Odd pronunciation of 比较

[aristotle1990]

When used to intensify adjectives, 比较 is often pronounced not as bǐjiào, the textbook pronunciation, but as bījiao. Does anyone know why this is or how it came about? I'm trying to look for an example -- I remember seeing a show about international television stations (it had a bunch of foreigners from different countries on) in which 朱力安 (the French guy Julien Gaudfroy) says it like that pretty clearly, but I can't seem to find it now (it's linked somewhere on this forum).

(This is one of those words in Chinese that, like 明白, is commonly pronounced in a way that is not written down anywhere.)

[anonymoose]

I've never heard that.

Some people pronounce it as bǐjiăo (or bíjiăo after sandhi are taken into account). This is just a regional thing.

[Don_Horhe]

I've heard it quite often, I think it's a 北方 thing.

[muirm]

I've heard Taiwan speakers pronounce it bǐjià in casual conversation. It's actually only been one person, so it might have just been her.

[Mugi]

In Beijing (and possibly other places in the north), 比较 is pronounced bǐjiăo -> bíjiăo when used as an adverb (e.g. 比较好), but as bǐjiào when a noun (e.g. 作比较) or verb (e.g. 来比较一下).

See here for why you may be hearing 较 as a neutral tone. Tone sandhi aside, the actual tone contours of given characters often change considerably from their "prescribed" contours, depending on the phrase they are in, what comes before and after, and any emphasis or stress being applied by the speaker. This may explain why sometimes you hear 比较 as bījiao. Or there could be social or other dialect factors at work. Or you could just have bung ears! ;)

I'm not sure which tone Taiwanese usually pronounce 较 in, but the adverbial usage is not very common - i.e., 他(唱歌)唱得比较好 is unacceptable to most Taiwanese (at least in my experience).

[aristotle1990]

Yeah, I mean, sometimes it sounds like bíjiăo, sometimes like bījiao. Guess it's just a 北方 thing then.

[Shi Tong]

I can confirm that in Taiwan bǐjià is very commonly said, I think they snip off the o at the end because of speed. In fact, I would even say it's bǐjiā quite often over there too. I recently corrected my pronunciation to bǐjiào, but I think it's not too common in Taiwanese pronunciation either TBH! ;)