McCune–Reischauer

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Template:Short description

In this 2014 photo of a road sign in Suwon, Template:Lang is romanized Template:Transliteration, using McCune–Reischauer. It would be Template:Transliteration in Revised Romanization.

McCune–Reischauer (MR; Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell) is a romanization system for the Korean language. It was first published in 1939 by George M. McCune and Edwin O. Reischauer. Significant work on the system was done by Korean linguists Choe Hyeon-bae, Template:Ill, and Template:Ill.

According to Reischauer, McCune "persuaded the American Army Map Service to adopt [the McCune–Reischauer system], and through the Korean War it became the foundation for most current Romanizations of Korean place names."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

A variant of McCune–Reischauer is currently used as the official system in North Korea. Another variant is currently used for standard romanization library catalogs in North America. On the other hand, South Korea formerly used yet another variant as its official system from 1984 to 2000, but replaced it with the Revised Romanization of Korean in 2000.

Characteristics

Template:Korean romanization The following are some characteristics of the McCune–Reischauer system:

Use of diacritics and their omission

McCune–Reischauer employs dual use of apostrophes, with the more common being for syllabic boundaries. Therefore, it may take some time for learners to familiarise themselves with the placement of apostrophes to determine how a romanized Korean word is pronounced. For example, Template:Lang → Template:Transliteration, which consists of the syllables Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, and Template:Transliteration.

In the early days of the Internet, the apostrophe and breve were even omitted altogether for both technical and practical reasons, which made it impossible to differentiate the strongly aspirated consonants Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration from the unaspirated consonants Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration, and the vowels Template:Lang and Template:Lang from Template:Lang and Template:Lang.

For example, if the diacritics in the MR rendering of the name of South Korean city Ch'ŏngju (Template:Korean/auto) are omitted (Chongju), it overlaps with the name of North Korean city Chongju (Template:Korean/auto).<ref name=":2">Template:Cite magazine</ref> There is a claim of uncertain veracityTemplate:Efn that, during the 1950–1953 Korean War, the US Army accidentally (or almost) bombed the wrong city due to this.<ref name="Cheongju">Template:Cite web</ref>

As a result, the South Korean government introduced a revised system of romanization in 2000.<ref name="MoCT2000">Template:Cite web</ref> However, Korean critics claimed that the Revised System fails to represent Template:Lang and Template:Lang in a way that is easily recognizable and misrepresents the way that the unaspirated consonants are actually pronounced.

Guide

This is a simplified guide for the McCune–Reischauer system.

Vowels

Hangul Template:Lang Template:Lang Template:Lang Template:Lang Template:Lang Template:Nowrap Template:Lang Template:Lang Template:Lang Template:Lang Template:Lang Template:Lang Template:Lang Template:Lang Template:Lang Template:Lang Template:Lang Template:Lang Template:Lang Template:Lang Template:Lang
Romanization a ae ya yae ŏ e yŏ ye o wa wae oe yo u wŏ we wi yu ŭ ŭi i

Consonants

Word-initially and word-finally

Hangul Template:Lang Template:Lang Template:Lang Template:Lang Template:Lang Template:Lang Template:Lang Template:Lang Template:Lang Template:Nowrap Template:Nowrap Template:Nowrap Template:Lang Template:Lang Template:Lang Template:Lang Template:Lang Template:Lang Template:Lang
Romanization Word-initial k kk n t tt r m p pp s ss — ch tch ch' k' t' p' h
Word-final k — l — t — ng t — t k t p t

The heterogeneous consonant digraphs (Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang, and Template:Lang) exist only as syllabic finals and are transcribed by their actual pronunciation.

Word-medially

The following table is sufficient for the transcription of most proper names.

