for an apostrophe to be added 1) before syllables beginning with joined letters a, e, or o, and 2) between connected syllables that end with the letter n and begin with the letter g. It was felt that adding an apostrophe between the joined letters n and g when they represented the juncture of syllables was easy to apply and made it convenient for a reader to distinguish where the break occurs.

It is proposed that the apostrophe only be added before syllables beginning with joined letters a, e or o. The second application, noted above, does not conform to the Chinese guidelines as put forth in Han yu pin yin fang an. The proposed change would conform to the ISO standard for Chinese. Proponents say the change should be made for the sake of convenient data storage and transmission, and information exchange. They reason that the current practice is not necessary; that cases of confusion rarely occur.

Other major institutions generally apply the apostrophe in a manner consistent with the guidelines of Han yu pin yin fang an. The US Board on Geographic Names applies the Chinese guidelines consistently. The National Library of China does not join romanized syllables, and so does not apply this Han yu pin yin fang an guideline. The National Library of Australia generally applies the Chinese guidelines for the apostrophe. Bibliographic records from the Bodleian Library, Oxford University show inconsistent application of the Chinese guidelines.

The options under consideraton are:

  1. Retain the current policy.

  2. Cease application of an apostrophe between joined syllables when the first ends with the letter n and the second begins with the letter g. Remove this apostrophe on authority and bibliographic records on an “as encountered” basis.


Message originally posted on Eastlib, March 13, 2001.