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BOOK REVIEWS
writes for example 2 ku and ki to capture another possible complementation instead. This discussion is of some meaning to linguists but is uninteresting to the point of exasperation for almost everyone else in the field. Presumably we would all speak better in other dialects where such problems in complementary distribution do not affect the romanization.
However, the real point here is that what is perfect for the militant linguist may in fact not be the most helpful for the beginning student, for the scholar in another discipline, or for the outsider who would like to make some reasonable approximation of the native word when he responds to a romanized form. There is no reason why we could not try to satisfy all these people; it is simply a matter of admitting that parts of every potential system will offend some and please others. Once we agree to agree almost any of the proposed systems would do. It is this initial agreement that seems to be difficult.
All this brings me to the book under review. Professor Anderson is primarily concerned with presenting a transcription system which he calls Simplified Wade. His purpose is to modify Wade-Giles so that it is still readily recognizable but now in a form written entirely without diacritical marks.
One of the major innovations of the Anderson system is to substitute -h- for the Wade-Giles apostrophe marking aspiration; e.g., Wade-Giles ch'i, t'u, p'u, and k'u become Anderson chhi, thu, phu, and khu. The circumflex is omitted, as indeed it is by many writers today since it is not distinctive in any occurrence. The umlaut is optional in the Anderson system; it is in fact non-distinctive in Wade-Giles except in WG yu and yü which Anderson suggests be written you and yu respectively if the umlaut is not convenient on one's typewriter. The apical vowels are written y; e.g., WG szu ‘four' is Anderson sy. WG initial j- is Anderson r-.
A second major departure from Wade-Giles is that in which Anderson marks the tones with unpronounced letters following the syllable as below:
1st tone no letter
2nd tone -P
3rd tone -X
4th tone -Z
ma for WG ma1
mav for WG ma2
max for WG ma3
maz for WG ma4