CT Transliteration Theory & Principles 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which principle distinguishes transliteration from transcription?
- Transliteration maps characters to characters, while transcription maps sounds to characters (Correct answer)
- Transliteration converts meaning, while transcription converts grammar
- Transliteration is used only for Asian scripts, while transcription is universal
- Transliteration always uses the Latin alphabet, while transcription uses IPA only
Correct answer: Transliteration maps characters to characters, while transcription maps sounds to characters
Transliteration converts written characters to equivalent characters in another script, whereas transcription represents spoken sounds using phonetic notation.
Question 2: In reversible transliteration systems, what is the primary design goal?
- Aesthetic readability in the target script
- The ability to recover the original source text exactly (Correct answer)
- Minimizing the number of diacritics used
- Matching the pronunciation of native speakers
Correct answer: The ability to recover the original source text exactly
Reversible (bijective) transliteration systems are designed so that the original source text can be reconstructed without any information loss.
Question 3: Why do some transliteration standards use digraphs (two-letter combinations)?
- To represent source-script characters that have no single equivalent letter in the target script (Correct answer)
- To indicate word stress in the transliterated text
- To distinguish proper nouns from common nouns
- To comply with Unicode encoding requirements
Correct answer: To represent source-script characters that have no single equivalent letter in the target script
Digraphs like 'sh' or 'kh' are used when the target script lacks a single letter that corresponds to a source character, preserving a one-to-one mapping.
Question 4: What does the term 'romanization' specifically refer to?
- Transliteration into the Latin (Roman) alphabet (Correct answer)
- Translation of ancient Roman texts
- Converting text to Roman numerals
- Adapting text for Roman Catholic liturgical use
Correct answer: Transliteration into the Latin (Roman) alphabet
Romanization is the specific process of representing characters from non-Latin scripts using letters of the Latin (Roman) alphabet.
Question 5: How does the ALA-LC romanization standard approach the handling of aspirated consonants?
- It ignores aspiration entirely
- It uses a subscript dot beneath the consonant letter
- It places a superscript h after the consonant to mark aspiration (Correct answer)
- It doubles the consonant letter to signal aspiration
Correct answer: It places a superscript h after the consonant to mark aspiration
ALA-LC romanization uses a superscript h (or simply 'h' appended) after a consonant letter to represent aspirated stops found in scripts such as Devanagari.
Question 6: Which concept best describes a 'practical' transliteration system as opposed to a 'scholarly' one?
- Practical systems prioritize readability and ease of use over strict phonetic or orthographic accuracy (Correct answer)
- Practical systems are approved by the United Nations, while scholarly systems are peer-reviewed
- Practical systems use only diacritics, while scholarly systems avoid them
- Practical systems are designed for machine translation, while scholarly systems are for humans
Correct answer: Practical systems prioritize readability and ease of use over strict phonetic or orthographic accuracy
Practical transliteration systems sacrifice some precision to produce forms that are easier for general audiences to read and pronounce, unlike scholarly systems that aim for exactness.
Question 7: What is the role of diacritical marks in many scholarly transliteration standards?
- They indicate the part of speech of a word
- They mark distinctions between source-script characters that would otherwise map to the same Latin letter (Correct answer)
- They replace punctuation in transliterated texts
- They signal that a word is a proper noun
Correct answer: They mark distinctions between source-script characters that would otherwise map to the same Latin letter
Diacritics (e.g., macrons, dots, breves) allow a transliteration standard to represent more distinctions than the base Latin alphabet provides, ensuring each source character has a unique representation.
CT Transliteration Theory & Principles 2
Which principle distinguishes transliteration from transcription?