Kunrei-shiki
Encyclopedia
is a Japanese romanization
system, i.e. a system for transcribing the Japanese language
into the Latin alphabet
. It is abbreviated as Kunrei-shiki. Its name is rendered Kunreisiki using Kunrei-shiki itself.
Kunrei-shiki is sometimes known as the Monbushō system in English, because it is taught in the Monbushō-approved elementary school curriculum. The ISO
has standardized Kunrei-shiki under ISO 3602.
Kunrei-shiki is based on the older Nihon-shiki
(Nipponsiki) system, modified for modern standard Japanese. For example, the word かなづかい, romanized kanadukai in Nihon-shiki, is pronounced kanazukai in common modern Japanese, and Kunrei-shiki uses the latter spelling.
, the Japanese government repealed it and decreed again as Japanese Cabinet Order No.1 as of December 29, 1954. The order mandated the use of Kunrei-shiki in "the written expression of Japanese generally", with a provision that specific alternative spellings could be used in international relations, and where necessary to follow established precedent. See Permitted Exceptions for details. (Japanese text)
Kunrei-shiki has been recognized, along with Nihon-shiki, in ISO 3602:1989. Documentation—Romanization of Japanese (kana script) by the ISO
. It was also recommended by the American National Standards Institute
(ANSI) after they withdrew their own standard, ANSI Z39.11-1972 American National Standard System for the Romanization of Japanese (Modified Hepburn
), in 1994.
, including the romanization of Japanese names on passports, road signage and train signage. The great majority of Western publications and all English-language newspapers also continue to use Hepburn.
Because Kunrei-shiki is based on Japanese phonology
, it can cause non-native speakers to pronounce words incorrectly. John Hinds, author of Japanese: A Prescriptive Grammar, says that this would be "a major disadvantage."
Additional complications appear with newer kana combinations such as ティーム(チーム) team. In Hepburn, these would be distinguished as different sounds and represented tīmu and chīmu respectively, giving better indications of the English pronunciations. For some Japanese speakers, however, the sounds ティ "ti" and チ "chi" are the same phoneme; they are both represented in Kunrei-shiki as tîmu. This kind of logic often confuses those who do not know Japanese phonology well.
Today, the main users of Kunrei-shiki are native speakers of Japanese (especially within Japan) and linguists
studying Japanese. The main advantage of Kunrei-shiki is that it is better able to illustrate Japanese grammar
, as Hepburn preserves the irregularity of certain conjugations (see table, right). The most serious problem of Hepburn in this context is that it changes the stem of verbs, which is not reflected in the underlying morphology
of the language. One notable introductory textbook for English speakers, Eleanor Jorden
's Japanese: The Spoken Language
, uses JSL romanization, a system strongly influenced by Kunrei-shiki in its adherence to Japanese phonology, but adapted to teaching proper pronunciation of Japanese phonemes.
Notes:
This exceptional clause is not to be confused with other systems of romanization (such as Hepburn
) and does not specifically relax other requirements such as marking long vowels.
Romanization
In linguistics, romanization or latinization is the representation of a written word or spoken speech with the Roman script, or a system for doing so, where the original word or language uses a different writing system . Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written...
system, i.e. a system for transcribing the Japanese language
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
into the Latin alphabet
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
. It is abbreviated as Kunrei-shiki. Its name is rendered Kunreisiki using Kunrei-shiki itself.
Kunrei-shiki is sometimes known as the Monbushō system in English, because it is taught in the Monbushō-approved elementary school curriculum. The ISO
International Organization for Standardization
The International Organization for Standardization , widely known as ISO, is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. Founded on February 23, 1947, the organization promulgates worldwide proprietary, industrial and commercial...
has standardized Kunrei-shiki under ISO 3602.
Kunrei-shiki is based on the older Nihon-shiki
Nihon-shiki
Nihon-shiki or Nippon-shiki Rōmaji is a romanization system for transliterating the Japanese language into the Latin alphabet. In discussion about romaji, it is abbreviated as Nihon-shiki or Nippon-shiki. Among the major romanization systems for Japanese, Nippon-shiki is the most regular, and has...
(Nipponsiki) system, modified for modern standard Japanese. For example, the word かなづかい, romanized kanadukai in Nihon-shiki, is pronounced kanazukai in common modern Japanese, and Kunrei-shiki uses the latter spelling.
Legal status
The system was originally promulgated as Japanese Cabinet Order No. 3 as of September 21, 1937. But since this had been overturned by the SCAP during the Occupation of JapanOccupied Japan
At the end of World War II, Japan was occupied by the Allied Powers, led by the United States with contributions also from Australia, India, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. This foreign presence marked the first time in its history that the island nation had been occupied by a foreign power...
