CT IPA & Romanization Systems 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which romanization system for Mandarin Chinese is officially used by the People's Republic of China and adopted by the United Nations?
- Wade-Giles
- Pinyin (Correct answer)
- Zhuyin
- Yale
Correct answer: Pinyin
Pinyin (Hànyǔ Pīnyīn) is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese, adopted by the PRC in 1958 and recognized by the UN.
Question 2: In the IPA, which symbol represents the voiced bilabial stop?
- [p]
- [b] (Correct answer)
- [m]
- [v]
Correct answer: [b]
The symbol [b] represents the voiced bilabial stop in the IPA, produced by closing both lips with vocal cord vibration.
Question 3: The Hepburn romanization system was developed to romanize which language?
- Korean
- Thai
- Japanese (Correct answer)
- Vietnamese
Correct answer: Japanese
Hepburn romanization was developed by James Curtis Hepburn in the 19th century to represent Japanese sounds in the Latin alphabet.
Question 4: In IPA transcription, square brackets [ ] versus slashes / / indicate what distinction?
- Broad vs. narrow transcription
- Phonetic vs. phonemic transcription (Correct answer)
- Stressed vs. unstressed syllables
- Consonants vs. vowels
Correct answer: Phonetic vs. phonemic transcription
Slashes / / denote phonemic (abstract) transcription while square brackets [ ] denote phonetic transcription including allophonic detail.
Question 5: Which romanization system is used for the official transliteration of Korean by the South Korean government since 2000?
- McCune-Reischauer
- Yale Romanization
- Revised Romanization of Korean (Correct answer)
- Korean Phonetic Alphabet
Correct answer: Revised Romanization of Korean
The Revised Romanization of Korean replaced McCune-Reischauer as South Korea's official system in 2000, eliminating diacritics like breves and apostrophes.
Question 6: The IPA symbol [ʃ] represents which sound as heard in the English word 'shoe'?
- Voiced palatal fricative
- Voiceless palatal fricative
- Voiced postalveolar fricative
- Voiceless postalveolar fricative (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Voiceless postalveolar fricative
[ʃ] is the voiceless postalveolar fricative, produced without vocal cord vibration with the tongue near the postalveolar region.
Question 7: In romanization of Arabic, what does the symbol ʿ (ʿayn) represent?
- A glottal stop
- A pharyngeal fricative (Correct answer)
- A uvular stop
- A velar nasal
Correct answer: A pharyngeal fricative
The ʿayn (ʿ) represents the voiced pharyngeal fricative, a sound produced by constricting the pharynx, common in Arabic and other Semitic languages.
CT IPA & Romanization Systems 2
Which romanization system for Mandarin Chinese is officially used by the People's Republic of China and adopted by the United Nations?