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Mandarin Phonetic Symbols II (國語注音符號第二式), abbreviated MPS II, is a romanization system formerly used in the Republic of China ( Taiwan). It was created to replace the complex tonal-spelling Gwoyeu Romatzyh, and to co-exist with the popular Wade-Giles (romanization) and Zhuyin (non-romanization). MPS2 has been abandoned since 2000, officially supplanted by Tongyong Pinyin.

1 History

Based on the earlier and complex Gwoyeu Romatzyh, the tentative version of MPS II was released on May 10, 1984 by the Ministry of Education. After two years of feedback from the general public, the official version was established on January 28, 1986. To distinguish Zhuyin from the Mandarin Phonetic Symbols II ("Mandarin Zhuyin Symbols II"), the first Zhuyin is officially called "Mandarin Phonetic Symbols I" (國語注音符號第一式).

Despite its official status for over two decades until it was replaced by Tongyong Pinyin in 2000, MPS II existed only in some governmental publications (such as travel brochures and dictionaries). However, MPS II was not used for the official Romanized names of Taiwanese places. It never gained the same status as its Wade-Giles. In mainstream overseas communities, it is virtually unused and unheard of.

2 Features

Tonal spelling of Gwoyeu Romatzyh is eliminated, and syllables of all tones are spelled identical (as in Gwoyeu Romatzyh's tone one). And the four diacriticA diacritic mark or accent mark is an additional mark added to a basic letter. The word derives from Greek , distinguishing and diacritical is used to mean distinguishing or distinctive. The mark can be added over, under, or through the letter. But not als representing the tones are identical to Zhuyin's.

• The Romanization of the consonants is identical to Gwoyeu Romatzyh's.
• It uses r for both:
  • ㄖ (pinyin r), and
  • what is written in pinyin as i after zh, ch, sh, r. (Although this use of r has a tonal diacritic on it and is always final.) This use is identical to YaleThe Yale Romanizations are four systems created during World War II by the United States for its soldiers. They romanize the four East Asian languages of Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, and Korean. The four romanizations, however, are unrelated in the sens.
• It uses z for both:
  • ㄗ (pinyin z), and
  • what is written in pinyin as i after z, c, s. (Although this use of z has a tonal diacritic on it and is always final.) This use is somewhat like YaleThe Yale Romanizations are four systems created during World War II by the United States for its soldiers. They romanize the four East Asian languages of Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, and Korean. The four romanizations, however, are unrelated in the sens.
    • The z is not written after tz (i.e., no tzz), however. Tz corresponds to Pinyin zi.
• Like Gwoyeu Romatzyh, -iou, -uen, and -uei are all written out, unlike the PinyinPinyin (, pinyin) literally means "join together sounds" (a less literal translation being "phoneticize", "spell" or "transcription") in Chinese and usually refers to Hany pinyin (, literal meaning: " Han language pinyin"), which is a system of romanizati/ Wade -iu, -un, and -ui.
• Gwoyeu Romatzyh's au persists (as opposed to the ao of Pinyin, Wade-Giles, and the later Tongyong Pinyin.)
• Gwoyeu Romatzyh's iu (Pinyin ü) is written as -iu and yu (alone).
• Gwoyeu Romatzyh's -ong is spelled now -ung (like Wade-Giles).
• Gwoyeu Romatzyh's el is spelled now er (like Pinyin).
• Y- and w- are added to or replace i and u (respectively) in ways similar to Gwoyeu Romatzyh and identical to Pinyin.

An example of MPS II: "國語注音符號第二式" is written as guó-yǔ jù-yin fú-hàu dì-èr shr̀. Compare with pinyin, which writes it as guóyǔ zhùyin fúhào dì'èr shì.