Pinfa Explained

The Hakka Transliteration Scheme or Pinfa refers to a romanization scheme published by the Guangdong Provincial Education Department in September 1960 as one of four systems collectively referred to as Guangdong Romanization. The scheme describes the Meixian dialect spoken in Meizhou, Guangdong, which is considered to be the prestige dialect of Hakka, and was later adapted for Gan and Xiang.^{[1] [2]} This system utilizes the Latin alphabet with superscript numbers to represent tone.^[3]

System

Letters

This system uses the Latin alphabet, excluding the letters and . It also adds the letter to represent [ɛ].

Initials

There are 19 initials used, in addition to the null initial which occurs when no consonant is in the initial position. These are shown below:

b [p] 波	p [pʰ] 婆	m [m] 摸	f [f] 火	v [v] 窩
d [t] 多	t [tʰ] 拖	n [n] 挪	l [l] 羅
g [k] 哥	k [kʰ] 科	ng [ŋ] 我	h [h] 河
j [t͡si-] 擠	q [t͡sʰi-] 妻	x [si-] 西
z [t͡s] 資	c [t͡sʰ] 雌	s [s] 思

The letter which follows the consonants, and, represents [ɨ] e.g. 資 zi¹, 雌 ci¹, 思 si¹.

Finals

There are a total of 74 finals, shown below:

i [ɨ] 資	i [i] 衣	u [u] 姑
a [a] 阿	ia [ia] 也	ua [ua] 掛
o [ɔ] 哦	io [iɔ] 喲	uo [uɔ] 過
ê [ɛ] 這	iê [iɛ] (撒)	uê [uɛ] 穢
ai [ai] 挨	iai [iai] 椰	uai [uai] 怪
oi [ɔi] 哀
au [au] 凹	iau [iau] 腰
êu [ɛu] 歐
	iu [iu] 有
	iui [iui] 銳	ui [ui] 貴
am [am] 庵	iam [iam] 淹
êm [ɛm] 砧
em [əm] 針	im [im] 陰
an [an] 班	ian [ian] 煙	uan [uan] 關
on [ɔn] 安	ion [iɔn] 阮	uon [uɔn] 管
ên [ɛn] 恩	iên [iɛn] 邊	uên [uɛn] 耿
en [ən] 真	in [in] 因
	iun [iun] 允	un [un] 敦
ang [aŋ] 冷	iang [iaŋ] 影	uang [uaŋ] 礦
ong [ɔŋ]

江||iong [iɔŋ] 央||uong [uɔŋ] 光|-| ||iung [iuŋ] 雍||ung [uŋ] 工|-|ab [ap] 鴨||iab [iap] 葉|| |-|êb [ɛp] 粒|| |||-|eb [əp] 汁||ib [ip] 邑|||-|ad [at] 八||iad [iat] 乙||uad [uat] 刮|-|od [ɔt] 遏|| |||-|êd [ɛt] 北||iêd [iɛt] 鱉||uêd [uɛt] 國|-|ed [ət] 質||id [it] 一|||-| ||iud [iut] (郁) ||ud [ut] 骨|-|ag [ak] 扼||iag [iak] 錫||uag [uak] □|-|og [ɔk] 惡||iog [iɔk] 約||uog [uɔk] 郭|-| ||iug [iuk] 育||ug [uk] 督|-|m [m] 唔||n [n] 五|||}

In the instance where a final beginning with such as etc. without an initial consonant (null initial) the is replaced with, e.g.,, etc.

Tones

Tone class	陰平	陽平	上聲	去聲	陰入	陽入
Tone number	1	2	3	4	5	6
Tone letter	˦	˩	˧˩	˥˨	˩	˥
Tone contour	44	11	31	52	11	55
Example	夫 fu^1	扶 fu^2	府 fu^3	富 fu^4	福 fug^5	服 fug^6

See also

• Guangdong Romanization
• Hakka Chinese
• Meixian dialect
• Pha̍k-fa-sṳ
• Taiwanese Hakka Romanization System

Further reading

• Book: Ouyang, Jue 歐陽覺 . Guǎngzhōuhuà, Kèjiāhuà, Cháoshànhuà yǔ Pǔtōnghuà duìzhào cídiǎn . 2005 . Guangdong renmin chubanshe . 7-218-05060-3 . Guangzhou . 542-543 . zh:廣州話、客家話、潮汕話與普通話對照詞典 . etal..

Notes and References

1. Web site: Chappell . Hilary . 2006 . From Eurocentrism to Sinocentrism: The Case of Object Marking Constructions in Sinitic Languages . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20181127151939/https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00180702/document . 2018-11-27 . 2018-11-27 . HAL.
2. Web site: Gan (赣语 / 江西话) . https://web.archive.org/web/20190929224025/https://www.omniglot.com/chinese/gan.htm . 2019-09-29 . 2019-09-14 . Omniglot.
3. Web site: Sung . Dylan W. H. . 25 April 2002 . Méixiànhuà pīnyīn fāng'àn . zh:梅縣話拼音方案 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100422235107/http://www.sungwh.freeserve.co.uk/chinese/meixian.htm . 2010-04-22 . sungwh.freeserve.co.uk . en.