Wylie Transliteration
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Wylie transliteration is a method for
transliterating Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one writing system, script to another that involves swapping Letter (alphabet), letters (thus ''wikt:trans-#Prefix, trans-'' + ''wikt:littera#Latin, liter-'') in predictable ways, such as ...
Tibetan script The Tibetan script is a segmental writing system (''abugida'') of Indic origin used to write certain Tibetic languages, including Tibetan, Dzongkha, Sikkimese, Ladakhi, Jirel and Balti. It has also been used for some non-Tibetic langua ...
using only the letters available on a typical English-language
typewriter A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical machine for typing characters. Typically, a typewriter has an array of keys, and each one causes a different single character to be produced on paper by striking an inked ribbon selectivel ...
. The system is named for the American scholar
Turrell V. Wylie Turrell Verl "Terry" Wylie (August 20, 1927 – August 25, 1984) was an American scholar, Tibetologist, sinologist and professor known as one of the 20th century's leading scholars of Tibet. He taught as a professor of Tibetan Studies at the Un ...
, who created the system and published it in a 1959 ''
Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies The ''Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies'' (HJAS) is an English-language scholarly journal published by the Harvard-Yenching Institute. ''HJAS'' features articles and book reviews of current scholarship in East Asian Studies, focusing on Chinese, ...
'' article. It has subsequently become a standard transliteration scheme in Tibetan studies, especially in the United States. Any
Tibetan language Tibetan language may refer to: * Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard * Lhasa Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dialect * Any of the other Tibetic languages See also * Old Tibetan, the languag ...
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, and ...
scheme faces the dilemma of whether it should seek to accurately reproduce the sounds of spoken Tibetan or the spelling of written Tibetan. These differ widely, as Tibetan
orthography An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation. Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and mos ...
became fixed in the 11th century, while pronunciation continued to evolve, comparable to the
English orthography English orthography is the writing system used to represent spoken English, allowing readers to connect the graphemes to sound and to meaning. It includes English's norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalisation, word breaks, emphasis, and p ...
and
French orthography French orthography encompasses the spelling and punctuation of the French language. It is based on a combination of phoneme, phonemic and historical principles. The spelling of words is largely based on the pronunciation of Old French c. 1100–1 ...
, which reflect
Late Medieval The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Europe, the Renai ...
pronunciation. Previous transcription schemes sought to split the difference with the result that they achieved neither goal perfectly. Wylie transliteration was designed to precisely transcribe Tibetan script ''as written'', which led to its acceptance in academic and historical studies. It is not intended to represent the pronunciation of Tibetan words.


Consonants

The Wylie scheme transliterates the Tibetan characters as follows: In Tibetan script, consonant clusters within a syllable may be represented through the use of prefixed or suffixed letters or by letters superscripted or subscripted to the root letter (forming a "stack"). The Wylie system does not normally distinguish these as in practice no ambiguity is possible under the rules of Tibetan spelling. The exception is the sequence ''gy-'', which may be written either with a prefix ''g'' or a subfix ''y''. In the Wylie system, these are distinguished by inserting a
period Period may refer to: Common uses * Era, a length or span of time * Full stop (or period), a punctuation mark Arts, entertainment, and media * Period (music), a concept in musical composition * Periodic sentence (or rhetorical period), a concept ...
between a prefix ''g'' and initial ''y''. E.g. གྱང "wall" is ''gyang'', while གཡང་ "chasm" is ''g.yang''.


Vowels

The four vowel marks (here applied to the base letter ཨ) are transliterated: When a syllable has no explicit vowel marking, the letter ''a'' is used to represent the default vowel "a" (e.g. ཨ་ = a).


Capitalization

Many previous systems of Tibetan transliteration included internal capitalisation schemes—essentially, capitalising the root letter rather than the first letter of a word, when the first letter is a prefix consonant. Tibetan dictionaries are organized by root letter, and prefixes are often silent, so knowing the root letter gives a better idea of pronunciation. However, these schemes were often applied inconsistently, and usually only when the word would normally be capitalised according to the norms of Latin text (i.e. at the beginning of a sentence). On the grounds that internal capitalisation was overly cumbersome, of limited usefulness in determining pronunciation, and probably superfluous to a reader able to use a Tibetan dictionary, Wylie specified that if a word was to be capitalised, the first letter should be capital, in conformity with Western capitalisation practices. Thus a particular Tibetan Buddhist sect (
Kagyu The ''Kagyu'' school, also transliterated as ''Kagyü'', or ''Kagyud'' (), which translates to "Oral Lineage" or "Whispered Transmission" school, is one of the main schools (''chos lugs'') of Tibetan (or Himalayan) Buddhism. The Kagyu lineag ...
) is capitalised ''Bka' brgyud'' and not ''bKa' brgyud''.


