tooironic Posted September 8, 2011 at 10:14 PM Report Posted September 8, 2011 at 10:14 PM The other day I had someone claim that 娘 as in "girly"/"effeminate" should be pronounced niāng not niáng as I've been pronouncing it my whole life. He said that niáng can only mean "mother". Is what he said true? No one else I've ever met has pronounced it in such a way. Quote
LaoJian Posted September 8, 2011 at 10:27 PM Report Posted September 8, 2011 at 10:27 PM There is only one pronunciation for '娘' niáng, even used for meaning of 'girly'. sample - 娘娘腔 1 Quote
adrianlondon Posted September 8, 2011 at 11:12 PM Report Posted September 8, 2011 at 11:12 PM I was taught the phrase 娘娘腔 (nothing to do with me, by the way:-) ) and heard it as niāng niāng qiāng, but checking right now all the dictionaries have it as niáng niang qiāng. Maybe it's pronounced in an effeminate way for effect. Quote
jkhsu Posted September 8, 2011 at 11:50 PM Report Posted September 8, 2011 at 11:50 PM The MDBG pronounciation for 姑娘 gives 娘 a neutral tone. I checked another dictionary app and found that only when paired with 姑 does 娘 have a neutral tone. Perhaps this is the reason the person told you to pronounce 娘 differently? http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=worddict&wdrst=0&wdqb=%E5%A7%91%E5%A8%98 Quote
semantic nuance Posted September 9, 2011 at 12:11 AM Report Posted September 9, 2011 at 12:11 AM 娘 is niang2, even it is used to mean that a guy is sissy or feminine. 2 Quote
Kyle_Wang Posted September 9, 2011 at 12:38 AM Report Posted September 9, 2011 at 12:38 AM niang1 seems to be the pronunciation in some dialect (eg. in Sichuan), refering to 'aunt'. But it is not found in any mandarin dictionary. 1 Quote
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