Standard Romanization is a

romanization Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, a ...

system for

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding a ...

developed by Christian missionaries in South China in 1888, particularly relying upon the work of John Morrison Chalmers. By 1914, it had become well established in Canton and Hong Kong (there being no other system of significance in published literature) and publications using it having been issued by the

British and Foreign Bible Society The British and Foreign Bible Society, often known in England and Wales as simply the Bible Society, is a non-denominational Christian Bible society with charity status whose purpose is to make the Bible available throughout the world. The So ...

, the

China Baptist Publication Society China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones an ...

,for example, and the

Pakhoi Mission Press Beihai (; Postal romanization: Pakhoi) is a prefecture-level city in the south of Guangxi, People's Republic of China. Its status as a seaport on the north shore of the Gulf of Tonkin has granted it historical importance as a port of internation ...

from as early as 1906. It is the foundation of the current system of Romanisation used by the Hong Kong Government.

Initials

Finals

* The finals ''m'' and ''ng'' can only be used as standalone

nasal Nasal is an adjective referring to the nose, part of human or animal anatomy. It may also be shorthand for the following uses in combination: * With reference to the human nose: ** Nasal administration, a method of pharmaceutical drug delivery * ...

syllables. *When ''h'' or ''k'' is an initial, ''om'' and ''op'' are used as the final, instead of ''am'' and ''ap''. *When ''s'', ''ts'' or ''ts’'' is the initial, and ''i'' is the final, the final is written ''z'' instead. *When ''y'' is an initial, and ''i'', ''iu'', ''in'', ''ip'', ''it'', or ''iu'' are used as finals, the ''y'' is omitted, resulting in ''i'', ''iu'', ''in'', ''ip'', ''it'', and ''iu'', but ''yik'', and ''ying''. *When ''y'' is an initial, and ''ue'', ''uen'', or ''uet'' are finals, the ''y'' is omitted. *When ''w'' is an initial, and ''oo'', ''ooi'', or ''oon'' are finals, the ''w'' is omitted. *When ''i'' is an initial ending with ''ue'' begins a rime *Unlike most modern Cantonese romanization systems, a distinction is made between 卅 and 沙. The former is represented by ''sa'' while the latter is written as ''sha''.

Tones

Tones are indicated using diacritic marks.

References

{{reflist Cantonese romanisation