关于小比例尺地图上 我国地名罗马化的几点设想

On the Romanization of Geographical Names in China as Adopted on Small Scale Maps

我国地名的罗马化长期存在分歧混乱。《汉语拼音方案》法定后椐以拼写的我国地名,经联合国地名会议通过,已成为中国地名的国际标准。在小比例尺地图上,为了图面清晰,如何处理地名的拼写,本文提出四点建议。 (1)现行汉字版小比例尺地图上,对专名为双音节或多音节的县名的通名县字往往脱落,而当专名为单音节时,通名保留并和专名联写。这在体例上似乎存在矛盾,其实是符合现代汉语习惯的。(2)少数民族自治县行政单位驻地名称大都用一长串汉字称说。现在汉字版地图上有的标全称,有的标简称。在罗马化时以采用简称为宜。(3)台湾方面地名的音译沿用威妥玛式。台湾已于1984年制订了《国语注音符号》第二式,并于1986年公告正式使用。如果它也适用于地名的罗马化,在一国两制的前提下,我们今后出版的地图上也宜采用。(4)现行的地名罗马化的地图集中,对多音节县名只标专名,不见通名,但其所附的地名索引中则专名和通名并列,并分写。而对单音节县名,在图面上专名和通名并列并联写。但在索引中则分写,形成图面和索引的矛盾。国际电信联盟对我国的多音节县名略去通名,对单音节县名则专名和通名并列,并联写。这正和图面相同,有利于地名标准的推广。此外,本文还列举大量统计,说明单音节县名是古代遗留下来的,不合现代汉语习惯。这对今后我国地名的标准化也有深远的参考意义。

As there had been no less than 35 systems of spelling Chinese characters into Roman alphabets, the geographical names in China had been diversely rendered in different languages. Since the UN conference on the standardization of geographical names has resolved in 1977 that the Chinese Phonetic Alphabets (Pinyin) be adopted as the international system for the romanization of Chinese geographical names, the chaotic situation has been largely eliminated. To improve the clarity of the topographic details and other aspects on small scale maps, this paper brings up the following proposals. (1) When the specific part of county names in Chinese characters is multi-sylabic,the generic part is generally dropped on small scale maps, while mono-sylabic it is retained. Although this prac tice seems to be inconsistant in form and arrangement, it should be followed as it conforms itself with the contemporary spoken language. (2) The names of the counties self-governed by minority nationalities consist generally of a lengthy groups of Chinese characters. These names are called sometimes in full and sometimes in abbreviation. It is suggested that the short form be adopted on small scale maps. (3) In the province of Taiwan the Wade-Giles system has been adopted in romanizing the Chinese characters. The local ministry of education has, however, set up a system in 1984 called Chinese Annotation System Ⅱ which is very similar to the Pinyin. If the local authority deems it ap- plicable to the geographical names, it should be adopted in maps of Taiwan to be published hereafter. (4) In the prevailing atlas of China, if the county names are multi-sylabic, only the specific part is shown. While in the attached gazetteer both specific and generic parts are shown but separat ed in spelling, thus causing an inconsistancy between the arlas and the gazetteer. In international telegraphic communication, when the county name is multi-sylabic the generic part is also dropped, but when mono-sylabic it is retained. It coincides with the practice adopted by the atlas and helps to effect the UN resolution on the standardization of geographical names. In addition to the above mentioned items, this paper enumerates a large amount of mono-sylabic geographical names in China to show that they are inherited from historic usage and somewhat inconsistant with the current practice. It is hoped to be helpful to the work on the standardization of Chinese geographical names.