Pronunciation variant
-
Level
- Also known as: irregular tones, 不规范声调, 音位变体.
There are certain words in modern Mandarin which are pronounced one way according to almost any standard dictionary, but are pronounced differently in the speech of most native speakers. Often it is simply a different tone; other times there are greater differences.
What can make these "pronunciation variants" particularly frustrating for learners is that some Chinese teachers will teach to the dictionary, denying the fact of what most Chinese people actually say. (It can even feel like a conspiracy theory at times!) A good teacher will point out the discrepancy between what the dictionary says and what most native speakers actually say, however. Since the dictionary is of little help in this situation, the list below should help you keep your sanity.
Contents
The Short Pronunciation Variant List
This list contains the most frequent examples. The ones you are most likely to have encountered already.
| Word | Dictionary Says | People Pronounce It |
|---|---|---|
| 办公室 | bàngōngshì | bàngōngshǐ |
| 出血 | chūxiě, chūxuè | chūxuě |
| 复杂 | fùzá | fǔzá |
| 角色 | juésè | jiǎosè |
| 下载 | xiàzài | xiàzǎi |
| 因为 | yīnwèi | yīnwéi |
| 照片 | zhàopiàn | zhàopiān |
| 主意 | zhǔyi | zhúyi |
The Full Pronunciation Variant List
This list is by no means complete. We're adding to it all the time.
| Word | Dictionary Says | People Pronounce It |
|---|---|---|
| 办公室 | bàngōngshì | bàngōngshǐ |
| 曝光 | bàoguāng | pùguāng |
| 秘鲁 | Bìlǔ | Mìlǔ |
| 比较 | bǐjiào | bǐjiǎo |
| 惩罚 | chéngfá | chěngfá |
| 乘务员 | chéngwùyuán | chèngwùyuán |
| 成绩 | chéngjì | chéngjī |
| 出血 | chūxiě, chūxuè | chūxuě |
| 档案 | dàng'àn | dǎng'àn |
| 蛋挞 | dàntà | dàntǎ |
| 绯闻 | fēiwén | fěiwén |
| 氛围 | fēnwéi | fènwéi |
| 符合 | fúhé | fǔhé |
| 复杂 | fùzá | fǔzá |
| 狗狗 | gǒugou | gǒugóu |
| 骨头 | gǔtou | gútou |
| 好莱坞 | Hǎoláiwù | Hǎoláiwū |
| 烘焙 | hōngbèi | hōngpéi |
| 馄饨 | húntun | húndùn |
| 结果 | jiéguǒ | jiēguǒ |
| 结束 | jiéshù | jiésù |
| 接种 | jiēzhòng | jiēzhǒng |
| 角色 | juésè | jiǎosè |
| 尽管 | jǐnguǎn | jìnguǎn |
| 尽量 | jǐnliàng | jìnliàng |
| 马甲 | mǎjiǎ | májiá |
| 勉强 | miǎnqiǎng | miǎnqiáng |
| 内疚 | nèijiù | nèijiū |
| 昵称 | nìchēng | níchēng |
| 瓶颈 | píngjǐng | píngjìng |
| 生肖 | shēngxiào | shēngxiāo |
| 束缚 | shùfù | shùfú |
| 文件夹 | wénjiànjiā | wénjiànjiá |
| 下载 | xiàzài | xiàzǎi |
| 肖像 | xiàoxiàng | xiāoxiàng |
| 纤维 | xiānwéi | qiānwéi |
| 新冠 | xīnguān | xīnguàn |
| 业绩 | yèjì | yèjī |
| 因为 | yīnwèi | yīnwéi |
| 油炸 | yóuzhá | yóuzhà |
| 晕机 | yùnjī | yūnjī |
| 照片 | zhàopiàn | zhàopiān |
| 脂肪 | zhīfáng | zhǐfáng |
| 质量 | zhìliàng | zhǐliàng |
| 主意 | zhǔyi | zhúyi |
A Note on "People Pronounce It"
The "People Pronounce It" column could be a bit misleading. Note that it doesn't say "ALL People Pronounce It" or "MOST People Pronounce It" or even "SOME People Pronounce It", because it really depends on the word. So while almost no one pronounces 下载 as "xiàzài" (almost everyone says "xiàzǎi" in natural speech), it's not nearly as one-sided for 脂肪 and "zhīfáng" vs. "zhǐfáng". We don't currently have a good data-backed way to indicate to what degree the "People Pronounce It" pronunciation is bucking the trend, but at least we can record the major trends here.
In terms of theory, this whole page falls right in the middle of the linguistic prescriptivism vs. linguistic descriptivism debate. That is, should linguistics (and teachers) tell people how they should pronounce words, or should they tell us how most people actually pronounce words? Most modern linguists will fall on the descriptivist side of the debate: language is what it is, and there's no sense in denying what you don't like.
Sources and further reading
- Wikipedia: linguistic prescriptivism
- Wikipedia: linguistic descriptivism
- Hacking Chinese: Can native speakers be wrong about Chinese grammar and pronunciation?
