# Pronunciation: 指甲



## yuechu

Hello/大家好，

I have a question regarding the word 指甲 in Chinese. What is the correct pronunciation for this word? CEDICT gives zhi1jia5. Other dictionaries give zhi3jia2 and zhi3jia5. Are all 3 pronunciations correct and common? (is this similar to 血xue3 xue4, xie3 xie4 ?) Is this perhaps a 北方/南方 distinction?

Thank you in advance for your help! 谢谢,


----------



## viajero_canjeado

Greetings, baosheng. In Taiwan, the pronunciation would be zhi3jia3. Since it's two third tones in a row, the zhi would sound like the second tone.

Turning the second word into a fifth tone (making it toneless) doesn't happen as often in this dialect as in Chinese dialects (particularly Northern, if my understanding is correct).


----------



## yuechu

Thank you for your reply, viajero_canjeado! Dr. Eye Online dictionary (from Taiwan) gives the pronunciation zhi3jia2 instead of zhi3jia3. Do you think this might be a mistake?


----------



## dodoxemo

ZHI3 JIA2 is the  pronunciation of standard mandarin.but in daily life,we often say it ZHI3 JIA3.


----------



## viajero_canjeado

baosheng said:


> Dr. Eye Online dictionary (from Taiwan) gives the pronunciation zhi3jia2 instead of zhi3jia3. Do you think this might be a mistake?



I'm personally not familiar with pronouncing 甲 in the second tone, but I checked with a couple native speakers who informed me that some people do say it that way. From my experience, jia3 is much more common. It's also how I always hear it said in the word "某甲", used for giving non-person specific examples, sort of like the English usage of John Doe, or "Mr. A". It follows the pattern 甲、乙、丙、丁、戊、己、庚、辛、壬、癸 = Mr. A, Mr. B, Mr. C, etc.


----------



## friek723

In taiwan most people say  zhi3jia3 ( the zhi would sound like the second tone), while zhi3jia2 sounds more 外省 accent. (Probably China would say, not sure)


----------



## waturo

We say zhi3jia3 when we speak 普通话(the most widely-used Chinese).
Plenty of northern people of China speak zhi3jia5 (if this "5" really means what i regard as...), and there are different pronunciations in different province.
The pronunciation of zhi3jia2 may be used widely in the provinces at the southeast of China according to my memory.
P.S.When you read 血, xue3 xue4 are both right in 普通话, because it is a polyphone. Meanwhile, xie3 is used in spoken Chinese at the northern part of China, but xie4 may be not right... at least I haven't heard that before.
As you can see, my English is poor... Hope these can help you!


baosheng said:


> Thank you for your reply, viajero_canjeado! Dr. Eye Online dictionary (from Taiwan) gives the pronunciation zhi3jia2 instead of zhi3jia3. Do you think this might be a mistake?


Eh, this may be right, Taiwan Chinese and southeast Chinese have much in common. As what I know, Taiwan Chinese is based on 闽南语, a kind of dialect in southeast of China.


----------



## verastar

I am from the north part of China, actually Beijing. The word normally is pronounced as "zhi1 jia0". Or 5 means no tones as you write in your first thread?


----------



## viajero_canjeado

waturo said:


> As what I know, Taiwan Chinese is based on 闽南语, a kind of dialect in southeast of China.



Hi waturo  我想說，就算閩南話與國語有些許相似點，(譬如說，大部分的人會說ㄡˇ ㄘㄟ而不是瘀青)，但還是不能說台灣國語"is based on"閩南語。事實上，它以大陸普通話為基礎。


----------



## waturo

抱歉，我对国语也只是一知半解，才有此妄言。下次我会注意的，如有冒犯还请见谅。


----------



## friek723

Let's just say Taiwan's accent of speaking Mandarin is more or less influenced by "閩南語", especially those who speaks good "台語".
The older generation from China living in TW or their descendant
would sound more like China people, but not in phrasing.

Also, people who is proficient in 台語 (such as my parents) would most likely speak Mandarin in "台灣國語" accent, which is kinda a disapproving phrase. 

台語 ~= 閩南語.


----------



## wangxueruinaoh

verastar said:


> I am from the north part of China, actually Beijing. The word normally is pronounced as "zhi1 jia0". Or 5 means no tones as you write in your first thread?


 
Cheers! Bingo, I am from Beijing too, we say 手指甲（shou3 zhi1 jia0） or zhi3 jia0 as oral. I think it really depends on which part of China are you in.
这个论坛好像台湾的朋友挺多啊，


----------



## viajero_canjeado

waturo said:


> 抱歉，我对国语也只是一知半解，才有此妄言。下次我会注意的，如有冒犯还请见谅。



哪有冒犯! 我們都一起學習囉。



friek723 said:


> Let's just say Taiwan's accent of speaking Mandarin is more or less influenced by "閩南語".
> 台灣國語 accent is kinda a disapproving phrase.



是啊，influenced by是對的。 我瞭解台灣國語這個字(至少在台灣)經常有看不起的含意，但我這裡使用本詞，是客觀地指台灣式中文，因為畢竟台腔與大陸腔還是有所不同。



wangxueruinaoh said:


> 这个论坛好像台湾的朋友挺多啊


中國大陸的也挺多!


----------



## friek723

viajero, 我確信你懂這個詞的, 我的英文程度如果跟你的中文程度一樣就好了


----------



## M.Zhang

I prefer zhi3 jia0...central China.
we say 手指甲shou3 zhi3 jia0


----------



## yuechu

I know this is very late, but I would like to thank everyone for their help!  I didn't realize that this word had so many different regional pronunciations!


----------