, the Japanese government repealed it and decreed again as Japanese Cabinet Order No.1 as of December 29, 1954. The order mandated the use of Kunrei-shiki in "the written expression of Japanese generally", with a provision that specific alternative spellings could be used in international relations, and where necessary to follow established precedent. See Permitted Exceptions for details. (Japanese text)
Kunrei-shiki has been recognized, along with Nihon-shiki, in ISO 3602:1989. Documentation—Romanization of Japanese (kana script) by the ISO
International Organization for Standardization
The International Organization for Standardization , widely known as ISO, is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. Founded on February 23, 1947, the organization promulgates worldwide proprietary, industrial and commercial...
. It was also recommended by the American National Standards Institute
American National Standards Institute
The American National Standards Institute is a private non-profit organization that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards for products, services, processes, systems, and personnel in the United States. The organization also coordinates U.S. standards with international...
(ANSI) after they withdrew their own standard, ANSI Z39.11-1972 American National Standard System for the Romanization of Japanese (Modified Hepburn
Hepburn romanization
The 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 in 1885...
), in 1994.
Usage
Despite its official recognition, Kunrei-shiki has not gained widespread acceptance in or outside Japan. The Japanese government generally uses HepburnHepburn romanization
The 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 in 1885...
, including the romanization of Japanese names on passports, road signage and train signage. The great majority of Western publications and all English-language newspapers also continue to use Hepburn.
| Conjugation | Kunrei | Hepburn |
|---|---|---|
| Mizen 1 | tat-a- | tat-a- |
| Mizen 2 | tat-o- | tat-o- |
| Ren'yô | tat-i | tach-i |
| Syûsi/Rentai | tat-u | tats-u |
| Katei | tat-e- | tat-e- |
| Meirei | tat-e | tat-e |
Because Kunrei-shiki is based on Japanese phonology
Japanese phonology
This article deals with the phonology of the Japanese language.-Consonants:The Japanese vowels are pronounced as monophthongs, unlike in English; except for , they are similar to their Spanish or Italian counterparts....
, it can cause non-native speakers to pronounce words incorrectly. John Hinds, author of Japanese: A Prescriptive Grammar, says that this would be "a major disadvantage."
Additional complications appear with newer kana combinations such as ティーム(チーム) team. In Hepburn, these would be distinguished as different sounds and represented tīmu and chīmu respectively, giving better indications of the English pronunciations. For some Japanese speakers, however, the sounds ティ "ti" and チ "chi" are the same phoneme; they are both represented in Kunrei-shiki as tîmu. This kind of logic often confuses those who do not know Japanese phonology well.
Today, the main users of Kunrei-shiki are native speakers of Japanese (especially within Japan) and linguists
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
studying Japanese. The main advantage of Kunrei-shiki is that it is better able to illustrate Japanese grammar
Japanese grammar
The Japanese language has a regular agglutinative verb morphology, with both productive and fixed elements. In language typology, it has many features divergent from most European languages. Its phrases are exclusively head-final and compound sentences are exclusively left-branching. There are many...
, as Hepburn preserves the irregularity of certain conjugations (see table, right). The most serious problem of Hepburn in this context is that it changes the stem of verbs, which is not reflected in the underlying morphology
Morphology (linguistics)
In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis and description, in a language, of the structure of morphemes and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context...
of the language. One notable introductory textbook for English speakers, Eleanor Jorden
Eleanor Jorden
Eleanor Harz Jorden was an American linguistics scholar and an influential Japanese language educator and expert. Born Eleanor Harz, she married William Jorden, reporter and diplomat; the marriage ended in divorce....
's Japanese: The Spoken Language
Japanese: The Spoken Language
Japanese: The Spoken Language is an introductory textbook series for learning Japanese. JSL was written by Eleanor Harz Jorden in collaboration with Mari Noda. Part 1 was published in 1987 by Yale Language Press, Part 2 in 1988, and Part 3 in 1990...
, uses JSL romanization, a system strongly influenced by Kunrei-shiki in its adherence to Japanese phonology, but adapted to teaching proper pronunciation of Japanese phonemes.
