Meyer-Wempe
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The Meyer-Wempe romanisation system was developed by two Catholic missionaries in Hong Kong, Bernhard F. Meyer and Theodore F. Wempe, during the 1920s and 1930s.
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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] |
| ch, ts [ts] | ch [tsʰ] | s, sh [s] | |
| kw [kw] | k'w [kʰw] | i, y [j] | oo, w [w] |
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Finals
| a [ɑː] | aai [ɑːi] | aau [ɑːu] | aam [ɑːm] | aan [ɑːn] | aang [ɑːŋ] | aap [ɑːp] | aat [ɑːt] | aak [ɑːk] |
| 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.
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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 |
