Foochow Romanized, a.k.a.
Bàng-uâ-cê (
BUC for short;
Chinese characters: 平話字) or
Hók-ciŭ-uâ Lò̤-mā-cê (Chinese characters: 福州話羅馬字), is a
romanized orthography for the
Fuzhou dialect adopted in the middle of 19th century by Western missionaries. It had varied at different times, and became standardized several decades later. Foochow Romanized was mainly used inside of Church circles, and was taught in some Mission Schools in
Fuzhou. But unlike its counterpart
Pe̍h-ōe-jī for
Southern Min Language, Foochow Romanized, even in its prime days, was by no means universally understood by Christians.
History of Foochow Romanized
After Fuzhou became one of the five Chinese treaty ports opened by the Treaty of Nanjing at the end of First Opium War (from 1839 to 1842), many Western missionaries arrived in the city. Faced with widespread illiteracy, they developed romanization schemes for Fuzhou dialect.
The first attempt in romanizing Fuzhou dialect was made by the American Methodist M. C. White, who borrowed a system of orthography known as the System of Sir William Jones. In this system, 14 initials were designed exactly according to their voicing and aspiration. P, T, K and CH stand for [p], [t], [k] and [ts]; while the Greek spiritus lenis "᾿" were affixed to the above initials to represent their aspirated counterparts. Besides the default five vowels of Latin alphabet, four diacritic-marked letters È, Ë, Ò and Ü were also introduced, representing [ɛ], [ø], [ɔ] and [y], respectively. This system is described at length in White's linguistic work The Chinese Language Spoken at Fuh Chau.
Subsequent missionaries, including Robert S. Maclay from American Methodist Episcopal Mission, R. W. Stewart from the Church of England and Charles Hartwell from the American Board Mission, further modified White's System in several ways. The most significant change was made in the scheme of plosive consonants, by which the spiritus lenis "᾿" of the aspirated initials was totally removed and the letters B, D and G were introduced to represent [p] [t] and [k]. In the aspect of vowels, È, Ë, Ò and Ü were replaced by A̤, E̤, O̤ and Ṳ; and since the [[diacritical marks]] were all shifted to underneath the vowels, tonal marks were thus invented.
== Scheme ==
{{IPA notice}}
The sample characters are taken from the phonetics book '''''[[Qī Lín Bāyīn]]''''' (《戚林八音》, Foochow Romanized: {{Unicode|Chék Lìng Báik-ĭng}}), a renowned phonology book about the Fuzhou dialect written in the [[Qing Dynasty]]. The pronunciations are recorded in standard [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]] symbols.
=== Initials ===
{| class="wikitable"
| bgcolor="#ABCDEF" |
'''BUC'''
| bgcolor="#ABCDEF" |
'''Sample character'''
| bgcolor="#ABCDEF" |
'''Pronunciation'''
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''b'''}}
|
邊
|
{{IPA|/p/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''p'''}}
|
波
|
{{IPA|/pʰ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''m'''}}
|
蒙
|
{{IPA|/m/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''d'''}}
|
低
|
{{IPA|/t/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''t'''}}
|
他
|
{{IPA|/tʰ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''n'''}}
|
日
|
{{IPA|/n/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''l'''}}
|
柳
|
{{IPA|/l/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''g'''}}
|
求
|
{{IPA|/k/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''k'''}}
|
氣
|
{{IPA|/kʰ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''ng'''}}
|
語