Kunrei-shiki spellings of kana
| gojūon Gojuon The is a Japanese ordering of kana.It is named for the 5×10 grid in which the characters are displayed, but the grid is not completely filled, and, further, there is an extra character added outside the grid at the end: with 5 gaps and 1 extra character, the current number of distinct kana in a... |
yōon Yoon is a feature of the Japanese language in which a mora is formed with an added sound.Yōon are represented in hiragana using a kana ending in i, such as き , plus a smaller-than-usual version of one of the three y kana, ya, yu or yo. For example kyō, "today", is written きょう, using a small version of... |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| あ ア a | い イ i | う ウ u | え エ e | お オ o | (ya) | |(yo) | |
| か カ ka | き キ ki | く ク ku | け ケ ke | こ コ ko | きゃ キャ kya | きゅ キュ kyu | きょ キョ kyo |
| さ サ sa | し シ si | す ス su | せ セ se | そ ソ so | しゃ シャ sya | しゅ シュ syu | しょ ショ syo |
| た タ ta | ち チ ti | つ ツ tu | て テ te | と ト to | ちゃ チャ tya | ちゅ チュ tyu | ちょ チョ tyo |
| な ナ na | に ニ ni | ぬ ヌ nu | ね ネ ne | の ノ no | にゃ ニャ nya | にゅ ニュ nyu | にょ ニョ nyo |
| は ハ ha | ひ ヒ hi | ふ フ hu | へ ヘ he | ほ ホ ho | ひゃ ヒャ hya | ひゅ ヒュ hyu | ひょ ヒョ hyo |
| ま マ ma | み ミ mi | む ム mu | め メ me | も モ mo | みゃ ミャ mya | みゅ ミュ myu | みょ ミョ myo |
| や ヤ ya | (i) | ゆ ユ yu | (e) | よ ヨ yo | |||
| ら ラ ra | り リ ri | る ル ru | れ レ re | ろ ロ ro | りゃ リャ rya | りゅ リュ ryu | りょ リョ ryo |
| わ ワ wa | ゐ ヰ i | (u) | ゑ ヱ e | を ヲ o | |||
| ん ン n-n | |||||||
| voiced sounds (dakuten Dakuten , colloquially ten-ten , is a diacritic sign most often used in the Japanese kana syllabaries to indicate that the consonant of a syllable should be pronounced voiced. Handakuten , colloquially maru , is a diacritic used with the kana for syllables starting with h to indicate that they should... ) |
|||||||
| が ガ ga | ぎ ギ gi | ぐ グ gu | げ ゲ ge | ご ゴ go | ぎゃ ギャ gya | ぎゅ ギュ gyu | ぎょ ギョ gyo |
| ざ ザ za | じ ジ zi | ず ズ zu | ぜ ゼ ze | ぞ ゾ zo | じゃ ジャ zya | じゅ ジュ zyu | じょ ジョ zyo |
| だ ダ da | ぢ ヂ zi | づ ヅ zu | で デ de | ど ド do | ぢゃ ヂャ zya | ぢゅ ヂュ zyu | ぢょ ヂョ zyo |
| ば バ ba | び ビ bi | ぶ ブ bu | べ ベ be | ぼ ボ bo | びゃ ビャ bya | びゅ ビュ byu | びょ ビョ byo |
| ぱ パ pa | ぴ ピ pi | ぷ プ pu | ぺ ペ pe | ぽ ポ po | ぴゃ ピャ pya | ぴゅ ピュ pyu | ぴょ ピョ pyo |
Notes:
- Characters in red are obsolete in modern Japanese.
- When he (へ) is used as a particle it is written e not he (as in Nihon-shiki).
- When ha (は) is used as a particle it is written wa not ha.
- When wo (を) is used as a particle it is written o not wo.
- Long vowels are indicated by a circumflex, for example long o is written ô.
- Syllabic n (ん) is written as n before vowels and y but as n before consonants and as a word final.
- Geminate consonants are marked by doubling the consonant following the sokuonSokuonThe is a Japanese symbol consisting of a small hiragana or katakana tsu. In less formal language it is called or , meaning "little tsu". Compare to a full-sized tsu:The sokuon is used for various purposes...
, っ, without exception. - The first letter in a sentence, and all proper nouns, are capitalized.
- ISO 3602 has the strict form, see Nihon-shikiNihon-shikiNihon-shiki or Nippon-shiki Rōmaji is a romanization system for transliterating the Japanese language into the Latin alphabet. In discussion about romaji, it is abbreviated as Nihon-shiki or Nippon-shiki. Among the major romanization systems for Japanese, Nippon-shiki is the most regular, and has...
.
Permitted exceptions
The Cabinet Order makes an exception to the above chart:- Limited to international relations and situations with prior precedent in which a sudden spelling reform would be difficult, spelling may also be given by [the following] Chart 2.
| しゃ sha | し shi | しゅ shu | しょ sho |
| つ tsu | |||
| ちゃ cha | ち chi | ちゅ chu | ちょ cho |
| ふ fu | |||
| じゃ ja | じ ji | じゅ ju | じょ jo |
| ぢ di | づ du | ||
| ぢゃ dya | ぢゅ dyu | ぢょ dyo | |
| くゎ kwa | |||
| ぐゎ gwa | |||
This exceptional clause is not to be confused with other systems of romanization (such as Hepburn
Hepburn romanization
The 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 in 1885...
) and does not specifically relax other requirements such as marking long vowels.