Legge romanization
Template:Short description Template:RCL Legge romanization is a transcription system for Mandarin Chinese, used by the prolific 19th-century sinologist James Legge. It was replaced by the Wade–Giles system, which itself has been largely supplanted by Hanyu Pinyin. The Legge system is still to be found in Legge's widely available translation of the I Ching, and in some derivative works such as Aleister Crowley's version of the I Ching. The transcription was initially devised by Max Müller for the publication of the multi-volume Sacred Books of the East.[1]
Description
Although frequently called a "transliteration", Legge's system is a transcription of Chinese, as there can be no transliteration of Chinese script into any phonetic script, like the Latin alphabet.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
Features of the Legge system include:
- the use of ⟨h⟩ to signal consonantal aspiration: e.g. pinyin ⟨pi⟩ or Wade–Giles ⟨p'i⟩ corresponds to ⟨phî⟩,
- the use of a Fraktur letter z ⟨<templatestyles src="Script/styles.css" />𝖟⟩[2] distinct from Roman ⟨z⟩, and
- the use of italicized consonants distinct from their normal forms.
Comparing words in the Legge system with the same words in Wade–Giles shows that there are often minor but non-systematic differences, which makes direct correlation of the systems difficult.
Vowels
The system uses the following vowels and semivowels:
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a â ă e ê i î o u û ü w y
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Vowel letters also occur in various digraphs, which include:
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âi âo âu eh ei ih ui
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Consonants
Legge transcription uses the following consonants:
| Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Retroflex | Alveolo-palatal | Velar | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voiceless | Voiced | Voiceless | Voiceless | Voiced | Voiceless | Voiced | Voiceless | Voiceless | Voiced | ||
| Nasal | m [m] <templatestyles src="Script/styles.css" />ㄇTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk m |
n [n] <templatestyles src="Script/styles.css" />ㄋTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk n |
ng [ŋ] <templatestyles src="Script/styles.css" />ㄫTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk ng | ||||||||
| Plosive | Unaspirated | p [p] <templatestyles src="Script/styles.css" />ㄅTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk b |
t [t] <templatestyles src="Script/styles.css" />ㄉTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk d |
k [k] <templatestyles src="Script/styles.css" />ㄍTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk g |
|||||||
| Aspirated | ph [pʰ] <templatestyles src="Script/styles.css" />ㄆTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk p |
th [tʰ] <templatestyles src="Script/styles.css" />ㄊTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk t |
kh [kʰ] <templatestyles src="Script/styles.css" />ㄎTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk k |
||||||||
| Affricate | Unaspirated | <templatestyles src="Script/styles.css" />𝖟 [ts] <templatestyles src="Script/styles.css" />ㄗTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk z |
k [ʈʂ] <templatestyles src="Script/styles.css" />ㄓTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk zh |
k [tɕ] <templatestyles src="Script/styles.css" />ㄐTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk j |
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| Aspirated | <templatestyles src="Script/styles.css" />𝖟h [tsʰ] <templatestyles src="Script/styles.css" />ㄘTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk c |
kh [ʈʂʰ] <templatestyles src="Script/styles.css" />ㄔTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk ch |
kh [tɕʰ] <templatestyles src="Script/styles.css" />ㄑTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk q |
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| Fricative | f [f] <templatestyles src="Script/styles.css" />ㄈTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk f |
s [s] <templatestyles src="Script/styles.css" />ㄙTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk s |
sh [ʂ] <templatestyles src="Script/styles.css" />ㄕTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk sh |
hs [ɕ] <templatestyles src="Script/styles.css" />ㄒTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk x |
h [x] <templatestyles src="Script/styles.css" />ㄏTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk h |
||||||
| Liquid | l [l] <templatestyles src="Script/styles.css" />ㄌTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk l |
z [ɻ~ʐ] <templatestyles src="Script/styles.css" />ㄖTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk r |
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References
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External links
- Legge transcription of Yijing hexagram names — alongside their Wade–Giles and Pinyin forms