Hepburn - Definition

For other meanings, see Hepburn (disambiguation).

The Hepburn romanization system (Japanese: ヘボン式 Hebon-shiki) was devised by Reverend James Curtis Hepburn to transcribe the sounds of the Japanese language into the Roman alphabet for his Japanese–English dictionary, published in 1867. This system is sometimes referred to as Hyōjun-shiki (標準式) (standard style).

The original and revised variants of Hepburn remain by far the most popular methods of transcription of Japanese. It gives the best indication to an English speaker of how the word is pronounced in modern Japanese. In Japan, many younger people are familiar with the Roman alphabet through the study of English and thus find Hepburn more comfortable than the alternative Monbushō system.

Legal status

Hepburn is based on English phonology, not Japanese, and as such has faced some opposition in Japan. In particular, a September 21, 1937 cabinet ordinance proclaimed an alternative system now commonly known as Kunrei to be Japan's official romanization for all purposes, but this was overturned by the SCAP during the Occupation of Japan. The (slightly revised) ordinance was reissued in 1954, to little effect.

In 1972, Modified Hepburn was codified as ANSI standard Z39.11-1972. It was proposed in 1989 as a draft for ISO 3602, but rejected in favor of Kunrei. The Z39.11-1972 standard was consequently deprecated on October 6, 1994.

However, despite its lack of de jure status, Hepburn remains the de facto standard. In Japan, all official signs (street signs, warnings, notices, etc) are romanized in Hepburn or, increasingly, modified Hepburn. JR and all the other transportation systems (buses, subways, other train systems, aeroplanes, etc) use Hepburn or modified Hepburn. Signs and notices in city offices and police stations use Hepburn or modified Hepburn. Signs at shrines, temples and attractions use Hepburn or modified Hepburn. Newspapers and TV use Hepburn or modified Hepburn. Cities and prefectures use Hepburn or modified Hepburn. Publications by the Japanese Foreign Ministry use Hepburn. Official tourism information put out by the government uses Hepburn or modified Hepburn, as do all guidebooks, local and foreign, on Japan. Students of Japanese as a foreign language usually learn Hepburn or modified Hepburn.

Features of Hepburn romanization

The main feature of Hepburn is that its spelling is based on English phonology. More technically, where syllables constructed systematically according to the Japanese syllabary contain the "unstable" consonant for the modern spoken language, the orthography is changed to something that, as an English speaker would pronounce it, better matches the real sound, for example し is written shi not *si.

Particles

• When he へ is used as a particle it is written e.
• When ha は is used as a particle it is written wa.
• When wo を is used as a particle it is written o.

Long vowels

• The long vowels o and u are indicated by a macron, for example long o is written ō.
• In words of Japanese or Chinese origin, the long vowel e is written ei.
• In words of Japanese or Chinese origin, the long vowel i is written ii.
• In words of foreign origin, all long vowels are indicated by macrons.

Other

• Syllable-final n ん is written as n before consonants but as n' before vowels and y.
  • In original Hepburn, this sound is written m before other labial consonants. This convention was eliminated in revised Hepburn.
• Geminate consonants are marked by doubling the consonant following the っ, except for sh→ssh, ch→tch.

Variations

Variations of the Hepburn system indicate the long vowels ō and ū as follows:

• Tōkyō: indicated with macrons (standard).
• Tôkyô: indicated with circumflexes (surrogate use, outdated)
• Tokyo: not indicated at all (common for Japanese words that have been adopted into English).
• Tohkyoh: indicated with an "h". This is sometimes known as "passport Hepburn", as the Japanese Foreign Ministry has authorized (but not required) this usage in passports. [1] (http://www.seikatubunka.metro.tokyo.jp/hebon/)
• Toukyou: written using hiragana spelling: ō as ou and ū as uu. This is sometimes called wāpuro style, as this is how text is entered into a Japanese word processor (wādo purosessā) using a keyboard with Roman characters.

For words of foreign origin, it is also common to use doubled vowels instead of the macrons, ie. paatii for パーティー ("party") instead of pātī.

Some linguists object to Hepburn, as it does not transcribe Japanese phonetic structures, inflections, or conjugations properly. Supporters argue that Hepburn is not intended as a linguistic tool, and that IPA should be used in such contexts instead.

Modified vs original Hepburn

The original version of Hepburn writes syllabic n ん as m before the consonants p, b and m. Modified Hepburn, adopted by the Library of Congress among others, always writes syllabic n as n.

Hepburn romanization charts

For hiragana

The characters in red are obsolete in modern Japanese.

For standard katakana

The characters in red are obsolete in modern Japanese.

For extended katakana

These are used mainly to represent the sounds in words in other languages. Most of these are not formally standardized and some are very rarely used.