View source for Social:EFEO Chinese transcription

{{Use Canadian English|date = February 2019}}
{{Short description|Romanization system for Mandarin for the French-speaking world}}
{{RCL}}

The '''Chinese transcription of the [[Organization:École française d'Extrême-Orient|École française d'Extrême-Orient]]''' (EFEO) was the most used phonetic transcription of Chinese in the French-speaking world until the middle of the 20th century. While it is often deemed to have been devised by Séraphin Couvreur (who was not an EFEO member), its actual creator was {{ill|Arnold Vissière|fr}} (1858–1930).<ref>Dimitri Drettas, [https://www.academia.edu/35116383/Fact_Checking_Against_Diluted_Knowledge_Setting_the_Record_Straight_on_Séraphin_Couvreur_and_the_EFEO_Romanization_System “Fact-Checking Against Diluted Knowledge: Setting the Record Straight on Séraphin Couvreur and the EFEO Romanization System.”] ''Sinology News'' 稷風 [Newsletter of the Jao Tsung-I Academy of Sinology], 2016, Issue 2, pp. 39-41.</ref> It was superseded by [[Pinyin|Hanyu Pinyin]].

The transcription of the EFEO did not borrow its phonetics from the national official Standard Mandarin. Rather, it was synthesized independently to be a mean of Chinese dialects, and shows a state of sounds a little older in form (as in [[Social:Latinxua Sin Wenz|Latinxua Sin Wenz]] and the older version of Wade-Giles). Hence, the phoneme {{IPA|[tɕ]}} (Pinyin: {{Grapheme|j}}), is transcribed as either {{Grapheme|ts}} or {{Grapheme|k}}; before the ''jian-tuan merger'' in contemporary Mandarin, i.e. the merger between the alveolar consonants and the alveolo-palatal consonants, before the high front vowels {{IPAblink|i}} and {{IPAblink|y}}.

Since EFEO makes use, to a large extent, of the phonetic values of Latin letters as used in French, the transcription of many Chinese syllables into the EFEO system is quite similar to how they were transcribed by French missionaries in the late 17th to 19th centuries (e.g., as seen in ''Description ... de la Chine'' compiled by Jean-Baptiste Du Halde); for example, "Yanzhou Fou" is "Yen-tcheou-fou" in both cases. However, a few features (notably, the wide use of "ts", and the use of apostrophes to show aspiration) distinguishes it from the early French missionary systems.<ref>See e.g. the transcription of place names, including "Yen tcheou fou", in du Halde,  [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongog01duha#page/10/mode/2up pp. 10-11]</ref>

== Table ==
=== Initials ===
{|class=wikitable style="text-align:center;"
!rowspan=2 colspan=2| !!colspan=2|Bilabial!!Labiodental
!colspan=2|Alveolar!!colspan=2|Retroflex
!Alveolo-palatal!!Velar
|-
!Voiceless!!Voiced!!Voiceless!!Voiceless
!Voiced!!Voiceless!!Voiced!!Voiceless
!Voiceless
|-
!colspan=2|Nasal
| ||'''<big>m</big>''' [m]<br>ㄇ m|| || ||'''<big>n</big>''' [n]<br>ㄋ n|| || || ||
|-
!rowspan=2|Plosive!!Unaspirated
|'''<big>p</big>''' [p]<br>ㄅ b|| ||
|'''<big>t</big>''' [t]<br>ㄉ d|| || || ||
|'''<big>k</big>''' [k]<br>ㄍ g
|-
!Aspirated
|'''<big>p'</big>''' [pʰ]<br>ㄆ p|| ||
|'''<big>t'</big>''' [tʰ]<br>ㄊ t|| || || ||
|'''<big>k'</big>''' [kʰ]<br>ㄎ k
|-
!rowspan=2|Affricate!!Unaspirated
| || || ||'''<big>ts</big>''' [ts]<br>ㄗ z||
|'''<big>tch</big>''' [ʈʂ]<br>ㄓ zh||
|'''<big>k</big>''' ''or'' '''<big>ts</big>''' [tɕ]<br>ㄐ j||
|-
!Aspirated
| || || ||'''<big>ts'</big>''' [tsʰ]<br>ㄘ c||
|'''<big>tch'</big>''' [ʈʂʰ]<br>ㄔ ch||
|'''<big>k'</big>''' ''or'' '''<big>ts'</big>''' [tɕʰ]<br>ㄑ q||
|-
!colspan=2|Fricative
| || ||'''<big>f</big>''' [f]<br>ㄈ f
|'''<big>s</big>''' [s]<br>ㄙ s||
|'''<big>ch</big>''' [ʂ]<br>ㄕ sh||
|'''<big>h</big>''' ''or'' '''<big>s</big>''' [ɕ]<br>ㄒ x
|'''<big>h</big>''' [x]<br>ㄏ h
|-
!colspan=2|Liquid
| || || || ||'''<big>l</big>''' [l]<br>ㄌ l|| ||'''<big>j</big>''' [ɻ~ʐ]<br>ㄖ r|| ||
|}