|
{{IPA|/ŋ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''h'''}}
|
喜
|
{{IPA|/h/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''c'''}}
|
爭
|
{{IPA|/ts/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''ch'''}}
|
出
|
{{IPA|/tsʰ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''s'''}}
|
時
|
{{IPA|/s/}}
|-
|
''None''
|
鶯
|
''Null Initial''
|}
=== Rimes ===
==== Rimes without [[Syllable coda|codas]] ====
{| class="wikitable"
| bgcolor="#ABCDEF" |
'''BUC'''
| bgcolor="#ABCDEF" |
'''Sample character'''
| bgcolor="#ABCDEF" |
'''Traditional pronunciation'''
| bgcolor="#ABCDEF" |
'''Modern pronunciation'''
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''a'''}}
|
嘉
|
{{IPA|/a/}}
|
{{IPA|/a/ or /ɑ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''ia'''}}
|
奇
|
{{IPA|/ia/}}
|
{{IPA|/ia/ or /iɑ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''ua'''}}
|
花
|
{{IPA|/ua/}}
|
{{IPA|/ua/ or /uɑ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''a̤'''}}
|
西
|
{{IPA|/ɛ/}}
|
{{IPA|/ɛ/ or /ɑ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''ie'''}}
|
雞
|
{{IPA|/ie/}}
|
{{IPA|/ie/ or /iɛ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''o̤'''}}
|
歌
|
{{IPA|/ɔ/}}
|
{{IPA|/o/ or /ɔ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''io'''}}
|
橋
|
{{IPA|/io/}}
|
{{IPA|/yo/ or /yɔ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''uo'''}}
|
過
|
{{IPA|/uo/}}
|
{{IPA|/uo/ or /uɔ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''e̤ / ae̤'''}}
|
初
|
{{IPA|/ø/ or /aø/}}
|
{{IPA|/œ/ or /ɔ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''au'''}}
|
郊
|
{{IPA|/au/}}
|
{{IPA|/au/ or /ɑu/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''eu / aiu'''}}
|
溝
|
{{IPA|/eu/ or /aiu/}}
|
{{IPA|/ɛu/ or /ɑu/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''ieu'''}}
|
燒
|
{{IPA|/ieu/}}
|
{{IPA|/iu/ or /iɛu/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''iu / eu'''}}
|
秋
|
{{IPA|/iu/ or /eu/}}
|
{{IPA|/iu/ or /iɛu/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''oi / o̤i'''}}
|
催
|
{{IPA|/oi/ or /ɔi/}}
|
{{IPA|/øy/ or /ɔy/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''ai'''}}
|
開
|
{{IPA|/ai/}}
|
{{IPA|/ai/ or /ɑi/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''uai'''}}
|
歪
|
{{IPA|/uai/}}
|
{{IPA|/uai/ or /uɑi/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''uoi'''}}
|
杯
|
{{IPA|/uoi/}}
|
{{IPA|/ui/ or /uoi/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''ui / oi'''}}
|
輝
|
{{IPA|/ui/ or /oi/}}
|
{{IPA|/ui/ or /uoi/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''i / e'''}}
|
之
|
{{IPA|/i/ or /ei/}}
|
{{IPA|/i/ or /ɛi/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''u / o'''}}
|
孤
|
{{IPA|/u/ or /ou/}}
|
{{IPA|/u/ or /ou/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''ṳ / e̤ṳ'''}}
|
須
|
{{IPA|/y/ or /øy/}}
|
{{IPA|/y/ or /øy/}}
|}
==== Rimes with coda [-{{IPA|ʔ}}] ====
{| class="wikitable"
| bgcolor="#ABCDEF" |
'''BUC'''
| bgcolor="#ABCDEF" |
'''Traditional pronunciation'''
| bgcolor="#ABCDEF" |
'''Modern pronunciation'''
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''ah'''}}
|
{{IPA|/aʔ/}}
|
{{IPA|/aʔ/}} or {{IPA|/ɑʔ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''iah'''}}
|
{{IPA|/iaʔ/}}
|
{{IPA|/iaʔ/}} or {{IPA|/iɑʔ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''uah'''}}
|
{{IPA|/uaʔ/}}
|
{{IPA|/uaʔ/}} or {{IPA|/uɑʔ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''a̤h'''}}
|
{{IPA|/ɛʔ/}}
|
{{IPA|/eʔ/}} or {{IPA|/ɛʔ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''ieh'''}}
