Meyer-Wempe Totally Explained

Everything about the Meyer-wempe totally explained

The Meyer-Wempe romanization system was developed by two Catholic missionaries in Hong Kong, Bernhard F. Meyer and Theodore F. Wempe, during the 1920s and 1930s for romanizing Standard Cantonese.

Initials

p [p]	p' [pʰ]	m [m]	f [f]
t [t]	t' [tʰ]	n [n]	l [l]
k [k]	k' [kʰ]	ng [ŋ]	h [h]
ts [ts]	ts' [tsʰ]	s [s]
ch [tɕ]	ch' [tɕʰ]	sh [ɕ]
kw [kw]	k'w [kʰw]	i, y [j]	oo, w [w]

The distinction between the alveolar sibilants ([ts], [tsʰ], and [s]) and alveolo-palatal sibilants ([tɕ], [tɕʰ], and [ɕ]) has been lost in modern Cantonese, though the distinction still existed at the time this system was devised. See Standard Cantonese for more information.

Finals

a [aː]	aai [aːi]	aau [aːu]	aam [aːm]	aan [aːn]	aang [aːŋ]	aap [aːp]	aat [aːt]	aak [aːk]
	ai [ɐi]	au [ɐu]	am, om [ɐm]	an [ɐn]	ang [ɐŋ]	ap, op [ɐp]	at [ɐt]	ak [ɐk]
e [ɛː]	ei [ei]				eng [ɛːŋ]			ek [ɛːk]
i [iː]		iu [iːu]	im [iːm]	in [iːn]	ing [ɪŋ]	ip [iːp]	it [iːt]	ik [ɪk]
oh [ɔː]	oi [ɔːi]	o [ou]		on [ɔːn]	ong [ɔːŋ]		ot [ɔːt]	ok [ɔːk]
oo [uː]	ooi [uːi]			oon [uːn]	ung [ʊŋ]		oot [uːt]	uk [ʊk]
oeh [œː]		ui [ɵy]		un [ɵn]	eung [œːŋ]		ut [ɵt]	euk [œːk]
ue [yː]				uen [yːn]			uet [yːt]
			m [m̩]		ng [ŋ̩]

The finals m and ng can only be used as standalone nasal syllables.

Tones

Unlike most Cantonese romanization systems, Meyer-Wempe indicates the entering tones, for a total of ten tones.

Tone description	Example
upper even	a
upper rising	á
upper going	à
middle entering	àt
upper even	a
upper entering	at
low even	ā
lower rising	ǎ
lower going	â
lower entering	ât

Further Information

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