Final consonant of the previous syllable + initial consonant of the next syllable
InitialTemplate:Efn
Template:Nowrap
—		 Template:Lang
k		 Template:Lang
kk		 Template:Lang
n		 Template:Lang
t		 Template:Lang
tt		 Template:Lang
r		 Template:Lang
m		 Template:Lang
p		 Template:Lang
pp		 Template:Nowrap
s		 Template:Lang
ss		 Template:Lang
ch		 Template:Lang
tch		 Template:Lang
h
Final Template:Nowrap — g kk n d tt r m b pp s ss j tch h
Template:Lang k g kk kk ngn kt ktt ngn ngm kp kpp ks kss kch ktch kh
Template:Lang n n nTemplate:`g nkk nn nd ntt ll nm nb npp ns nss nj ntch nh
Template:Lang t d tk tkk nn tt tt nn nm tp tpp ss ss tch tch th
Template:Lang l r lg lkk ll Template:Nowrap ltt ll lm lb lpp ls lss Template:Nowrap ltch rh
Template:Lang m m mg mkk mn md mtt mn mm mb mpp ms mss mj mtch mh
Template:Lang p b pk pkk mn pt ptt mn mm pp pp ps pss pch ptch ph
Template:Lang ng ng ngg ngkk ngn ngd ngtt ngn ngm ngb ngpp ngs ngss ngj ngtch ngh

The following subsections are for cases not covered by the table above, or for cases where the result should be different from the table.

Any non-Template:Lang syllabic final + syllabic initial Template:Lang

In this combination, the syllabic final (except Template:Lang, which is always Template:Transliteration) is

  1. either directly transferred to the syllabic initial position of the next syllable (i.e. replacing the Template:Lang),
    1. When the syllabic final Template:Lang or Template:Lang (including Template:Lang) is followed by Template:Lang, palatalization occurs.
    2. Syllabic final digraphs are split.
  2. or neutralized to one of {ㄱ, ㄴ, ㄷ, ㄹ, ㅁ, ㅂ} first, and then transferred to the syllabic initial position of the next syllable.
Any non-Template:Lang syllabic final + syllabic initial {ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, ㅈ}

If the syllabic initial is pronounced

  • {[[[:Template:Lang]]], [[[:Template:Lang]]], [[[:Template:Lang]]], [[[:Template:Lang]]]}, they are romanized {g, d, b, j}. When Template:Transliteration is preceded by Template:Transliteration, an apostrophe is added between them (i.e. Template:Transliteration).
  • {[[[:Template:Lang]]], [[[:Template:Lang]]], [[[:Template:Lang]]], [[[:Template:Lang]]]}, they are romanized {k, t, p, ch} (not {kk, tt, pp, tch}).

Examples:

Any syllabic final + syllabic initial Template:Lang

Any combination with the syllabic initial Template:Lang is transcribed based on the actual pronunciation, except when the result is [[[:Template:Lang]]], [[[:Template:Lang]]], or [[[:Template:Lang]]]; these are treated as Template:Lang (Template:Transliteration), Template:Lang (Template:Transliteration), and Template:Lang (Template:Transliteration) respectively.

Syllabic final Template:Lang + any syllabic initial

Any combination with the syllabic final Template:Lang (including Template:Lang and Template:Lang) is transcribed based on the actual pronunciation.

Personal names

The rules stated above are also applied in personal names, except between a surname and a given name. A surname and a given name are separated by a space, but multiple syllables within a surname or within a given name are joined without hyphens or spaces.

The original 1939 paper states the following:Template:Sfn Template:Blockquote

The original paper also gives McCune–Reischauer romanizations for a number of other personal names:

History

Template:See also George M. McCune, son of Pyongyang-based missionary George Shannon McCune,<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref> was born in Korea in 1905.Template:Sfn After attending university in the United States,Template:Sfn he returned to Korea (which was then under Japanese rule) in the summer of 1937 to work on his PhD dissertation for the University of California, Berkeley.<ref name=":0" /> In Korea, he studied at Chōsen Christian College (predecessor to Yonsei University) in Seoul (then called "Keijō") under the Korean linguists Choe Hyeon-bae, Template:Ill, and Template:Ill.Template:Sfn<ref name="Newsletter">Template:Cite news</ref> Around September of that year, Japanologist Edwin O. Reischauer became stranded in Keijō while he was en route to Beijing due to the Second Sino-Japanese War.<ref name=":0" />Template:Sfn<ref name="Newsletter" /> During Reischauer's two-month stay there, he and McCune worked with Choe, Jeong, and Kim to develop what would become the McCune–Reischauer romanization system.<ref name=":0" />Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Work continued on the system even after Reischauer departed Korea to China. Eventually, the system was published in 1939 in the journal Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society Korea Branch.<ref name="Newsletter" />