|
{{IPA|/ieʔ/}}
|
{{IPA|/ieʔ/}} or {{IPA|/iɛʔ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''o̤h'''}}
|
{{IPA|/ɔʔ/}}
|
{{IPA|/oʔ/}} or {{IPA|/ɔʔ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''ioh'''}}
|
{{IPA|/ioʔ/}}
|
{{IPA|/yoʔ/}} or {{IPA|/yɔʔ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''uoh'''}}
|
{{IPA|/uoʔ/}}
|
{{IPA|/uoʔ/}} or {{IPA|/uɔʔ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''e̤h'''}}
|
{{IPA|/øʔ/}}
|
{{IPA|/øʔ/}} or {{IPA|/œʔ/}}
|}
==== Rimes with codas [-ŋ] and [-k] ====
{| class="wikitable"
| bgcolor="#ABCDEF" |
'''BUC'''
| bgcolor="#ABCDEF" |
'''Sample character'''
| bgcolor="#ABCDEF" |
'''Traditional pronunciation'''
| bgcolor="#ABCDEF" |
'''Modern pronunciation'''
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''ang'''}}
|
山
|
{{IPA|/aŋ/}}
|
{{IPA|/aŋ/ or /ɑŋ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''iang'''}}
|
聲
|
{{IPA|/iaŋ/}}
|
{{IPA|/iaŋ/ or /iɑŋ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''uang'''}}
|
歡
|
{{IPA|/uaŋ/}}
|
{{IPA|/uaŋ/ or /uɑŋ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''ieng'''}}
|
天
|
{{IPA|/ieŋ/}}
|
{{IPA|/ieŋ/ or /iɛŋ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''iong'''}}
|
香
|
{{IPA|/ioŋ/}}
|
{{IPA|/yoŋ/ or /yɔŋ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''uong'''}}
|
光
|
{{IPA|/uoŋ/}}
|
{{IPA|/uoŋ/ or /uɔŋ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''ing / eng'''}}
|
賓
|
{{IPA|/iŋ/ or /eiŋ/}}
|
{{IPA|/iŋ/ or /ɛiŋ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''ung / ong'''}}
|
春
|
{{IPA|/uŋ/ or /ouŋ/}}
|
{{IPA|/uŋ/ or /ouŋ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''ṳng / e̤ṳng'''}}
|
銀
|
{{IPA|/yŋ/ or /øyŋ/}}
|
{{IPA|/yŋ/ or /øyŋ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''eng / aing'''}}
|
燈
|
{{IPA|/eiŋ/ or /aiŋ/}}
|
{{IPA|/eiŋ/ or /aiŋ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''ong / aung'''}}
|
釭
|
{{IPA|/ouŋ/ or /auŋ/}}
|
{{IPA|/ouŋ/ or /auŋ/}}
|-
|
{{Unicode|'''e̤ng / ae̤ng'''}}
|
東
|
{{IPA|/øŋ/ or /aøŋ/}}
|
{{IPA|/øyŋ/ or /ɔyŋ/}}
|}
=== Tones ===
{| class="wikitable"
| bgcolor="#ABCDEF" |'''Name'''
| bgcolor="#ABCDEF" |'''Tonal value'''
| bgcolor="#ABCDEF" |'''BUC symbol'''
| bgcolor="#ABCDEF" |'''Example'''
|-
| Yīnpíng (陰平, BUC:
{{Unicode|Ĭng-bìng}})
| 55
|
{{Unicode|'''˘'''}}
| 君
{{Unicode|'''Gŭng'''}}
|-
| Shǎngshēng (上聲, BUC:
{{Unicode|Siōng-siăng}})
| 33
|
{{Unicode|'''-'''}}
| 滾
{{Unicode|'''Gūng'''}}
|-
| Yīnqù (陰去, BUC:
{{Unicode|Ĭng-ké̤ṳ}})
| 213
|
ˊ
| 貢
Góng
|-
| Yīnrù (陰入, BUC:
Ĭng-ĭk)
|
24
|
ˊ
| 谷
Gók
|-
| Yángpíng (陽平, BUC:
Iòng-bìng)
| 53
|
`
| 群
Gùng
|-
| Yángqù (陽去, BUC:
Iòng-ké̤ṳ}})
| 242
|
{{Unicode|'''^'''}}
| 郡
{{Unicode|'''Gông'''}}
|-
| Yángrù (陽入, BUC:
{{Unicode|Iòng-ĭk}})
| 5
|
{{Unicode|'''˘'''}}
| 掘
{{Unicode|'''Gŭk'''}}
|}
Note that Foochow Romanized uses the [[breve]], not the [[caron]] ({{Unicode|'''ˇ'''}}), to indicate Yīnpíng and Yángrù tones of Fuzhou dialect.
== Sample text ==
{{Inline audio|section}}
{| border=0 cellpadding=3 cellspacing=0
|- bgcolor=#eeeeee
! align=middle | Foochow Romanized
! align=middle | English Translation
! align=middle | Audio File
|-
| class="Unicode" |
''Báe̤k-hŭng gâe̤ng Nĭk-tàu'' ||
''[[The North Wind and the Sun]]'' || {{Audio-IPA-nohelp|Cdo_northwind_sun_01.ogg|listen}}
|-
| class="Unicode" |
Ô sŏ̤h huòi, Báe̤k-hŭng gâe̤ng Nĭk-tàu duŏh hī dó̤i căng, káng diê-nè̤ng buōng-sê̤ṳ duâi. ||
Once upon a time, the North Wind and the Sun were disputing which was stronger. || ]: The Old Testament, in Foochow Romanized.
