Hepburn romanization

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The Hepburn romanization system (ヘボン式ローマ字 Hebon-shiki Rōmaji?) is named after James Curtis Hepburn, who used it to transcribe the sounds of the Japanese language into the Latin alphabet in the third edition of his Japanese–English dictionary, published in 1887. The system was originally proposed by the The Society for the Romanization of the Japanese Alphabet [1] (Rōmajikai - 羅馬字会) in 1885. The Hepburn system was subsequently revised and called Shūsei Hebon-shiki Rōmaji (修正ヘボン式ローマ字). This revised version was referred to as Hyōjun-shiki Rōmaji (標準式ローマ字) (standard style) before.

The original and revised variants of Hepburn remain the most widely used methods of transcription of Japanese. As Hepburn is based on English phonology, an English speaker unfamiliar with Japanese will generally pronounce a word romanized in Hepburn more accurately than a word romanized in the competing Kunrei-shiki Rōmaji (Cabinet-ordered system). Likewise, native Japanese speakers familiar with the Roman alphabet through the study of English tend to find Hepburn more comfortable for English context than Kunrei.

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[edit] Legal status

Hepburn is based on English phonology, not Japanese, and as such has faced some opposition in Japan. In particular, a September 21, 1937 cabinet ordinance proclaimed an alternative system now commonly known as Kunrei to be Japan's official romanization for all purposes, but this was overturned by the Supreme Commander Allied Powers (SCAP) during the Occupation of Japan. The (slightly revised) ordinance was reissued in 1954.

In 1972, a revised version of Hepburn was codified as ANSI standard Z39.11-1972. It was proposed in 1989 as a draft for ISO 3602, but rejected in favor of Kunrei. The Z39.11-1972 standard was consequently deprecated on October 6, 1994.

Although Hepburn is not a government standard, some government agencies mandate it. For example, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs requires the use of Hepburn on passports, and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport requires the use of Hepburn on transport signs, including road signs and railway station signs.

In many other areas where it lacks de jure status, Hepburn remains the de facto standard. Signs and notices in city offices and police stations, at shrines, temples and attractions also use it. English-language newspapers and media use the simplified form of Hepburn. Cities and prefectures use it in information for foreigners, and English-language publications by the Japanese Foreign Ministry use simplified Hepburn too. Official tourism information put out by the government uses it, as do guidebooks, local and foreign, on Japan.

Students of Japanese as a foreign language usually learn Hepburn.

[edit] Standard variants of Hepburn romanization

There are three standard variants of Hepburn romanization.

  • The first is traditional Hepburn, which renders long vowels and syllabic n in a variety of ways.
  • The second is revised Hepburn, a revised version of traditional Hepburn, in which the rendering of syllabic n as m before certain consonants is no longer used. This used by the Library of Congress. (Revised Hepburn may be referred to as modified Hepburn.)
  • The third is modified Hepburn, which builds on revised Hepburn to further modify traditional Hepburn. This version is consistent in its treatment of long vowels (using macrons) and syllabic n. It has been adopted by some major dictionaries (e.g. the Pocket Kenkyusha Japanese Dictionary published by Oxford University Press), but is still mainly the preserve of linguists. (The term modified Hepburn may be used to refer to revised Hepburn.)
  • Japanese Standard about Hepburn: In Japan three standards are in effect.
    • Railway Standard (鉄道掲示基準規程) [[2]], in which the rendering of syllabic n as m before b, m, p is used. All JR railways and major railways use this type for station name.
    • Ministry of Foreign Affairs standard (外務省旅券規定) [[3]], in which the rendering of syllabic n as m before b, m, p is used. This is called Passport Hepburn also.
    • Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport standard(国土交通省)[[4]] in which the rendering of syllabic n as m before certain consonants is not used. This is used for road signs.

Details of these variants can be found below.

[edit] Features of Hepburn romanization

The main feature of Hepburn is that its spelling is based on English phonology. More technically, where syllables constructed systematically according to the Japanese syllabary contain the "unstable" consonant for the modern spoken language, the orthography is changed to something that, as an English speaker would pronounce it, better matches the real sound, for example し is written shi not *si.

Some linguists object to Hepburn, as the pronunciation-based spellings can obscure the systematic origins of Japanese phonetic structures, inflections, and conjugations. Supporters argue that Hepburn is not intended as a linguistic tool.

[edit] Particles

  • When he へ is used as a particle it is written e.
  • When ha は is used as a particle it is written wa.
  • When wo を is used as a particle it is written o.

[edit] Long vowels

In traditional and revised Hepburn:

  • The long vowels o and u are indicated by a macron—e.g., long o is written ō.
  • In words of Japanese or Chinese origin, the long vowel e is written ei.
  • In words of Japanese or Chinese origin, the long vowel i is written ii.
  • In words of foreign origin, all long vowels are indicated by macrons.

In modified Hepburn:

  • All long vowels are indicated by doubling the vowel, e.g. long o is written oo.
    • The combination ei is reserved for cases where the two vowels are pronounced as distinct sounds, e.g. in the word Supein (スペイン), meaning "Spain".

[edit] Syllabic n

In traditional Hepburn:

  • Syllabic n (ん) is written as n before consonants, but as n' (with an apostrophe) before vowels and y. It is written as m before other labial consonants, i.e. b, m, and p.

In revised Hepburn:

  • The rendering m before labial consonants is not used, being replaced with n. It is still written n' before vowels and y.

In modified Hepburn:

  • Syllabic n is always written as n with a macron (n̄), such as is used to indicate long vowels in traditional Hepburn. (This can be achieved on word processors through the use of various specialized fonts, e.g. Times Gandhari.) This renders the use of apostrophes unnecessary.

