I \[believe I\] understand how apostrophes are used in rōmaji after an N, but I’ve encountered a use that I haven’t found any explanation for.
The example I’ve encountered is the term Tō’on-ryū (a style of karate). Can anyone tell me why an apostrophe is used here? Does it have to do with the presence of three vowels in a row?
If this is the case, then for a term like Seiinchin (the name of a kata in karate), would it be appropriate to differentiate “Sei-in-chin” from “Se-iin-chin” by using an apostrophe (Sei’inchin/Se’iinchin)?
2 comments
I imagine it’s a mixture of 3 vowels + division between two kanji (it’s 東恩 before it’s ‘Toh’on’, after all), as well as the fact that ‘oo’ would be read as /u:/ in English, so there’s probably an attempt to prevent people from calling it ‘toon style’.
Beyond that, romaji is notoriously inconsistent with its rules. Everyone does things differently, so the reality is that your interpretation of the ‘correct’ or ‘appropriate’ approach to a particular arrangement is entirely arbitrary. You can use Sei’inchin to separate it, or you can write Seiinchin, and while some might argue about understandability, the reality is that either is acceptable. And if the owners romanise it as ‘Seiinchin’, that’s the romanised spelling.
I would point out in the case of ‘Seiinchin’ in particular that there’s no real *need* for a differentiating apostrophe, since to begin with, there is no single kanji that is read ‘iin’. So if that’s your dividing line, then to begin with ‘Se’iinchin’ would never occur anyway.
here’s the inconsistent and complex rules for romaji in one dialect of romaji
https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/japanese.pdf
honestly my advice is to not worry about it and just learn kana and move on