Standard Romanization (Cantonese)

Standard Romanization is a romanization system for Cantonese developed by Christian missionaries in South China in 1888. Publications in Standard Romanization have been issued by the British and Foreign Bible Society, the China Baptist Publication Society, and the Pakhoi Mission Press.

Initials

p [p]	p' [pʰ]	m [m]	f [f]
t [t]	t' [tʰ]	n [n]	l [l]
k [k]	k' [kʰ]	ng [ŋ]	h [h]
ts [ts]	ts' [tsʰ]	s [s]	sh [ɕ]
kw [kw]	k'w [kʰw]	y, i [j]	oo, w [w]

Finals

a [aː]	aai [aːi]	aau [aːu]	aam [aːm]	aan [aːn]	aang [aːŋ]	aap [aːp]	aat [aːt]	aak [aːk]
	ai [ɐi]	au [ɐu]	am, om [ɐm]	an [ɐn]	ang [ɐŋ]	ap, op [ɐp]	at [ɐt]	ak [ɐk]
e [ɛː]	ei [ei]				eng [ɛːŋ]			ek [ɛːk]
i, z [iː]		iu [iːu]	im [iːm]	in [iːn]	ing [ɪŋ]	ip [iːp]	it [iːt]	ik [ɪk]
oh [ɔː]	oi [ɔːi]	o [ou]		on [ɔːn]	ong [ɔːŋ]		ot [ɔːt]	ok [ɔːk]
oo [uː]	ooi [uːi]			oon [uːn]	ung [ʊŋ]		oot [uːt]	uk [ʊk]
eu [œː]	ui [ɵy]			un [ɵn]	eung [œːŋ]		ut [ɵt]	euk [œːk]
ue [yː]				uen [yːn]			uet [yːt]
			m [m̩]		ng [ŋ̩]

• The finals m and ng can only be used as standalone nasal syllables.
• When h or k is an initial, om and op are used as the final, instead of am and ap.
• When s, ts or ts’ is the initial, and i is the final, the final is written z instead.
• When y is an initial, and i, iu, in, ip, it, or iu are used as finals, the y is omitted, resulting in i, iu, in, ip, it, and iu, but yik, and ying.
• When y is an initial, and ue, uen, or uet are finals, the y is omitted.
• When w is an initial, and oo, ooi, or oon are finals, the w is omitted.
• When i is an initial ending with ue begins a rime
• Unlike most modern Cantonese romanization systems, a distinction is made between 卅 and 沙. The former is represented by sa while the latter is written as sha.

Tones

Tones are indicated using diacritic marks. Of the entering tones, only the middle entering tone is indicated, while the upper entering and lower entering are merged with the upper even and lower even tones.

Tone description	Diacritic	Example
Upper even	faan	番
Upper rising	faán	反
Upper going	faàn	汎
Lower even	faān	凡
Lower rising	maǎng	猛
Lower going	faân	飯
Middle entering	faat°	法

References

• Roy T. Cowles (1999). A Pocket Dictionary of Cantonese 廣東話袖珍字典. Hong Kong University Press (香港大學出版社). ISBN 962-209-122-9.

External links

• Cukda Cantonese IME