Extensions

Wylie's original scheme is not capable of transliterating all Tibetan-script texts. In particular, it has no correspondences for most Tibetan punctuation symbols, and lacks the ability to represent non-Tibetan words written in Tibetan script (Sanskrit and phonetic Chinese are the most common cases). Accordingly, various scholars have adopted ''
ad hoc Ad hoc is a Latin phrase meaning literally 'to this'. In English, it typically signifies a solution for a specific purpose, problem, or task rather than a generalized solution adaptable to collateral instances. (Compare with ''a priori''.) Com ...
'' and incomplete conventions as needed. The
Tibetan and Himalayan Library The Tibetan and Himalayan Library (THL), formerly the Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library (THDL), is a multimedia guide and digital library hosted by the University of Virginia focused on the languages, history and geography of Tibet and the Him ...
at the
University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...
developed a standard
EWTS
€”the Extended Wylie Transliteration Scheme—that addresses these deficiencies systematically. It uses capital letters and Latin punctuation to represent the missing characters. Several software systems, including
Tise Tise (pronounced /tee-say/) is a Tibetan input method utility for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 created by Grigory Mokhin. The name of the program refers to the native name of Mount Kailash in Tibet. Tise enables users to enter Unicod ...
, now use this standard to allow one to type unrestricted Tibetan script (including the full
Unicode Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology Technical standard, standard for the consistent character encoding, encoding, representation, and handling of Character (computing), text expre ...
Tibetan character set) on a Latin keyboard. Since the Wylie system is not intuitive for use by linguists unfamiliar with Tibetan, a new transliteration system based on the
International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic transcription, phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standa ...
has been proposed to replace Wylie in articles on
Tibetan historical phonology Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...
.


See also

* Tibetan pinyin *
THL Simplified Phonetic Transcription The THL Simplified Phonetic Transcription of Standard Tibetan (or ''THL Phonetic Transcription'' for short) is a system for the phonetic rendering of the Tibetan language. It was created by David Germano and Nicolas Tournadre and was published on ...
*
Tise Tise (pronounced /tee-say/) is a Tibetan input method utility for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 created by Grigory Mokhin. The name of the program refers to the native name of Mount Kailash in Tibet. Tise enables users to enter Unicod ...
- extended Wylie input method for Tibetan script *
Tibetan script The Tibetan script is a segmental writing system (''abugida'') of Indic origin used to write certain Tibetic languages, including Tibetan, Dzongkha, Sikkimese, Ladakhi, Jirel and Balti. It has also been used for some non-Tibetic langua ...
*
Standard Tibetan Lhasa Tibetan (), or Standard Tibetan, is the Tibetan dialect spoken by educated people of Lhasa, the capital of the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China. It is an official language of the Tibet Autonomous Region. In the traditional "three-branch ...
*
Uchen script }Uchen (; ; variant spellings include ''ucen'', ''u-cen'', ''u-chen'', ''ucan'', ''u-can'', ''uchan'', ''u-chan'', and ''ucän'') is the upright, block style of the Tibetan script. The name means "with a head," and is the style of the script used f ...


References


External links

(Some of the following links require installation of Tibetan fonts to display properly) * Wylie, Turrell (1959)
A Standard System of Tibetan Transcription
''Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies'', p. 261-267 * Hill, Nathan W
A note on the history and future of the 'Wylie' system
in ''Revue d'Études Tibétaines'', Number 23, Avril 2012. pp. 103–105.

*[http://www.thlib.org/reference/transliteration/#wiki=/access/wiki/site/26a34146-33a6-48ce-001e-f16ce7908a6a/tibetan%20transliteration%20and%20transcription.html THDL Extended Wylie Transliteration Scheme] (A project of th
Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library
to adapt and expand the Wylie system for computer use.)
Tibetan transliteration: convert between Wylie or EWTS and UnicodeTest Tibetan display (enter wylie)
{{Tibetan language Romanization of Tibetan Languages of Tibet Tibetan Buddhist literature