Mandarin Phonetic Symbols II


Mandarin Phonetic Symbols II, abbreviated MPS II, is a romanization system formerly used in the Republic of China. It was created to replace the complex tonal-spelling Gwoyeu Romatzyh, and to co-exist with the popular Wade–Giles and Zhuyin. It is sometimes referred to as Gwoyeu Romatzyh 2 or GR2.

History

Based on the earlier and more complex Gwoyeu Romatzyh, the tentative version of MPS II was released on May 10, 1984, by the Ministry of Education. After two years of feedback from the general public, the official version was established on January 28, 1986. To distinguish Zhuyin from the Mandarin Phonetic Symbols II, the first Zhuyin is officially called "Mandarin Phonetic Symbols I".
Despite its official status for almost two decades until it was replaced by Tongyong Pinyin in 2002, MPS II existed only in some governmental publications. However, MPS II was not used for the official Romanized names of Taiwanese places. It never gained the same status as did Wade-Giles. In mainstream overseas communities, it is virtually unused and unheard of.

Table

Initials

Finals

Features

An example of MPS II: "國語注音符號第二式" is written as
guó-yǔ jù-yīn fú-hàu dì-èr shr̀.
In pinyin that would be
guóyǔ zhùyīn fúhào dì'èr shì.
In Gwoyeu Romatzyh, it would be written thus:
gwoyeu juh'in fwuhaw dih'ell shyh.
Spaces are generally used in place of hyphens, except in personal names, which use hyphens in between the syllables of the given names.