Romanization

From LibraryWiki

1 ALA-LC Romanization Tables
2 Japanese

ALA-LC Romanization Tables

1997 edition, with some modifications (in current use): ALA-LC Romanization Tables

Japanese

Romanization used in library cataloging follows the ALA-LC romanization tables for Japanese, available online at http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/japanese.pdf. Library of Congress provides tips for searching library catalogs in either romanization or in Japanese -- http://catalog.loc.gov/help/japanese-unicode.htm

Wikipedia has an article on Romanization of Japanese, with examples.

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Style sheets for Japanese studies journals

Journals for Japanese studies vary in their approaches to romanization, uses of hyphens and diacritics, and other particulars.

Style sheets: Japanese Studies

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Japanese romanization systems

There are a variety of traditions for transliterating Japanese into the Latin alphabet (a process known as "Romanization"). Two systems in particular are commonly recognized as "standard" in some sense: ヘボン式 and 訓令式 (see below for details).

Other, older systems will sometimes employ Romanizations that aren't reflected in either of these two systems. Spellings from these older systems persist, especially in proper nouns (i.e., place names and personal names). For example, the use of "y" before "e" moraic to "spell" [e] (usually either word-initially or immediately following a vowel) persists in old references to the Bakuhu capitol, "Yedo," and in some family names such as "Inouye". And long vowels are also sometimes expressed by adding an "h" to the vowel letter, as is commonly seen in the spelling for the generic term for a famous form of classic Japanese theatre, "Noh". (This spelling convention has been approved as an addition to ヘボン式 for long "o" in personal names in Japanese passports as of April 1, 2000.)

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ヘボン式

The Hepburn sytem of Romanization (ヘボン式) reflects the spelling conventions of English speakers, and reflects a striving to approach sound transcription.

For the table of kana/alphabet correspondences, see Japanese language Wikipedia: ローマ字.

ヘボン式 doesn't use Q, V, X.

In addition to the information in the tables, there are several other conventions dealing with mora boundaries, geminates, etc. that must be stipulated.

The representation for moraic [N] (viz. "n") changes to "m" before bilabial stops [b], [p], [m] within a word.
The geminate for [ch] is written "tch".
The geminate for [sh] is written "ssh".
Otherwise, geminates are expressed by doubling the initial consonant.
Long vowels are not distinguished from short ones, but are written with one vowel: おおさか > "Osaka". (Question: Does this apply even across morpheme boundaries?)
Particle へ is written "e," not "he."
Particle は is written "wa," not "ha."
Particle を is written "o," not "wo."

Here is more information: Hepburn romanization

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訓令式

For the table of kana/alphabet correspondences, see Japanese language Wikipedia: ローマ字.

訓令式 doesn't use C, F, J, Q, V, X.

In addition to the information in the tables, there are several other conventions dealing with mora boundaries, geminates, etc. that must be stipulated.

Moraic [N] is always represented by "n".
If moraic [N] is followed by a palatalized や行 mora or a vocalic あ行 mora, the two are separated by an apostrophe " ' ".
Geminates are expressed by doubling the initial consonant.
Long vowels are expressed by adding a diacritic (either a circumflex "^" or a macron "ˉ") to the vowel.
Particle へ is written "e," not "he."
Particle は is written "wa," not "ha."
Particle を is written "o," not "wo."

Here is more information: Kunrei-shiki Rōmaji

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日本式

日本式 strives to reflect the organization of the Japanese phonological system in its Romanization while preserving a correspondence between Japanese symbols and combinations of alphabetic symbols as much as possible. In the process, the strict correspondence between alphabet and sound is sacrificed.

The format for the following kana/alphabet table is borrowed from the ones cited above.

	あ	い	う	え	お	ん	拗音
あ	a	i	u	e	o
か	ka	ki	ku	ke	ko		kya	kyu	kyo
さ	sa	si	su	se	so		sya	syu	syo
た	ta	ti	tu	te	to		tya	tyu	tyo
な	na	ni	nu	ne	no		nya	nyu	nyo
は	ha	hi	hu	he	ho		hya	hyu	hyo
ま	ma	mi	mu	me	mo		mya	myu	myo
や	ya	(i)	yu	(e)	yo
ら	ra	ri	ru	re	ro		rya	ryu	ryo
わ	wa	wi	(u)	we	o	n
が	ga	gi	gu	ge	go		gya	gyu	gyo
ざ	za	zi	zu	ze	zo		zya	zyu	zyo
だ	da	di	du	de	do		dya	dyu	dyo
ば	ba	bi	bu	be	bo		bya	byu	byo
ぱ	pa	pi	pu	pe	po		pya	pyu	pyo

日本式 doesn't use C, F, J, Q, V, X.

In addition to the information in the tables, there are several other conventions dealing with mora boundaries, geminates, etc. that must be stipulated.

Moraic [N] is always represented by "n".
If moraic [N] is followed by a palatalized や行 mora or a vocalic あ行 mora, the two are separated by an apostrophe " ' ".
Geminates are always expressed by doubling the initial consonant.
Long vowels are expressed by adding a diacritic (either a circumflex "^" or a macron "ˉ") to the vowel.
Particle へ is written "he," (not "e," as in 訓令式 and ヘボン式).
Particle は is written "ha," (not "wa," as in 訓令式 and ヘボン式).
Particle を is written "wo," (not "o," as in 訓令式 and ヘボン式).

Here is more information: Nihon-shiki Rōmaji

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Romanization in liguistics

Oddly enough, there is no single system agreed upon among linguists for Romanizing Japanese in scholarly works. Some linguists sacrifice the sound-symbol correspondence of the standard systems in order to express morphemic analysis in their Romanizations, for example, ending the stem of a わ行 verb in "w" and separating it from the tense morpheme with a hyphen:

構う (かまう) > "kamaw-u

Some linguists will ignore distinctions that the standard systems reflect in order to preserve sound-symbol correspondence. For example, note how the "spellings" for the two initial morae in the words below are often conflated:

多さ (おおさ) > "oosa"

王座 (おうざ) > "ooza"

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