Nontrivial script fail, part 2
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Photograph from Neil Kubler of a sign in front of a gift shop in Penghu, Taiwan selling Pénghú wénshí 澎湖文石 ("Pescadores aragonite"); its name in Chinese, wénshí 文石 literally means "patterned stone", an apt characterization for this carbonate mineral which is favored by sculptors.
Detail of the sign focusing on a rare character that needs phonetic annotation:
The bopomofo ruby annotated character is yùn 韞 ("comprehend; comprise; consist of; embrace; involve; contain; hold in store; hide; conceal"). This character also has other pronunciations and meanings, for which see Wiktionary.
In the first part of this series (the photographic documentation for which also came from Neil Kubler) 14 years ago, I explain in great detail the need for such an ancillary tool and how it works.
Selected readings
- "Nontrivial script fail" (5/18/11)
- "Ruby phonetic annotation for Cantonese" (5/6/19)
- "Phonetic annotations as a welcome aid for learning how to read and write Sinographs" (4/26/19) — with dozens of additional posts on the value of phonetic annotation listed in the "Readings" section at the end
- "Furigana-like glossing in Mandarin" (8/11/16)
- "Roman-letter Mandarin pronoun of indeterminate gender " (8/9/16)
- "English as ruby annotation for Chinese" (11/16/14)
Jonathan Smith said,
December 31, 2025 @ 12:32 am
Deeper/sillier than that actually, as in many such cases one thinks "……OK what the hell is 韞" then learns/hears yùn and immediately thinks "…..OK what the hell is yùn." So many fake words…