Gwoyeu Romatzyh

Gwoyeu Romatzyh ({{zh-stp|s=国语罗马字|t=國語羅馬字|p=Guóyǔ Luómǎzì}}), abbreviated GR, is a romanization (formerly used officially in the Republic of China) with complex spelling rules which allow for tonal distinctions (unlike most other Romanizations, which require additional diacritics or numerals).

Cosmetic changes

In addition, for purposes of appearance and clarity, some vowels (all i, u, and sometimes e and o) occurring at the beginning of syllable in tones three and four should be replaced or preceded by another letter, provided that there will still be vowel left in the syllable and the changed syllable does not become identical with another.

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• i and e can be replaced or preceded by a y
• u and o can be replaced or preceded by a w

For syllables in tone three, the y or w should precede the first vowel, except in the cases of iee and uoo, when the y or w should replace the first vowel. For syllables in tone four, when the y or w should replace the first vowel, except that if i or u are complete syllables by themselves, they become yi or wu respectively.

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