Is it mo5 or me5 么 (麽）?

[geek_frappa]

Is it mo5 or me5 么 (麽）?

Tell me the truth. I can handle it.

[adrianlondon]

I vote for "muh" (ok, in pinyin it still has to be "me").

[Southernjohn]

In reality, I would think it is neither. Sorry if you are an advanced speaker, wasn't sure from your post... perhaps it is "tongue-in-cheek". But I know it is easy for many beginning students of Chinese to fall into the trap of thinking pinyin is an accurate phoneticization of spoken Chinese....when in fact it is nothing of the sort. I made this mistake myself at first. as far as 么 is concerned, I hear it pronounced in so many different ways, and none of them really come that close to what you would think the written "me" would represent.

southernjohn.

[Strawberries513]

well correct me if im wrong but...

i always thought that in mainland china, it was ME and in taiwan it was MO.

i think so because when my bf from the mainland would make fun of taiwanese speech, he would say "mo"

[Quest]

多音字

[atitarev]

I think the confusion is not so much about the pronunciation but about the romanisation. According to the Hanyu Pinyin standard, which is the standard in mainland China it is "me" and the Wade standard (one of the few romanisation schemes in Taiwan) prescribes "mo".

I vote "me", since this is what the "e" in Hanyu Pinyin stands for (not to mix with English or any other language).

[lokki]

it is easy for many beginning students of Chinese to fall into the trap of thinking pinyin is an accurate phoneticization of spoken Chinese....when in fact it is nothing of the sort.

I would say that is exactly what it is, and I am finding it ever more accurate the more Chinese I pick up. Even if some sounds have regional variations the writing system can hardly be blamed for that.

You will of course have to learn the peculiarities of the system before the correspondence between written pinyin and pronunciation becomes clear, such as "u" representing a different sound in xu than in lu, etc.

[Yang Rui]

I think both pronunciations are used, but "me" is far more common. I've only ever heard anyone say "mo" in a tongue-in-cheek fashion, except in the Wang Lihom/hong 王力宏 song 大城小爱, in which he apparently pronounces it "mo" without any irony whatsoever.

[roddy]

You will, if you spend enough time in the depths of the Chinese Internet, see various characters used to represent the 'mo' sound - 末, 莫, 摸, and then I got bored. My dictionary also points between 么 and 末 as alternatives.

The best thing to do is avoid people who say things like weishenmo - it reduces confusion, and may well be a good idea anyway

Question: how common is the mo pronunciation in Taiwan? Would it be considered anywhere near formal, or is it (as I have the impression) part of a casual, perhaps girlish, style?

[againstwind]

多音字

That's true.

I'm not sure how 么 is pronounced in Taiwan.

What I know is in Mandarine (in Mainland) 么 should have three pronunciations at least: me, ma and mo.

me: 要么， 那么，怎么，多么， etc

ma:the same to 嘛 and 吗

mo:要么(some people pronounce in taht way)

Needn't care about me or mo too much. Just pay attention to people around you how they pronounce 么.

[Mugi]

In case anyone is interested, 麼 / 么 is derived from 物 before the change in the initial occurred in Mandarin from /m/ to /u/ (w) for 物. This partially accounts the wide range of characters employed to represent "mo".

[geek_frappa]

In reality, I would think it is neither. Sorry if you are an advanced speaker, wasn't sure from your post... perhaps it is "tongue-in-cheek".

tongue-in-cheek, mostly, but i have been asking this question up and down china. i have received 100 different answers, which is really really cool.

[Paperfeather]

okay, i'm born in a taiwanese family but now living in malaysia.

=_=" okay. theoretically, it is pronounced as

1. 摩(mo2) that brings the same meaning with "幺". small.

2. (.me) 怎么

3. 麻(ma2) 干嘛(麽) 麽 can be used in place of the 嘛 we commonly see.

4. 吗(ma1) that chinese in the mainland always use.

but often, we pronounce "干什么啊?" as "gan shenmoa". that gives a "mo" sound. that's just slang. it should be .me in the case.

[Ascendancy9]

I think 'me' is the way to go.

Think about how you say 特, its almost like "turr", but the pinyin is "te". The same applies to 么.

[Jose]

The standard pronunciation is me5 according to the dictionaries. But it is interesting that me is a bit of a marginal syllable in Mandarin. It does not exist as a normal syllable with any of the four tones. That is, there is no normal *mē, *mé, *mě and *mè. There is only the weak me as a particle (I have actually found that some dictionaries and the Microsoft IME accept mē and mè, but just for particles that can also be pronounced with mo or ma).

That may help to explain why speakers who don't tend to use the light tone naturally, like Taiwanese ones, are likely to have difficulties in pronouncing a syllable that is alien to their system. For them, mo may be perceived as the proper sound to use.

This reminds me of that other thread about shui v. shei for 誰, which is a similar case. Since no other Chinese character, among the many thousands of them, has the pronunciation shei, this can also be regarded as a bit of a marginal syllable in the sound system of Mandarin, which probably came about as a result of the original shui being pronounced quickly.

So, for southern speakers that don't have these weak sounds ingrained in their native system, using the full-fledged Mandarin syllables mo and shui may appear easier and more natural than struggling with exceptional sounds.