Pronunciation of 懸崖

[necroflux]

When I come across the word "懸崖" (cliff) or hear people here in Taiwan say this word, it isn't pronounced "xuan2 ya2" but something more like "xuan2 yai2". Obviously there isn't any way to denote this sound with pinyin, so dictionaries just list it as ya2. Is this just a shortcoming of the pinyin system? Do mainlanders pronounce this word as xuan2yai2 as well?

Here is the official Taiwanese pronuncation:

http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/newDict/dict.sh?cond=%C4a%B1V&pieceLen=50&fld=1&cat=&ukey=374178074&serial=1&recNo=1&op=f&imgFont=1

[ABCinChina]

Hello Necroflux,

崖 is pronounced yá in China and yái in Taiwan. For a better list of characters with different pronunciations, you can see this thread.

[82riceballs]

It's interesting to note that the alphabet system used in Taiwan (bopomofo) can type yai although the pinyin system can't. I guess this is because it's only pronounced "yai" in Taiwan.

懸崖=ㄒㄩㄢˊ 一ㄞˊ = xuan2 yai2

[djorange]

涯Ya2 ,Received Pronunciation in mandarin ...YAI2 ,near to Mandarin, dialectal Mandarin~

[necroflux]

Thanks everyone