37.3125, Books: A History of the Romanisation Interdialectique Transcription System for Chinese, 1931–1952: Saarela (2026)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-37-3125. Wed Sep 30 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.3125, Books: A History of the Romanisation Interdialectique Transcription System for Chinese, 1931–1952: Saarela (2026)

Moderator: Steven Moran (linguist at linguistlist.org)
Managing Editor: Valeriia Vyshnevetska
Team: Helen Aristar-Dry, Daniel Swanson
Jobs: jobs at linguistlist.org | Conferences: callconf at linguistlist.org | Pubs: pubs at linguistlist.org

Homepage: http://linguistlist.org

Editor for this issue: Daniel Swanson <daniel at linguistlist.org>

================================================================


Date: 30-Sep-2026
From: Rosanna Woensdregt [rosanna.woensdregt at degruyterbrill.com]
Subject: A History of the Romanisation Interdialectique Transcription System for Chinese, 1931–1952: Saarela (2026)


Title: A History of the Romanisation Interdialectique Transcription
System for Chinese, 1931–1952
Series Title: Brill Research Perspectives in Linguistics
Publication Year: 2026

Publisher: De Gruyter Brill
           https://www.degruyterbrill.com/?changeLang=en
Book URL: https://brill.com/display/title/74262

Author(s): Mårten Söderblom Saarela

Paperback ISBN: 978-90-04-75733-2
E-book ISBN (PDF): 978-90-04-77496-4
DOI: 10.1163/9789004774964

Abstract:

A study of how the science of diachronic linguistics merged with the
will to reform language in the Catholic missionary milieu of
Republican China. In focus is a romanization of the Chinese language
that was proposed in 1931 by two missionaries in Manchuria. The
inventors of the new system claimed that their so-called 'Romanisation
Interdialectique' (R.I.) could spell all dialects of Chinese using a
single orthography. This feat was, allegedly, made possible by the
reliance on the latest achievements of historical linguistics. R.I.
quickly gained traction in missionary circles, but its history came to
an end when the Communist authorities expelled foreign missionaries
after 1949.
Readership: Historians of modern China, the history of science
(especially linguistics), and Sino-European contacts, as well as
linguists.

Linguistic Field(s): History of Linguistics
                     Philosophy of Language
                     Writing Systems

Subject Language(s): Chinese (zho)

Language Family(ies): Chinese

Written In: English (eng, stan1293)



------------------------------------------------------------------------------

********************** LINGUIST List Support ***********************
Please consider donating to the Linguist List, a U.S. 501(c)(3) not for profit organization:

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=87C2AXTVC4PP8

LINGUIST List is supported by the following publishers:

Australian Linguistics Society https://als.asn.au/Home

Bloomsbury Publishing http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/

Cambridge University Press http://www.cambridge.org/linguistics

Cascadilla Press http://www.cascadilla.com/

De Gruyter Brill https://www.degruyterbrill.com/?changeLang=en

Edinburgh University Press http://www.edinburghuniversitypress.com

European Language Resources Association (ELRA) http://www.elra.info

John Benjamins http://www.benjamins.com/

Language Science Press http://langsci-press.org

Lincom GmbH https://lincom-shop.eu/

MDPI Languages https://www.mdpi.com/journal/languages

MIT Press http://mitpress.mit.edu/

Multilingual Matters http://www.multilingual-matters.com/

Narr Francke Attempto Verlag GmbH + Co. KG http://www.narr.de/

Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics / Landelijke (LOT) http://www.lotpublications.nl/

Peter Lang AG http://www.peterlang.com

SIL International Publications http://www.sil.org/resources/publications


----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-37-3125
----------------------------------------------------------