[KS] Variable Romanization of 년(年) in McCune-Reischauer

[William B. McCloy]

Dear Frank,

Commenting on your example, the alif and the ayn were abandoned in favor of the apostrophe (Han'gŭl t'aja) in the revised version of the Library of Congress McCune-Reischauer romanization of Korean (2009) found here:  http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/roman.html.

Bill McCloy

-----Original Message-----
From: Koreanstudies [mailto:koreanstudies-bounces at koreanstudies.com] On Behalf Of Frank Hoffmann
Sent: Saturday, February 22, 2014 2:08 PM
To: Korean Studies Discussion List
Subject: Re: [KS] Variable Romanization of 년(年) in McCune-Reischauer

Hi Dennis:

Good question. Never saw that before you mentioned it here ... but yes, the Library of Congress version of the McC-R rules does indeed list such examples as
  1996 년  =  1996-yŏn
  62 年 事業  =  62-yŏn saŏp
on age 32, just as you say.

Am also a little confused here. Maybe some linguist can explain that?

I just wanted to say ne thing though: there are lots if rules in this very *detailed* ruleset by the Library of Congress. And it seems that for most there are too many rules, so many that non-bibliographers are unwilling to follow them, also because they make our life harder and not easier. FOR EXAMPLE (from my memory, without having reconfirmed with the guide), when you look up the book title "한글　타자" in the online Library of Congress catalog you will find this:
  Hanʼgŭl tʻaja
Not sure if your email program shows this correctly when my message arrives on your computer ... so here is an IMAGE of it: