Romanized Shaowu

Romanized Shaowu (邵武腔羅馬字 Shiau⁶-u² kʻiong¹ lo⁵-ma² tsʻe⁶) is a romanization system for the Shaowu dialect of the Shao–Jiang Min language.

History

List of Shaowu rimes from the J.E.Walker's syllabary

Christian hymns from the "Alphabet of Romanized Shaowu" by Ada Walker

"Romanized Shaowu" was created in the 1880s by Joseph Elkanah Walker and Ada Walker (née Claghorn), who were American missionaries living in Shaowu since 1872 through the 1930s. In 1891, they have translated the Epistle of James into Shaowu using this romanization (as 《使徒雅各書》 Se³-t’u⁵ Nga²-ko⁴ shṳ¹).

System

Initials

p /p/ 比	k /k/ 加	t /t/ 知	ts /ts/ 資	ch /tɕ/ 之
pʻ /pʰ/ 拍	kʻ /kʰ/ 氣	tʻ /tʰ/ 他	tsʻ /tsʰ/ 菜	chʻ /tɕʰ/ 車
m /m/ 米	ng /ŋ/ 牙	n /n/ 儀	s /s/ 西	sh /ɕ/ 時
v /ʋ/ 慰	h /x/ 希	l /l/ 利
f /f/ 夫

Rimes

a /a/	ai /ai/	au /au/	an /an/	ang /aŋ/
ia /ia/		iau /iau/		iang /iaŋ/
ua /ua/	uai /uai/		uan /uan/
e /ə/	ei /əi/	eu /əu/	en /ən/
ue /uə/	uei /uei/		uen /uən/
			ṳen /yen/
ṳ /y/			ṳn /yn/
é /ɛ/	éi /ɛi/	éu /ɛu/	én /ɛn/
ie /ie/			ien /ien/
o /o/	oi /oi/	(ou /ou/)	on /on/	ong /oŋ/
io /io/		(iou /iou/)		iong /ioŋ/
uo /uo/	uoi /uoi/		uon /uon/	uong /uoŋ/
i /i/			in /in/
u /u/				ung /uŋ/
iu /iu/				iung /iuŋ/
r /ɯ~ɿ/
ng /ŋ/

There is some variation in the representation of the finals in works by J.E.Walker. E.g., the letter ṳ may be written with the dots above it (as ü).

In modern Shaowu, the palatal sibilants ch /tɕ/, chʻ /tɕʰ/, sh /ɕ/ are only used before /-i-/ and /-y-/. Romanized Shaowu marks the /-i-/ medial somewhat inconsistenly, e.g. 上 /ɕioŋ³⁵/ is written as shong⁶ in the Walker's syllabary, but as shiong⁶ in his translation of the Epistle of James. The word 邵 is written shiau⁶ in the syllabary itself, but as shau on its title.

Tones

Tones in Romanized Shaowu are marked with superscript numbers after the syllable.

Tone name	陰平	上聲	陰去	入聲	陽平	陽去
Tone contour	21	55	213	53	22	35
Romanized Shaowu	¹	²	³	⁴	⁵	⁶

Correspondence to modern Shaowu

The original Walker's romanization lacks modern Shaowu finals /ou/ and /iou/, but contains finals iu, uoi, éu, which are absent in modern Shaowu (but may still be preserved in other dialects of Shao-Jiang Min).

The finals eu /əu/, éu /ɛu/ are rearranged in modern Shaowu, with eu /əu/ becoming ou /ou/ (or iou /iou/ after palatal sibilants), and éu /ɛu/ becoming eu /əu/.

	Walker	Guangze	Shaowu	Jiangle
口	k'éu²	/khɛu⁴⁴/	/kʰəu⁵⁵/	/kʰeu⁵¹/
樓	léu⁵	/lɛu²²/	/ləu²²/	/leu²²/
搜	séu¹	/sɛu²¹/	/səu²¹/	/ʃeu⁵⁵/
浮	féu⁵	/fɛu²²/	/fəu²²/	/feu²²/
休	heu¹	/xəu²¹/	/xou²¹/	/ʃiu⁵⁵/
求	k'eu⁵	/kʰəu²²/	/kʰou²²/	/kʰiu²²/
留	leu⁵	/ləu²²/	/lou²²/	/liu²²/
修	seu¹	/səu²¹/	/sou²¹/	/siu⁵⁵/
醜	ch'eu²	/tɕʰiu⁴⁴/	/tɕʰiou⁵⁵/	/tʃʰiu⁵¹/
壽	sheu⁶	/ɕiu⁵⁵/	/ɕiou³⁵/	/ʃiu²³¹/

The final iu /iu/ merges with /iou/ in modern Shaowu.

	Walker	Guangze	Shaowu	Jiangle
手	shiu²	/ɕiu⁴⁴/	/ɕiou⁵⁵/	/ʃiu⁵⁵/
周	chiu¹	/tɕiu²¹/	/tɕiou²¹/	/tʃiu⁵⁵/
臭	ch'iu³	/tɕʰiu³⁵/	/tɕʰiou²¹³/	/tʃʰiu³²⁴/
有	iu²	/iu⁵³/	/iou⁵⁵/	/iu⁵¹/
由	iu⁵	/iu²²/	/iou²²/	/iu²²/

Finals uoi /uoi/, uei /uei/, uon /uon/ lose their medial /-u-/ after labial and dental initials to become /-oi, -ɛi, -on/.

	Walker	Guangze	Shaowu	Jiangle
回	fuei⁵	/fɛi²²/	/fɛi²²/	/fi²²/
殺	suoi⁴	/sɔi⁵³/	/soi⁵³/	/ʃo⁵¹/
亂	luon⁶	/lɔn⁵⁵/	/lon³⁵/	/luɛ̃²³¹/

The final r in the Walker's romanization is analyzed as /ɯ/ (or /ɿ/ after sibilants) in modern Shaowu, but it may merge with other finals in some specific contexts.

	Walker	Guangze	Shaowu	Jiangle
刺	tsʻr³	/tsʰɿ³⁵/	/tsʰɿ²¹³/	/tsʰɿ³²⁴/
撕	sr¹	/sɿ²¹/	/sɿ²¹/	/sɿ⁵⁵/
起	kʻr²	/kʰi⁴⁴/	/kʰɯ⁵⁵/	/kʰi⁵¹/
滴	tr⁴	/ti⁵³/	/tɯ⁵³/	/ti²¹/
耳	r²	/ɛ⁵³/	/ə⁵⁵/	/ø⁵¹/
兒	r⁵	/ɛ²²/	/ə²²/	/ø²²/

Most of the tsʻ /tsʰ/ initials have merged with tʻ /tʰ/ in modern Shaowu, only occasionally being preserved in literary readings.

	Walker	Guangze	Shaowu	Jiangle
罪	ts'uei⁶	/tʰɛi⁵⁵/	/tʰɛi³⁵/	/tsʰui²³¹/
取	ts'ṳ²	/tʰy⁴⁴/	/tʰy⁵⁵/	/tsʰy⁵¹/
湊	ts'éu³	/tʰɛu⁴⁴/	/tʰəu²¹³/	/tsʰeu³²⁴/