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Tibetan pinyin

Official transcription system for the Tibetan language in China

Pö yig Kigajor}}}}-- The SASM/GNC/SRC romanization of Standard Tibetan, commonly known as Tibetan pinyin or ZWPY (), is the official transcription system for the Tibetan language in China. It is based on the pronunciation used by China National Radio's Tibetan Radio, which is based on the Lhasa dialect. It has been used within China and international cartographic products as an alternative to the Wylie transliteration for writing Tibetan in the Latin script since 1982.

Tibetan pinyin is a phonetic transcription, and as such its spelling is tied to actual pronunciation (although tone is not marked). Wylie on the other hand is a transliteration system, where mechanical conversion to and from Tibetan and Latin script is possible. Within academic circles, Wylie transliteration (with a v replacing the apostrophe) is more commonly used.

Overview

Onsets overview

Independent onsets in the initial syllable of a word are transcribed as follows:

g	k	ng	j	q	ny	d	t	n	b	p	m	z	c	w	x	s	y	r	l	h	gy	ky	hy	zh	ch	sh	lh	rh

For more general case, see #Onsets.

Vowels and final consonant

The 17 vowels of the Lhasa dialect are represented in as follows:

IPA	Tibetan
pinyin	IPA	Tibetan
pinyin
	i		in
	ê		en
	ai/ä		ain/än
	a		an
	u		un
	ô		on
	o		ǒn
	ü		ün
	oi/ö		oin/ön

Ending a syllable, -r is usually not pronounced, but it lengthens the preceding vowel. In the same place, -n usually nasalises the preceding vowel. Consonants at the end of a syllable are transcribed as follows:

IPA	Tibetan
pinyin
	b/•
	g/—
	r
	m
	ng

Single syllable orthography

The tone of a syllable depends mostly on its initial consonant. In this table, each initial is given in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) with the vowel a and a tone mark to present tone register (high/low).

Onsets

Below is a comprehensive transcription table of onsets of an initial syllable of a word. If the syllable to transcribe is not the first syllable of a word, see #Onset variation.

Wylie transliteration	Tibetan pinyin	THL
p, sp, dp, lp	b	p
rb, sb, sbr	b	b
lb, ’b	b	b
ph, ’ph	p	p
b	p	b
bh	bh	bh
rm, sm, dm, smr	m	m
m, mr	m	m
w, db, b	w	w
t, rt, lt, st, tw, gt, bt, brt, blt, bst, bld	d	t
rd, sd, gd, bd, brd, bsd	d	d
lth	d
zl, bzl, ld, md, ’d	d	d
th, mth, ’th	t	t
d, dw	t	d
rn, sn, gn, brn, bsn, mn	n	n
n	n	n
kl, gl, bl, rl, sl, brl, bsl	l	l
l, lw	l	l
lh	lh	lh
ts, rts, sts, rtsw, stsw, gts, bts, brts, bsts	z	ts
rdz, gdz, brdz	z	dz
mdz, ’dz	z	dz
tsh, tshw, mtsh, ’tsh	c	ts
dz	c	dz
s, sr, sw, gs, bs, bsr	s	s
z, zw, gz, bz	s	z
kr, rkr, lkr, skr, tr, pr, lpr, spr, dkr, dpr, bkr, bskr, bsr	zh	tr
rgr, lgr, sgr, dgr, dbr, bsgr, rbr, lbr, sbr	zh	dr
mgr, ’gr, ’dr, ’br	zh	dr
khr, thr, phr, mkhr, ’khr, ’phr	ch	tr
gr, dr, br, grw	ch	dr
hr	sh	hr
r, rw	r	r
rh	rh
ky, rky, lky, sky, dky, bky, brky, bsky	gy	ky
rgy, lgy, sgy, dgy, bgy, brgy, bsgy	gy	gy
mgy, ’gy	gy	gy
khy, mkhy, ’khy	ky	khy
gy	ky	gy
hy	hy	hy
c, cw, gc, bc, lc, py, lpy, spy, dpy	j	ch
rby, lby, sby, rj, gj, brj	j	j
lj, mj, ’j, ’by	j	j
ch, mch, ’ch, phy, ’phy	q	ch
j, by	q	j
sh, shw, gsh, bsh	x	sh
zh, zhw, gzh, bzh	x	zh
rny, sny, gny, brny, bsny, mny, nyw, rmy, smy	ny	ny
ny, my	ny	ny
g.y	y	y
y, dby	y	y
k, rk, lk, sk, kw, dk, bk, brk, bsk	g	k
rg, lg, sg, dg, bg, brg, bsg	g	g
lg, mg, ’g	g	g
kh, khw, mkh, ’kh	k	kh
g, gw	k	g
rng, lng, sng, dng, brng, bsng, mng	ng	ng
ng	ng	ng
—, db	—	—
’	—	—
h, hw	h	h

