User talk:Geographyinitiative

燕岗 and 燕岗南

Hello, I have noticed that you recently moved the Category:Yan'gang Railway Station and Category:Yan'gangnan Railway Station to Category:Yangang Railway Station and Category:Yangangnan Railway Station under the justification that such ' is not needed. This is not correct. In Hanyu Pinyin, when syllabus ends with n or ng, it's also necessary to add ' to avoid confusion. [1][2] MNXANL (talk) 01:04, 4 June 2024 (UTC)

@MNXANL: 汉语拼音方案 "五 隔音符号 a,o,e 开头的音节连接在其他音节后面的时候,如果音节的界限发生混淆,用隔音符号(')隔开,例如:pi'ao(皮袄)." Apostrophes in Hanyu Pinyin: when and where to use them "Put an apostrophe before any syllable that begins with a, e, or o, unless that syllable comes at the beginning of a word or immediately follows a hyphen or other dash.....Under the rules of Hanyu Pinyin, an apostrophe will never come between an n and a g." --Geographyinitiative (talk) 01:12, 4 June 2024 (UTC)

Why citing outdated materials when there's a new one? The rule listed in the《凡例》of《现代汉语词典》(2007) is more updated and justifiable. Also, the authenticity of the website pinyin.info is suspicious - more like a personal blog. MNXANL (talk) 01:18, 4 June 2024 (UTC)

@MNXANL: I am glad to see someone so interested in this issue. Let me ask you this: Why is "Henan" (河南省) spelled without a 隔音符号? In your view, "Henan" could be either "he" and "nan" 河南 or "hen" and "an" 很暗. In my view, the reason "Henan" is spelled without a 隔音符号 is because a 隔音符号 is only used before an a, o, or e. So you automatically KNOW that "Henan" means "he" and "nan" (河南) because if it were "hen" and "an" (很暗) it would be written as "Hen'an". So there's no ambiguity. This applies to "Yangang" as well. "Yangang" can ONLY refer to 'yan' and 'gang' (燕崗) since a word made up of 'yang' and 'ang' (杨昂) would be spelled as "Yang'ang". Let me know what you think. Thanks again! --Geographyinitiative (talk) 09:16, 4 June 2024 (UTC)

I believe when romanizing the place names, we should follow the general rule, which I pasted above. Sometimes the missing ' does not mean there is no ambiguity - this is particularly true for less-known place names like 燕岗. I can also find in some occasions, 河南 was romanized as "He-nan" or "He'nan". MNXANL (talk) 13:36, 4 June 2024 (UTC)

link #2: "If the previous syllable ends with -n or -ng and the next syllable begins with a vowel, add a diacritical mark in between." -- Tim Wu (talk) 13:57, 4 June 2024 (UTC)

@MNXANL and TimWu007: Thanks for your replies. I will do more research. Thanks for caring about this. Geographyinitiative (talk) 17:28, 4 June 2024 (UTC)