Hong Kong Government Cantonese Romanisation

The Hong Kong Government uses an unpublished system of romanisation of Cantonese for public purposes which is based on the 1888 standard described by Roy T Cowles in 1914 as Standard Romanisation.<ref name=Cowles>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp The primary need for romanisation of Cantonese by the Hong Kong Government is in the assigning of names to new streets and places. It has not formally or publicly disclosed its method for determining the appropriate romanisation in any given instance.

Method

Currently, government departments, particularly the Survey and Mapping Office of the Lands Department, consult the Chinese Language DepartmentTemplate:Clarify of the Civil Service Bureau before gazetting names and the latter vet proposed names using the Three Way Chinese Commercial/Telegraphic Code Book, originally published by the Royal Hong Kong Police Force Special Branch for internal government use in 1971. The code book system is devoid of any tone indications and, being grossly simplified, is susceptible to confusion.

Although the code book has only been available for several decades, the Romanisation approach for place names in Hong Kong has been broadly consistent since before 1888. This can be seen in maps of the period<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and in the government's publication A Gazetteer of Place Names in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories of 1960.

Typical features

For place names, the type of the place in English is often used instead of a romanisation (e.g., "Street" and "Road" in place of "Kai" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) and "Lo" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})). Nevertheless, exceptions are not uncommon (for example, "Fong" in "Lan Kwai Fong", meaning "Square" if translated). "Wan" for "Bay" and "Tsuen" (or "Chuen") for "Estate" (or "Village") are also common. There are also many instances of surviving pre-1888 Romanisation, such as "Kowloon", "Un Chau Street", and "Hong Kong" itself, which would be "Kau Lung", "Yuen Chau Street", and "Heung Kong" under this system, respectively.

Romanisation of names is mandatory in government identification documents such as identity cards issued by the Registration of Persons Office. This standard is used by the office by default though individuals are at liberty to choose their own spelling or another romanisation system.Template:Citation needed

Spelling

All tones are omitted as are distinctions between aspirated and unaspirated stops. The distinctions between the long vowel {{#invoke:IPA|main}} and the short vowel {{#invoke:IPA|main}} are omitted like Fat (Template:Lang-zh, {{#invoke:IPA|main}}; meaning "to issue") and Fat (Template:Lang-zh, {{#invoke:IPA|main}}; meaning "Buddha").

Some of the inconsistencies are due to a distinction that has been lost historically (a distinction between palatal and alveolar sounds, viz. ch versus ts, sh versus s, and j versus z). These consonants are no longer distinguished in present-day speech.

The following table of geographical names illustrates the standard.

Consonants

Initials

IPA	Yale	Jyutping	HKG	Example	in Chinese
pʰ	p	p	p	Sai Ying Pun	lang}}
p	b	b	p	Po Lam	lang}}
tʰ	t	t	t	Tuen Mun	lang}}
t	d	d	t	Tai O	lang}}
kʰ	k	k	k	Kai Tak	lang}}
k	g	g	k	Tai Kok Tsui	lang}}
kʰw	kw	kw	kw	Kwai Chung	lang}}
kw	gw	gw	kw	Cha Kwo Ling	lang}}
m	m	m	m	Yau Ma Tei	lang}}
n	n	n	n	Nam Cheong	lang}}
ŋ	ng	ng	ng	Ngau Tau Kok	lang}}
l	l	l	l	Lam Tin	lang}}
f	f	f	f	Fo Tan	lang}}
s	s	s	s	So Kon Po	lang}}
s	s	s	sh	Shau Kei Wan	lang}}
h	h	h	h	Hang Hau	lang}}
j	y	j	y	Yau Tong	lang}}
w	w	w	w	Wong Tai Sin	lang}}
tsʰ/tʃʰ	ch	c	ch	Heng Fa Chuen	lang}}
tsʰ	ch	c	ts	Yau Yat Tsuen	lang}}
ts	j	z	ts	Tsim Sha Tsui	lang}}

Finals

IPA	Yale	Jyutping	HKG	Example	in Chinese
-p	-p	-p	-p	Ap Lei Chau	lang}}
-t	-t	-t	-t	Tsat Tsz Mui	lang}}
-k	-k	-k	-k	Shek O	lang}}
-m	-m	-m	-m	Sham Shui Po	lang}}
-n	-n	-n	-n	Tsuen Wan	lang}}
-ŋ	-ng	-ng	-ng	Tsing Yi	lang}}

Vowels, diphthongs, and syllabic consonants

IPA	Yale	Jyutping	HKG	Example	in Chinese
{{#invoke:IPA|main}}	aa	aa	a	Ma Tau Wai	lang}}
			ah	Wah Fu Estate	lang}}
{{#invoke:IPA|main}}	a	a	a	Tsz Wan Shan	lang}}
			o	Hung Hom	lang}}
			u	Sham Chun River	lang}}
main}}	e	e	e	Chek Lap Kok	lang}}
{{#invoke:IPA|main}}	i	i	i	Lai Chi Kok	lang}}
			ze	Sheung Sze Wan	lang}}
			z	Tung Tsz	lang}}
			ee	Tat Chee Avenue	lang}}
main}}	o	o	o	Wo Che	lang}}
{{#invoke:IPA|main}}	u	u	u	Che Kung Miu	lang}}
			wu	Kwu Tung	lang}}
			oo	Mei Foo	lang}}
{{#invoke:IPA|main}}	eu	oe	eu	Sheung Wan	lang}}
			eo	Nam Cheong Street	lang}}
main}}	eu	eo	u	Shun Lee Estate	lang}}
{{#invoke:IPA|main}}	yu	yu	yu	Yu Chau Street	lang}}
			u	Kau U Fong	lang}}
			ue	Yung Shue Wan	lang}}
main}}	aai	aai	ai	Chai Wan	lang}}
main}}	ai	ai	ai	Mai Po	lang}}
main}}	aau	aau	au	Shau Kei Wan	lang}}
main}}	au	au	au	Sau Mau Ping	lang}}
{{#invoke:IPA|main}}	ei	ei	ei	Lei Yue Mun	lang}}
			ee	Lee On	lang}}
			ay	Kam Hay Court	lang}}
			ai	Shui Hau Sai Ngan Ma	lang}}
			i	To Li Terrace	lang}}
main}}	iu	iu	iu	Siu Sai Wan	lang}}
{{#invoke:IPA|main}}	oi	oi	oi	Choi Hung Estate	lang}}
			oy	Choy Yee Bridge	lang}}
main}}	ui	ui	ui	Pui O	lang}}
main}}	eui	eoi	ui	Ma Liu Shui	lang}}
main}}	ou	ou	o	Tai Mo Shan	lang}}
main}}	m	m
main}}	ng	ng	ng	Ng Fan Chau	lang}}{{#if:|{{{2}}}|[1]}}

• ^{{#if:| }} The standard pronunciation of 五 is {{#invoke:IPA|main}}. However, a more common pronunciation in Hong Kong is {{#invoke:IPA|main}} and many {{#invoke:IPA|main}} words are merging with it. The only word that was originally pronounced as m̩ is "{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}" (not) and it is not used in place names.

See also

• List of common Chinese surnames shows how they are romanised in this scheme.
• Macau Government Cantonese Romanization
• Jyutping

External links

• Linguistic Society of Hong Kong (LSHK)
• Jyutping Pronunciation Guide