Meyer–Wempe romanization was the system used by two Roman Catholic missionaries in Hong Kong, Bernard F. Meyer and Theodore F. Wempe, for romanizing Cantonese in their Student's Cantonese English Dictionary published in 1935.[1]
Although some [2] attribute development of the system to them, there was nothing new in it as their entire schema followed the system devised in the last decade of the 19th century known as Standard Romanization (SR), which, in turn, was almost identical to John Chalmers' system of 1870.[3] Chalmers' system was significant in that it was the first system to virtually do away with diacritics entirely, the sole survivor being his final ö, which is eu in the Standard Romanization while being in this one oeh.
| p pronounced as /[p]/ | p' pronounced as /[pʰ]/ | m pronounced as /[m]/ | f pronounced as /[f]/ | ||
| t pronounced as /[t]/ | t' pronounced as /[tʰ]/ | n pronounced as /[n]/ | l pronounced as /[l]/ | ||
| k pronounced as /[k]/ | k' pronounced as /[kʰ]/ | ng pronounced as /[ŋ]/ | h pronounced as /[h]/ | ||
| kw pronounced as /[kw]/ | k'w pronounced as /[kʰw]/ | oo, w pronounced as /[w]/ | |||
| ts pronounced as /[ts]/ | ts' pronounced as /[tsʰ]/ | s pronounced as /[s]/ | i, y pronounced as /[j]/ | ||
| ch pronounced as /[tɕ]/ | ch' pronounced as /[tɕʰ]/ | sh pronounced as /[ɕ]/ |
The distinction between the alveolar sibilants (pronounced as /[ts]/, pronounced as /[tsʰ]/, and pronounced as /[s]/) and alveolo-palatal sibilants (pronounced as /[tɕ]/, pronounced as /[tɕʰ]/, and pronounced as /[ɕ]/) has been lost in modern Cantonese, though the distinction still existed at the time this system was devised. See Cantonese phonology for more information.
| a pronounced as /[aː]/ | aai pronounced as /[aːi]/ | aau pronounced as /[aːu]/ | aam pronounced as /[aːm]/ | aan pronounced as /[aːn]/ | aang pronounced as /[aːŋ]/ | aap pronounced as /[aːp]/ | aat pronounced as /[aːt]/ | aak pronounced as /[aːk]/ | |
| ai pronounced as /[ɐi]/ | au pronounced as /[ɐu]/ | am, om pronounced as /[ɐm]/ | an pronounced as /[ɐn]/ | ang pronounced as /[ɐŋ]/ | ap, op pronounced as /[ɐp]/ | at pronounced as /[ɐt]/ | ak pronounced as /[ɐk]/ | ||
| e pronounced as /[ɛː]/ | ei pronounced as /[ei]/ | eng pronounced as /[ɛːŋ]/ | ek pronounced as /[ɛːk]/ | ||||||
| i pronounced as /[iː]/ | iu pronounced as /[iːu]/ | im pronounced as /[iːm]/ | in pronounced as /[iːn]/ | ing pronounced as /[eŋ]/ | ip pronounced as /[iːp]/ | it pronounced as /[iːt]/ | ik pronounced as /[ek]/ | ||
| oh pronounced as /[ɔː]/ | oi pronounced as /[ɔːy]/ | o pronounced as /[ou]/ | on pronounced as /[ɔːn]/ | ong pronounced as /[ɔːŋ]/ | ot pronounced as /[ɔːt]/ | ok pronounced as /[ɔːk]/ | |||
| oo pronounced as /[uː]/ | ooi pronounced as /[uːy]/ | oon pronounced as /[uːn]/ | ung pronounced as /[oŋ]/ | oot pronounced as /[uːt]/ | uk pronounced as /[ok]/ | ||||
| oeh pronounced as /[œː]/ | ui pronounced as /[ɵy]/ | un pronounced as /[ɵn]/ | eung pronounced as /[œːŋ]/ | ut pronounced as /[ɵt]/ | euk pronounced as /[œːk]/ | ||||
| ue pronounced as /[yː]/ | uen pronounced as /[yːn]/ | uet pronounced as /[yːt]/ | |||||||
| m pronounced as /[m̩]/ | ng pronounced as /[ŋ̩]/ |
Diacritics are used to mark the six tones of Cantonese.[4] The tone mark should be placed above the first letter of the final.
| No. | Description | Contour | Tone mark | Example | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | high flat/high falling | 55 / 53 | No mark | ma | |
| 2 | high rising | 35 | Acute accent (´) | má | |
| 3 | mid flat | 33 | Grave accent (`) | mà | |
| 4 | low falling | 21 | Circumflex (ˆ) | mâ | |
| 5 | low rising | 23 | Breve (˘) | mă | |
| 6 | low flat | 22 | Macron(¯) | mā |