In 1980, Reischauer wrote in a letter that the system was devised at his suggestion because he "found absolutely no uniform system of any sort, and [he] needed something for the Korean names that appeared in [his] studies on the travels of the [Japanese] monk Ennin".<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> He also wrote that they designed the system "with only scholars in mind", and that he felt it was too complicated for regular use.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> He expressed hope that a new romanization that "everyone would use for both scholarly and popular use [would] be worked out and adopted".<ref name=":2" />

The new South Korean government adopted the system in 1948.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn English-language newspaper The Korea Times adopted the system in the 1950s.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The system received pushback from Koreans. It came to be seen as more intuitive for foreigners and less intuitive for Koreans, as it reflected pronunciation changes that most Koreans were not consciously aware of.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Sfn Fouser argued that another point of contention was related to nationalism; some disliked that the system had been developed by foreigners during the Japanese colonial period, and wanted a natively developed alternative.Template:Sfn In 1959, the Template:Ill published a romanization system, which has since been dubbed the Ministry of Education system (MOE).Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The system was immediately controversial, especially among foreigners. Fouser evaluated the system as prioritizing use for Koreans; it had a one-to-one correspondence from Hangul to Latin script and did not reflect pronunciation changes that Hangul did not.Template:Sfn In June 1981, a number of scholars met at the University of Hawaii's Center for Korean Studies and developed a number of proposed changes to MR.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=":3">Template:Cite journal</ref> The changes were largely based on a draft proposal from the US Library of Congress and were meant to aid use by librarians. For example, it was designed to promote reversibility, which was to the interest of librarians.<ref name=":3" /> In the 1980s, the South Korean government began considering whether to use a more foreigner-friendly system in anticipation of the 1986 Asian Games and the 1988 Summer Olympics,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> which were to be held in Seoul. In 1984, a slightly modified version of McCune–Reischauer was adopted.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Some South Koreans reportedly had negative reactions to the system, which they viewed as confusing and overly beholden to pronunciation.Template:Sfn

With the spread of computers and the Internet in the 1990s, complaints and debate about MR grew. This was primarily related to the system's use of diacritics, which are difficult to access on standard keyboards. In 1997, the South Korean government began moving to revise or switch romanization systems.Template:Sfn

In contemporary South Korea, which has since adopted Revised Romanization, MR has left a lasting legacy in a number of cases:<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

  • "TK" standing for Daegu and Gyeongbuk (from the MR spellings "Taegu" and "Kyŏngbuk")
  • "PK" standing for Busan and Gyeongnam (from the MR spellings "Pusan" and "Kyŏngnam")

Variants

North Korean variant

Template:Main

A variant of McCune–Reischauer is currently in official use in North Korea.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The following are the differences between the original McCune–Reischauer and the North Korean variant:

  • Aspirated consonants are represented by adding an h instead of an apostrophe.
  • Template:Lang is transcribed as j even when it is voiceless.
  • Template:Lang is transcribed as jj instead of tch.
  • Template:Lang is transcribed as lr instead of ll.
  • Template:Lang is transcribed as lh instead of rh.
  • When Template:Lang is pronounced as Template:Lang, it is still transcribed as r instead of n.
  • Template:Lang and Template:Lang are differentiated by a hyphen.
    • But when ng is followed by y or w, a hyphen is not used, like the original system.
  • In personal names, each syllable in a Sino-Korean given name is separated by a space with the first letter of each syllable capitalized (e.g. Template:Lang An Pok Chŏl). Syllables in a native Korean name are joined without syllabic division (e.g. Template:Lang Kim KKotpuni).

The following table illustrates the differences above.

Hangul McCune–Reischauer North Korean variant Meaning
Template:Lang Template:Transliteration phyŏnji letter (message)
Template:Lang Template:Transliteration Juche Juche
Template:Lang Template:Transliteration anjjok inside
Template:Lang Template:Transliteration ppalri quickly
Template:Lang Template:Transliteration Palhae Balhae
Template:Lang Template:Transliteration mongran Magnolia sieboldii
Template:Lang Template:Transliteration yŏn-gu research, study
Template:Lang Template:Transliteration yŏng-ŏ English language
Template:Lang Template:Transliteration An Pok Chŏl personal name (surname Template:Lang, given name Template:Lang)

South Korean variant

A variant of McCune–Reischauer<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> was in official use in South Korea from 1984 to 2000. The following are the differences between the original McCune–Reischauer and the South Korean variant:

The following table illustrates the differences above.

