Touq Tsh’c   

The Touq Tsh’c script was created in April 2006 by Christopher Yale Tang
(唐泰川) to write his dialect of Chinese, Yoz Yangq Fad.
In March 2006, after one of his classmates showed Christopher his “discovery”
that Yoz Yangq Fad in Yueyang was greatly influenced by Mandarin Chinese,
Christopher came up with the idea that he could devise a romanization system
for the dialect. The new script for Yoz Yangq Fad was inspired by the doodlings
Christopher saw around his campus, and it’s name, Touq Tsh’c (涂字),
means ‘doodling characters’.

Yoz Yangq Fad (岳阳话 yuè yáng huà)
is the dialect spoken by about 0.7 million people, mainly in the city of Yueyang
in the northeast of Hunan Province, China. Another 1.8 million or so residents
in Yueyang, Miluo and Lingxiang Counties speak a dialect very close to Yoz Yangq
Fad. Yoz Yangq Fad is a branch of Xiang/Hunanese (湘语/湖南话)
and is a typical new Xiang.

Notable features

• In the system there are 24 consonants, 36 vowels, 8 tones and
  a neutral tone. The tones are represented by particular letters added to
  the end of each syllable, while no letter represents the neutral tone.
• Consonants, vowels and tones are written together, but you can
  do that in various ways in order to make them look more elegant.
• A double slash indicates a repeated syllable
• A circle is used to represent the vowel /ɪ/ in Touq Tsh’c, while
  an apostrophe is used for this vowel in the Latin transliteration.
• Punctuation is the same as Chinese

Touq Tsh’c consonants

Touq Tsh’c vowels

Notes

• ph, th, kh, tsh are the aspirated versions of p, t, k, ts
• r is not retroflex, whereas it is in Mandarin
• cg sounds like j in just; ch sounds like ch in china; sh sounds like sh in ship
• nj sounds like ñ in español (Spanish)
• j sounds like y in yes; w sounds like w in wet; y sounds like u in tu (French)
• ae sounds like a in cat

Touq Tsh’c tone indication

Sample text in Touq Tsh’c

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They
are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another
in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

If you have any questions about Touq Tsh’c, you can contact Christopher at
tangtaichuan[at]yahoo[dot]com[dot]cn