Rimes

Below is a comprehensive transcription table of rimes of a final syllable of a word, with IPA transcription for the Lhasa dialect. If the syllable to transcribe is not the final syllable of a word, see Coda variation.

Take "ཨ" to be the consonant (not "◌").

IPA

Intersyllable influence

Onset variation

; Bare low aspirated variation

k*, q*, t*, p*, x*, s*, ky*, ch* become g*, j*, d*, b*, ?, *?, gy, zh* respectively
pa* (་བ) and po* (་བོ) become wa and wo respectively

Coda variation

Sometimes there is intersyllabic influence:

Tibetan script	Tibetan pinyin	Wylie (EWTS)	Explanation
[](mapam-yumtso)	Mapam Yumco	ma-pham g.yu-mtsho	forward shift of prefix མ
[](tradruk-temple)	Changzhug Gönba	khra-’brug dgon-pa	shift of the prefix འ (ཨ་ཆུང a chung),
creating a final nasal consonant

Encoding

The IETF language tag for Tibetan pinyin is .

Examples

Wylie	Tibetan pinyin	THL	other transcriptions
Gzhis-ka-rtse	Xigazê	Zhikatse	Shigatse, Shikatse
Bkra-shis-lhun-po	Zhaxilhünbo	Trashilhünpo	Tashilhunpo, Tashilhümpo, etc.
’Bras-spung	Zhaibung	Dräpung	Drebung
Chos-kyi Rgyal-mtshan	Qoigyi Gyaicain	Chökyi Gyältshän	Choekyi Gyaltsen
Thub-bstan Rgya-mtsho	Tubdain Gyaco	Thuptän Gyatsho	Thubten Gyatso, Thubtan Gyatso, Thupten Gyatso

Notes

References

Citations

Sources

Guójiā cèhuìjú dìmíng yánjiūsuǒ 国家测绘局地名研究所 (Institute for Place Names of the State Survey Bureau; ed.). Zhōngguó dìmínglù 中国地名录 /** Gazetteer of China**. (Beijing, SinoMaps Press 中国地图出版社 1997); . Contains official spellings for place names.
Zàngwén Pīnyīn Jiàocái – Lāsàyīn 藏文拼音教材•拉萨音 / bod yig gi sgra sbyor slob deb, lha sa'i skad (Course in the Pöyig Kigajor of Lhasa dialect; Běijīng 北京, Mínzú chūbǎnshè 民族出版社 1983), . Pöyig Kigajor (ZWPY) is a modified version of the official transcription "Tibetan pinyin" (ZYPY), with tone letters.
Wylie, Turrell: A Standard System of Tibetan Transcription In: Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 1959, p. 261-267.
David Germano, Nicolas Tournadre: THL Simplified Phonetic Transcription of Standard Tibetan (Tibetan & Himalayan Library, December 12, 2003).
The Transliteration and Transcription of Tibetan (Tibetan & Himalayan Library)
Romanization of Tibetan Geographical Names – UNGEGN

References

{{harvp. Shǎoshù mínzúyǔ dìmíng Hànyǔ pīnyīn zìmǔ yīnyì zhuǎnxiěfǎ
[http://www.eki.ee/wgrs/rom1_bo.pdf Romanization of Tibetan Geographical Names] – [[UNGEGN]]
(2014-04-10). "一种基于拼音的藏文智能输入法".
(2018-06-03). "Geographical names of Tibet AR (China)". Institute of the Estonian Language.
Brush, Beaumont. "The Status of Coronal in the Historical Development of Lhasa Tibetan Rhymes". SIL.
"Language subtag registry". IANA.

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