5. The scope of Toponymic Guidelines - 2. Writing system(s) and pronunciation

2. Writing system(s) and pronunciation

• Which writing-system is used (officially or otherwise) for the country’s language(s)?

• Is there more than one writing-system in use?

• In case of a non-Roman writing-system, which transliteration key is recommended for rendering geographical names in Roman script (if any)? See also the web site of official transscription systems!

Example of officially recobnised transcription system:

• If the writing-system is an alphabet, which letters does it contain?

Examples of national alphabets from varioustoponymic guidelines:

• Are there special signs (diacritical marks, non-standard Roman letters) included?

• Which writing-system is used (officially or otherwise) for the country’s language(s)?

• What is the alphabetisation, i.e. the sequence of the letters in the alphabet?

• As far as the alphabet use is phonetic, which (combinations of) letters represent which sounds?

 

In Austria:

• Standard German is written in the Roman script.

• The alphabet is augmented with a non-standard Roman letter ß (‘scharfes s’) and one diacritical mark for vowel discrimination (a diaeresis or ‘Umlaut’ to be combined with a, o or u).

• Of ß only a lower-case variant exists; where capitalization is needed, it is transliterated by ss.

• Previously another variant of the Roman script was in use, called German or Gothic script. Nowadays it does not occur anymore, and it is therefore not further explained.

• As German spelling is not always clearly indicative of pronunciation, especially in the case of geographical names (which often show an archaic spelling, or originate from another language or dialects).

• The pronunciation of the names of Austrian settlements is listed name by name in a Gazetteer of Austria. The Gazetteer uses the IPA-alphabet.

• A general pronunciation key is nevertheless presented in the Guidelines.

 

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