Hangul McCune–Reischauer South Korean variant Meaning
Template:Lang Template:Transliteration shijang market
Template:Lang Template:Transliteration swipta easy
Template:Lang Template:Transliteration sowon wish
Template:Lang Template:Transliteration yŏn-gu research, study
Template:Lang Template:Transliteration yŏng-ŏ English language
Template:Lang Template:Transliteration hoesa-esŏ at a company
Template:Lang Template:Transliteration ch'ago-e in a garage
Template:Lang Template:Transliteration Palhae Balhae
Template:Lang Template:Transliteration nak'asan parachute
Template:Lang Template:Transliteration mot'ada to be poor at
Template:Lang Template:Transliteration kop'agi multiplication
Template:Lang Template:Transliteration Namgung Tong-cha personal name (surname Template:Lang, given name Template:Lang)

ALA-LC variant

Template:Main Among the various ALA-LC romanization systems is one for Korean.<ref name="ALA-LC">Template:Cite web</ref> It is currently used for standard romanization library catalogs in North America.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It is based on but deviates from McCune–Reischauer. The following are some differences between the original McCune–Reischauer and the ALA-LC variant:

  • Unlike the original McCune–Reischauer, it addresses word division in 29 pages of detail.<ref name="ALA-LC" />Template:Rp
    • A postposition (or particle) is separated from its preceding word,<ref name="ALA-LC" />Template:Rp even though the original McCune–Reischauer paper explicitly states that this should not be done.<ref>Template:Harvnb: "The nouns, likewise, should be written together with their postpositions, including those called case endings, not separately as in Japanese, because phonetically the two are so merged that it would often be difficult and misleading to attempt to divide them."</ref>
  • /Template:Lang/ + /Template:Lang/ is written as ts instead of ss.<ref name="ALA-LC" />Template:Rp
  • The surname Template:Lang is written as Yi instead of Template:Serif.<ref name="ALA-LC" />Template:Rp
  • For given names:
    • A hyphen is inserted between the syllables of a two-syllable given name only when it is preceded by a surname, with the sound change between the syllables indicated<ref name="ALA-LC" />Template:Rp (e.g. Template:Lang Yi Sŏng-min). The original McCune–Reischauer paper explicitly states that this also should not be done.<ref>Template:Harvnb: "A simple example, the word Silla, will help to clarify the point. In Chinese, hsin 新 plus lo 羅 are pronounced Hsin-lo but in Korea, sin 新 plus na (la) 羅 are pronounced Silla. To hyphenate this name as Sil-la would imply that it is composed of two parts which individually are sil and la, which is obviously misleading."</ref>
    • If a given name is three syllables long<ref name="ALA-LC" />Template:Rp or is of non-Sino-Korean origin, the syllables are joined without syllabic division<ref name="ALA-LC" />Template:Rp (e.g. Template:Lang Sin Saimdang, Template:Lang Kim Satkat).
    • However, it is not really possible to follow this rule because a certain name written in hangul can be a native Korean name, or a Sino-Korean name, or even both. For example, Template:Lang can not only be a native Korean name,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> but can also be a Sino-Korean name (e.g. 寶濫).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In some cases, parents intend a dual meaning: both the meaning from a native Korean word and the meaning from hanja. In fact, ALA-LC admitted that it is not really possible to determine whether a certain given name is Sino-Korean or not.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The following table illustrates the differences above.

Hangul McCune–Reischauer ALA-LC variant Meaning
Template:Lang Template:Transliteration kkot i flower + (subject marker)
Template:Lang Template:Transliteration kutseda strong, firm
Template:Lang Template:Transliteration Yi Sŏng-min personal name (surname Template:Lang, given name Template:Lang)

The older (1997) version<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> of the ALA-LC rule used Template:Serif for strongly aspirated consonants and Template:Serif for Template:Lang (e.g. Template:Lang machTemplate:SerifanTemplate:Serifgaji), even though the original McCune–Reischauer paper uses the Template:Serif shape for both. This distinction in the older ALA-LC rule was removed in the new ALA-LC rule above.

Notes

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References

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Sources

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