Detecting Regional Accents

[HashiriKata]

I've found the following pronunciations as "standard" in most dictionaries:

一会儿 = /yi1huir4/

斜 = /xie2/

However, I've heard a native speaker consistently pronounce them as:

一会儿 = /yi4huir3/

斜 = /xie3/

Is this "Beijinghua" ? Does it belong to any region at all ?

(I'm generally interested in finding out from their speech where people are from )

[shibo77]

一会儿

I think I've heard both and I've probably used both.

"一会儿 yìhuìr" when I wanted to stress that something will be done later but soon.

"一会儿 yìhuǐr" I hear and use much more often, usually neutral or unstressed.

斜 I have only heard and used "xié", I have never heard or used "xiě".

I guess if you want to be able to distinguish a person's origin according to their speech, I think it is better to listen to what vocabulary they use rather than pronunciations, because it is easier.

-Shìbó

[shiaosan]

About this yi1huir4 and yi4huir3, it's a very interesting topic that I was not aware of. Now I thought really hard on when I used which one, I realized that if I stress the action (verb), I use yi4huir3, and if I stress the time (a little while), I use yi1huir4 (while the actual pronunciation is yi2huir4). for example:

你等我一会儿!

他看了一会儿电视。

if the stress is different, it can have slightly different meaning!

would be great to hear someone else's opinion.

[Luobot]

Bump for 一会儿

I've never been sure how to handle this pronunciation. Often audio pronunciations (including Pimsleur in some instances) gives yi4huir3, in others, yi2huir4.

Dictionaries consistently give yi1huir4 (pronounced yi2huir4).

Well ... except that I just noticed my Langenscheidt's pocket dictionary has:

一会儿见 / yi4huir3 jian4 / see you later

On one site with a Taiwanese slant, where all tones tend to get stressed, 一会儿 is spelled and pronounced as yi1 hui4 er2.

So, does the 3rd tone variation come from fusing the 4th tone of 会 with the 2nd tone of 儿, whereas in the "standard" case, 儿 has a neutral tone, so 会儿 is just pronounced huar4 ? Or is there some other logic at work here for selecting the right pronunciation? Is the tone pronunciation simply associated with the region, as HK originally asked?

Any opinions ?

(I saw an interesting discussion in Changing Sounds in Chinese Pronunciation, which explains why there might be an 儿, and even why the "i" of hui disappears, but I don't think it gets into the tone pronunciation issue.)

[heifeng]

without me going to find my Putonghua ceshi book, i'm 95 % sure: yi4huir3 jian4 is wrong wrong wrong! Keep in mind even Chinese people don't speak perfect Chinese, so in spoken Chinese you may actually here it that other way. As for the questions on the region, I 'thought' it was beijing 'tuhua'...but maybe i'm making this up.....

Another example of this is 因为. Many locals say yin1wei2, which is NOT correct!

Edited December 13, 2008 at 09:15 PM by heifeng

[heifeng]

Ok, checked my book, this 一会见 was specifically listed under the 习惯上容易读错词section:mrgreen:

[vampire]

Another example of this is 因为. Many locals say yin1wei2, which is NOT correct!

I believe some day it will become correct in the book

because more and more people say it that way:mrgreen:

right or wrong is not always very clear

[greenleaf1348]

Ok, checked my book, this 一会见 was specifically listed under the 习惯上容易读错词section

would love to know the title of that book

[heifeng]

yeah, maybe, but until it is if anyone is saying it during the HSK advance or PCS, make sure to say it 'correctly':mrgreen: