pronunciation of 背包

[chrix]

Hi,

I'm confused about the pronunciation of

背包 "knapsack"

BJ dictionaries seem to have the 4th tone, while TW ones have the 1st tone.

Or is there just free variation about how to pronounce the first character ?

[xiaotao]

I regularly find characters that has different pronunciations. I think that if you are studying simplified characters then go with the China pronunciation. Taiwanese people don't have any trouble understanding somebody from China, and visa versa. It's like a English speaking person doesn't have trouble understanding English spoken by people from different places. Only learners have trouble understanding the slight differences.

[Don_Horhe]

It's bèibāo on the mainland. 背 has 2 pronunciations - bēi and bèi, although I mix them up all the time.

When it's bēi, the meaning is:

1. (v.) to carry on the back

2. (v.) to shoulder, to bear

3. (classifier) (dial.) indicating that which can be carried on one's back

When bèi:

1. (n.) the back, as opposed to the chest and stomach

2. (n.) the back of an object

3. (v.) with one's back to, as opposed to facing

4. (v.) to leave, to go away

5. (v.) to hide something from someone; to do something behind somebody's back

6. (v.) to recite from memory

7. (v.) to violate, break, act contrary to

8. (v.) to turn away, as in 他把脸背过去,装着没看见. He turned his face away, pretending he had not seen us.

9. (adj.) out-of-the-way 背静 - quiet and secluded

10. (adj.) unlucky

11. (adj) hard of hearing

Definitions and examples taken from the bilingual 现代汉语词典.

[chrix]

@xiaotao: I'm not sure if I follow what you're trying to say.

@Don Horhe: thank you, but I was aware that 背 was a 破音字. I guess the crux of the matter is that 背包 can be understood both ways: "back bag" and "bag carried on the back".

I think we can tentatively conclude that the TW standard has the 1st tone and the BJ standard the 4th. But my question was more about usage in everyday life. Is this a word where native speakers vary their pronunciation, or not?

[in_lab]

Yahoo Taiwan's online dictionary lists ㄅㄟˋ ㄅㄠ, so I'm guessing that this is a word where there is variation in pronunciation, even just in Taiwan.

[Don_Horhe]

Here everybody says bèi when talking about their backs, 我背很疼, but I'm almost sure I've heard both bèibāo and bēibāo.

[necroflux]

I've definitely heard it as bei1bao1 in Taiwan, I'd be willing to bet that this is the primary pronunciation here.

http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/newDict/dict.sh?idx=dict.idx&cond=%ADI%A5%5D&pieceLen=50&fld=1&cat=&imgFont=1

[chrix]

in_lab, I've found the yahoo dictionary unreliable in matters such as this in the past. Thanks for the replies so far, any native speakers care to weigh in?

[semantic nuance]

We say背1包1 in Taiwan.

[renzhe]

I learned it as bei4bao1 from my mainland gf. I think that your original suspicion is right, and that it's simply a different standard across the strait.

[Daan]

Definitely bēibāo here on Taiwan, as I was corrected when I said bèibāo.

In the same vein, how do you pronounce 有空 'to have spare time'? I was always taught it was yǒu kōng or yǒu kōngr, but my Taiwanese teacher insists even mainlanders would pronounce this as yǒu kòng, and that the first tone variant simply does not exist. The two dictionaries I've checked agree with her, so was my first-year textbook simply wrong?!

[chrix]

yes, at least according to my Far East dictionary, it should be kòng in BJ and TW.

[Daan]

That's worrying. Thanks for checking.

[tooironic]

Don't worry Daan, if it's any consolation, I used to make that very same mistake when I was a beginner. I think it's just a confusion on account of 空 having two different pronunciations, both of which have many different meanings. Plus, I think I might have heard the odd Northern Chinese pronunce it kōngr. (Though I have no evidence that this variant pronunciation actually exists.)