Romanization
- Romanization refers to the process of representing non-Latin or vernacular scripts into Roman (Latin) Alphabet.
- Transliteration, on the other hand, literally refers to converting one script into another.
- Harvard Library uses the American Library Association and Library of Congress Romanization tables for the bibliographic description of non-Latin resources.
- Links to ALA-LC Romanization tables are available at the Library of Congress Website: ALA-LC Romanization Tables
ARABIC: Quick suggestions for searching Arabic resources in HOLLIS:
- Diacritics are not needed for searching
- Initial definite article (al-) is omitted
- Note middle definite articles are retained: For example: Isharat wa-al-tanbihat
- Taa marbutah - ends with an "h" and not an "a": For example: Mutasawwifah
- Pre-fixes and preposition are followed by a hyphen
PERSIAN: Quick suggestions for searching Persian resources in HOLLIS:
- The above points on Arabic script apply to Persian.
- Keyboard: When searching for Persian resources pay attention to two forms of final ي vs. ی. The UNICODE of the Persian keyboard vs. the UNICODE of the Arabic keyboard provide different results. For example: فردوسي and فردوسی
- Different transliteration systems may produce different results on HOLLIS. Specifically, those transliteration systems (like Iranica) that are closer to modern standard Persian, produce less accurate results. Example: Ferdowsi and Firdausi
- Materials published after 2009 may not exist in Romanized. Instead they may only be accessible through the vernacular script. (Try both)
HEBREW: Quick suggestions for searching Hebrew resources in HOLLIS (adapted from Ornan and Leket-Mor, 2016; Biella, Fryser, and Lerner 2014)
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The letter ה is always represented by h whether they indicating a consonant or a vowel
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The definite article ה, the conjunction ו, and the prepositions ל ,מ ,כ and ב written as prefixes in Hebrew script, are separated by hyphenation from the words to which they are prefixed in Romanization.
- However, multiple prefixed articles conjunctions, and prepositions are clustered together such that they are separated by ONLY one hyphen EXCEPT when one of the prefixes is the first word of a title.
- Every sheva in an initial syllables are sheva na' and are Romanized as an "e" regardless of their pronunciation. This includes instances in which sheva na' results from vowel reduction.
- Diacritics are used differently than in some transliteration systems and are restricted to the following: ṿ, ṭ, ḳ, ḥ, and ś.
- For the Romanization conventions of Geresh, Gershayim, and Miagkĭi Znak see Biella, Fryser, and Lerner 2014 (link below).
- In Romanization there is no distinction between dagesh ḥazaḳ (a.k.a "forte") and dagesh ḳal (a.k.a. "lene") and dagesh is noted to distinguish between /b/ and /v/, /k/ or /kh/, and /p/ or /f/ for כ ,ב, and פ respectively.
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When א is word-initial or syllable-final (including word-final), it is disregarded in Romanization. It is also omitted when used to indicate the presence of a vowel. When the Alef carries its own vowel, the character (’) is used to Romanize the letter, whereas (‘) is used for ע.
Works Cited and Further Reading:
Biella, Joan, Benjamin Fryser, and Heidi Lerner. 2014. Hebraica Cataloging, RDA, A Guide to ALA/LC Romanization and Descriptive Cataloging, Draft, June 2014. Israel/Judai-ca Section Library of Congress, accessed January 1, 2015, http://rascat.pbworks.com/w/page/144076554/Documentation.
Molavi, Fereshteh. “Main Issues in Cataloging Persian Language Materials in North America.” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 43, no. 2 (December 8, 2006): 77–82.
Ornan, Uzzi, and Rachel Leket-Mor. “Phonemic Conversion as the Ideal Romanization Scheme for Hebrew: Implications for Hebrew Cataloging.” Judaica Librarianship 19, no. 1 (2016): 43–72.
For a history of Romanization practices outside of library cataloging see (e.g.):
Ayturk, Ilker. “Script Charisma in Hebrew and Turkish: A Comparative Framework for Explaining Success and Failure of Romanization.” Journal of World History 21, no. 1 (2010): 97–130. https://doi.org/10.1353/jwh.0.0106.