=== Finals ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
!colspan=2 rowspan=2|
!colspan=13|Coda
|-
!colspan=3|∅!!colspan=2|{{IPA|/i/}}!!colspan=2|{{IPA|/u/}}!!colspan=2|{{IPA|/n/}}!!colspan=3|{{IPA|/ŋ/}}!!{{IPA|/ɻ/}}
|-
!rowspan=4|Medial
!∅
|'''<big>e/eu</big>''' [ɨ]<br>ㄭ[[File:MoeKai Bopomofo U+312D.svg|15px]] -i||'''<big>ö/é</big>''' [ɤ]<br>ㄜ e||'''<big>a</big>''' [a]<br>ㄚ a
|'''<big>ei</big>''' [ei̯]<br>ㄟ ei||'''<big>ai</big>''' [ai̯]<br>ㄞ ai
|'''<big>eou</big>''' [ou̯]<br>ㄡ ou||'''<big>ao</big>''' [au̯]<br>ㄠ ao
|'''<big>en</big>''' [ən]<br>ㄣ en||'''<big>an</big>''' [an]<br>ㄢ an
|'''<big>ong</big>''' [ʊŋ]<br>ㄨㄥ ong||'''<big>eng</big>''' [əŋ]<br>ㄥ eng||'''<big>ang</big>''' [aŋ]<br>ㄤ ang
|'''<big>eul</big>''' [aɚ̯]<br>ㄦ er
|-
!{{IPA|/j/}}
|'''<big>i</big>''' [i]<br>ㄧ i||'''<big>ie</big>''' [je]<br>ㄧㄝ ie||'''<big>ia</big>''' [ja]<br>ㄧㄚ ia
| ||
|'''<big>ieou</big>''' [jou̯]<br>ㄧㄡ iu||'''<big>iao</big>''' [jau̯]<br>ㄧㄠ iao
|'''<big>in</big>''' [in]<br>ㄧㄣ in||'''<big>ien</big>''' [jɛn]<br>ㄧㄢ ian
|'''<big>iong</big>''' [jʊŋ]<br>ㄩㄥ iong||'''<big>ing</big>''' [iŋ]<br>ㄧㄥ ing||'''<big>iang</big>''' [jaŋ]<br>ㄧㄤ iang
|
|-
!{{IPA|/w/}}
|'''<big>ou</big>''' [u]<br>ㄨ u||'''<big>ouo</big>''' [wo]<br>ㄨㄛ uo||'''<big>oua</big>''' [wa]<br>ㄨㄚ ua
|'''<big>ouei</big>''' [wei̯]<br>ㄨㄟ ui||'''<big>ouai</big>''' [wai̯]<br>ㄨㄞ uai
| ||
|'''<big>ouen</big>''' [wən]<br>ㄨㄣ un||'''<big>ouan</big>''' [wan]<br>ㄨㄢ uan
|'''<big>ouong</big>''' [wəŋ]<br>ㄨㄥ ueng|| ||'''<big>ouang</big>''' [waŋ]<br>ㄨㄤ uang
|
|-
!{{IPA|/y/}}
|'''<big>iu</big>''' [y]<br>ㄩ ü||'''<big>iue</big>''' [ɥe]<br>ㄩㄝ üe||
| ||
| ||
|'''<big>iun</big>''' [yn]<br>ㄩㄣ ün||'''<big>iuan</big>''' [ɥɛn]<br>ㄩㄢ üan
| || ||
|
|}

{{IPA notice}}

==Notes==
{{reflist}}


== Bibliography ==
* Drettas, Dimitri. [https://www.academia.edu/35116383/Fact_Checking_Against_Diluted_Knowledge_Setting_the_Record_Straight_on_Séraphin_Couvreur_and_the_EFEO_Romanization_System “Fact-Checking Against Diluted Knowledge: Setting the Record Straight on Séraphin Couvreur and the EFEO Romanization System.”] ''Sinology News'' 稷風 [Newsletter of the Jao Tsung-I Academy of Sinology], 2016, Issue 2, pp. 39-41.

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160304204841/http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID%3D32315%26URL_DO%3DDO_TOPIC%26URL_SECTION%3D201.html UNESCO transcription norms for Chinese]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Efeo Chinese Transcription}}
[[Category:Romanization of Chinese]]

{{Sourceattribution|EFEO Chinese transcription}}