# Pronunciation: 亚



## yuechu

Hello/大家好，

I was watching a (Mainland) TV show recently where there is a character named 赵亚彤 and noticed that people call her ya3peng2. My CEDICT-based dictionary says that this is a Taiwanese pronunciation yet the actors here are from Mainland. Is 亚 pronounced ya4 in most nouns and ya3 in people's names? (or is this just the people's preference?) Alternatively, could this be a North-South pronunciation difference? (ya4 versus ya3)

Thanks!


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## zhg

Hi baosheng

My dictionary says it's always pronouced ya4 never ya3 though you might hear people pronounce it ya3 quite often but that doesn't make it correct neither in words nor in names.(Personally I misread it too until my Chinese teacher pointed it out.)

It just occurs to me that 李亚鹏 who also has 亚 in the name, and I can't recall hearing anyone pronounce it li3ya3peng2

Regards


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## SuperXW

As zhg said, some people prefer ya3 but it could be "wrong" according to teachers and dictionaries. 
The character is mostly used in names and addresses.
Strangely, it seems most people say 李亚ya4鹏, but 赵亚ya3彤...
I think maybe decades ago, more people pronounced ya3 sound, while ya4 has become favorable only after the recent regulations.


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## Skatinginbc

Forget about "correctness" or "regulations".  May I ask how 老北京人 pronounce 啞 "dumb" and 亞?  Is there a difference in tone?  These two words are homophones in some 方言.  Strangely, 北京方言 is included (among Xi'an, Nanchang, Fuzhou, etc.) according to a source I consulted.  I just want to confirm whether it is true or not.


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## Jerry Chan

Is it because 趙 is also 4th tone, and saying 2 consecutive 4th tones isn't quite comfortable?

So I'm curious:
How do you guys say 鄧亞萍 (deng4 ya? ping2), the table tennis great?


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## YangMuye

Jerry Chan said:


> Is it because 趙 is also 4th tone, and saying 2 consecutive 4th tones isn't quite comfortable?


It sounds plausible.



Jerry Chan said:


> So I'm curious:
> How do you guys say 鄧亞萍 (deng4 ya? ping2), the table tennis great?


I say ya3 and I haven't heard ya4.


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## xiaolijie

Jerry Chan said:


> Is it because 趙 is also 4th tone, and saying 2 consecutive 4th tones isn't quite comfortable?


Do you mean you can't say names like 邓丽君? That would be a crime!


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## Jerry Chan

xiaolijie said:


> Do you mean you can't say names like 邓丽君? That would be a crime!



Good point! 

So it proves that 亞 does have 2 tones and people tend to adjust automatically.


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## yuechu

Thanks everyone for your replies! As SuperXW and Skatinginbc suggested, it looks like 亚ya3 may be an older pronunciation. I think it does sound better in certain names... it's nice to have an alternative, in any case!


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## Ben pan

SuperXW said:


> As zhg said, some people prefer ya3 but it could be "wrong" according to teachers and dictionaries.
> The character is mostly used in names and addresses.
> Strangely, it seems most people say 李亚ya4鹏, but 赵亚ya3彤...
> I think maybe decades ago, more people pronounced ya3 sound, while ya4 has become favorable only after the recent regulations.




I do not think so. Many years ago (60s,70s,80s,), people like to name their children as 亚洲，亚平（亚洲和平），亚盛（亚洲昌盛）。Back then, little issues rise up about territories. They all should be pronounce as ya4. And I think people know that. 

About 赵亚ya3彤...， My explanation is that when 亚 is applied to a girl's name, people like to pronounce it as ya3. Because of the more popular girl name like 雅芳、雅婷、雅芝、雅诗... For some strange reason, people tend to differentiate 亚 in girls' names from 亚 in boys' names. 

A very subjective guess.


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## SuperXW

Ben pan said:


> About 赵亚ya3彤...， My explanation is that when 亚 is applied to a girl's name, people like to pronounce it as ya3. Because of the more popular girl name like 雅芳、雅婷、雅芝、雅诗... For some strange reason, people tend to differentiate 亚 in girls' names from 亚 in boys' names.
> A very subjective guess.


Possibly! My mom's name has 雅 in the middle. Many people used to write 亚 instead.


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## Youngfun

I hear ya3 even in the Biblical name 亚伯拉罕 (Abraham), 亚洲, 亚健康，亚科，etc.
It's a general tendency that many words pronounced with 4th tone in Standard Mandarin were (still are) pronounced with 2nd or 3rd tone in Beijing/Northern dialects.
Here it's very rare to hear people pronounce 办公室 shi4，复fu4 杂，腹fu4 部，血xue4 液，混hun4 合，etc. Many people also say 浙zhe2江.


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## BODYholic

Many Singaporeans and as well as Malaysian Chinese, ain't sure knowingly or unknowingly, pronounced "马来西亚(ya3)". 

I'm not sure how you guys/gals find it, when a sentence ends like this 明天我会去马来西亚(ya4)。Because of 亚4th tone, it makes the sentence sounds like someone is shouting. But if we softened 亚(ya4), it sounds like 亚(ya3) anyway.


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## Jerry Chan

Just watched the latest episode of 中國好聲音
A contestant is named 張憶亞, and they all called him Yi4 Ya3.


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## Youngfun

BODYholic said:


> Many Singaporeans and as well as Malaysian Chinese, ain't sure knowingly or unknowingly, pronounced "马来西亚(ya3)".
> 
> I'm not sure how you guys/gals find it, when a sentence ends like this 明天我会去马来西亚(ya4)。Because of 亚4th tone, it makes the sentence sounds like someone is shouting. But if we softened 亚(ya4), it sounds like 亚(ya3) anyway.


I have many classmates from malaysia and singapore, but it seems to me that they all say ya4!  Or pronounce it in English "Malaysia" (appr. 马雷下).


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## BODYholic

Jerry Chan said:


> Just watched the latest episode of 中國好聲音
> A contestant is named 張憶亞, and they all called him Yi4 Ya3.


Given a choice, I would, too, address him as Yi4 Ya3. I mean Yi4 Ya4, with due respect, sounds really awful.



Youngfun said:


> I have many classmates from malaysia and singapore, but it seems to me that they all say ya4!  Or pronounce it in English "Malaysia" (appr. 马雷下).


Well, what can I say? They have done us proud!
Oh yeah! I love the way you enunciate "Malaysia" in Chinese. This is exactly how we say it. _Perfectto_!


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## chemchen

Correct pronunciation should be the fourth tone，


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