[edit] Double consonants

  • Double (or "geminate") consonants are marked by doubling the consonant following the sokuon, っ, except for sh→ssh, ch→tch, ts→tts..

[edit] Variations

Variations of the Hepburn system indicate the long vowels ō and ū as follows:

  • Tōkyō: indicated with macrons. This follows the rules of the traditional and revised Hepburn systems, and is considered to be standard.
  • Tokyo: not indicated at all. This is common for Japanese words that have been adopted into English. This is also the convention used in the de facto Hepburn used in signs and other English-language information around Japan, mentioned in the paragraph on legal status.
  • Tôkyô: indicated with circumflexes. Circumflexes are how long vowels are indicated by the alternative Nihon-shiki and Kunrei-shiki romanizations. Circumflexes are often used when a word processor does not allow macrons. With the spread of Unicode, this is becoming rare.
  • Tohkyoh: indicated with an "h". This is sometimes known as "passport Hepburn", as the Japanese Foreign Ministry has authorized (but not required) this usage in passports. [5]
  • Toukyou: written using kana spelling: ō as ou or oo (depending on the kana) and ū as uu. This is sometimes called wāpuro style, as this is how text is entered into a Japanese word processor (wādo purosessā) using a keyboard with Roman characters. This method most accurately represents the way that vowels are written in kana, differentiating between おう (as in とうきょう (東京), written Toukyou in this system) and おお (as in とおい (遠い), written tooi in this system).
  • Tookyoo: written by doubling the long vowels. This follows the rules of the modified Hepburn system, but is also common when writing words of foreign origin without reference to any particular system, i.e. paatii for パーティー ("party") instead of pātī. This is also used in the JSL form of romanization.

[edit] Hepburn romanization charts

[edit] For hiragana

あ a い i う u え e お o (ya) (yu) (yo)
か ka き ki く ku け ke こ ko きゃ kya きゅ kyu きょ kyo
さ sa し shi す su せ se そ so しゃ sha しゅ shu しょ sho
た ta ち chi つ tsu て te と to ちゃ cha ちゅ chu ちょ cho
な na に ni ぬ nu ね ne の no にゃ nya にゅ nyu にょ nyo
は ha ひ hi ふ fu へ he ほ ho ひゃ hya ひゅ hyu ひょ hyo
ま ma み mi む mu め me も mo みゃ mya みゅ myu みょ myo
や ya ゆ yu よ yo
ら ra り ri る ru れ re ろ ro りゃ rya りゅ ryu りょ ryo
わ wa ゐ wi ゑ we を wo
ん n
が ga ぎ gi ぐ gu げ ge ご go ぎゃ gya ぎゅ gyu ぎょ gyo
ざ za じ ji ず zu ぜ ze ぞ zo じゃ ja じゅ ju じょ jo
だ da ぢ (ji) づ (zu) で de ど do ぢゃ (ja) ぢゅ (ju) ぢょ (jo)
ば ba び bi ぶ bu べ be ぼ bo びゃ bya びゅ byu びょ byo
ぱ pa ぴ pi ぷ pu ぺ pe ぽ po ぴゃ pya ぴゅ pyu ぴょ pyo

The characters in red are obsolete in modern Japanese.

[edit] For standard katakana

ア a イ i ウ u エ e オ o ヤ ya ユ yu ヨ yo
カ ka キ ki ク ku ケ ke コ ko キャ kya キュ kyu キョ kyo
サ sa シ shi ス su セ se ソ so シャ sha シュ shu ショ sho
タ ta チ chi ツ tsu テ te ト to チャ cha チュ chu チョ cho
ナ na ニ ni ヌ nu ネ ne ノ no ニャ nya ニュ nyu ニョ nyo
ハ ha ヒ hi フ fu ヘ he ホ ho ヒャ hya ヒュ hyu ヒョ hyo
マ ma ミ mi ム mu メ me モ mo ミャ mya ミュ myu ミョ myo
ラ ra リ ri ル ru レ re ロ ro リャ rya リュ ryu リョ ryo
ワ wa ヰ wi ヱ we ヲ wo
ン n
ガ ga ギ gi グ gu ゲ ge ゴ go ギャ gya ギュ gyu ギョ gyo
ザ za ジ ji ズ zu ゼ ze ゾ zo ジャ ja ジュ ju ジョ jo
ダ da ヂ (ji) ヅ (zu) デ de ド do ヂャ (ja) ヂュ (ju) ヂョ (jo)
バ ba ビ bi ブ bu ベ be ボ bo ビャ bya ビュ byu ビョ byo
パ pa ピ pi プ pu ペ pe ポ po ピャ pya ピュ pyu ピョ pyo

The characters in red are obsolete in modern Japanese.

[edit] For extended katakana

These are used mainly to represent the sounds in words in other languages. Most of these are not formally standardized and some are very rarely used.

イェ ye
ウィ wi ウェ we ウォ wo
ヷ va ヸ vi ヹ ve ヺ vo
ヴァ va ヴィ vi ヴ vu ヴェ ve ヴォ vo
シェ she
ジェ je
チェ che
ティ ti トゥ tu
テュ tyu
ディ di ドゥ du
デュ dyu
ツァ tsa ツェ tse ツォ tso
ファ fa フィ fi フェ fe フォ fo
フュ fyu

[edit] External links

Romanization of Japanese
Kunrei-shiki (ISO 3602) | Nihon-shiki (ISO 3602 Strict) | Hepburn | JSL | Wāpuro
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