# Pronunciation: 邻居



## yuechu

Hello/大家好,

According to the dictionary, the pronunciation of the word "邻居“ in Chinese is lin2ju1. However, I was watching a TV show today and clearly heard it pronounced lin2*ju4*. Would this pronunciation be 北京话? and/or is it also a widespread pronunciation in 普通话？

Thanks/谢谢！


----------



## xiaolijie

Baosheng, do you realize that today is 1st of April? The TV show could be set up as a practical joke on us learners of Chinese.


----------



## lixiaohejssz

Ha ha! There are many mistakes people often make on TV. Remember: lin2 ju1 is correct. Some actors don't speak Chinese normally.


----------



## YangMuye

It's lin2ju rather than lin2ju*4*, a fairly common pronunciation.


----------



## lixiaohejssz

YangMuye said:


> It's lin2ju rather than lin2ju*4*, a fairly common pronunciation.



It's not exactly right. Look it up in a dictionary, please. lin2 ju1 is right.


----------



## YangMuye

lixiaohejssz said:


> It's not exactly right. Look it up in a dictionary, please. lin2 ju1 is right.


A dictionary? What do you mean by “a dictionary”? Is “a dictionary” exact?

请问您知不知道，普通话考试除了参考字典以外，还有专门的表格，标注“轻声”“儿化”和“变调”？


----------



## lixiaohejssz

I have learned "轻声，儿化，变调". But I'm not sure "邻居" can be pronounced like this. Maybe I am a layman . It perhaps comes from a dialect. By the way, have you seen lin2 ju5 listed in the "form"?


----------



## YangMuye

lixiaohejssz said:


> I have learned "轻声，儿化，变调". But I'm not sure "邻居" can be pronounced like this. Maybe I am a layman . It perhaps comes from a dialect. By the way, have you seen lin2 ju5 listed in the "form"?


If you are not sure, how do you know I'm 





			
				lixiaohejssz said:
			
		

> not exactly right


?

If you know dictionaries don't mark many 轻声 and 儿化, what did you ask me to 





			
				lixiaohejssz said:
			
		

> look it up in a dictionary


for?

Search CCTV-【环球视线】2011.5.4（1of2）"我的邻居是拉登？！"～拉登之死"谜"雾依旧 on youtube or other video sites, the announcer 水均益 did clearly enunciate *lin2ju* (at about 0:59).


----------



## lixiaohejssz

但这也许是播音员犯了个错误。就像很多演员爱说”角色“为”jiao3 se4"一样，你也认为他们说得对吗？往往很多话别人说多了我们也会当成对的了。其实不然。再说如果有轻声的情况，字典里面也会标出来的。当然，如果大家真地都这样说，以后字典里面会标出来的。就像汉语字典里面新增的字就是这种情况，也像英语说“Long time no see." 一样，但这是将来的事。


----------



## xiaolijie

The main pronunciation for 邻居 is línjū, but it's conceivable that some people (Northerners in particular) may pronounce it as línju. The neutral tone in the second syllable can sound like a short 4th tone in this combination.


----------



## Razzle Storm

Lin2ju (轻声) is a fairly common pronunciation in the north. 

关于jiao3 se4



lixiaohejssz said:


> 但这也许是播音员犯了个错误。就像很多演员爱说”角色“为”jiao3 se4"一样，你也认为他们说得对吗？往往很多话别人说多了我们也会当成对的了。其实不然。再说如果有轻声的情况，字典里面也会标出来的。当然，如果大家真地都这样说，以后字典里面会标出来的。就像汉语字典里面新增的字就是这种情况，也像英语说“Long time no see." 一样，但这是将来的事。



您可以看看汉典里的发音，jiao3 se4 和 jue2 se4 都有，http://www.zdic.net/cd/ci/7/ZdicE8ZdicA7Zdic92307852.htm

况且，我得提醒您一句：字典只是搜集大众用词的发音和定义，是反映人们用语言的习惯，而不是语言的标准。


----------



## YangMuye

lixiaohejssz said:


> 但这也许是播音员犯了个错误。就像很多演员爱说”角色“为”jiao3 se4"一样，你也认为他们说得对吗？往往很多话别人说多了我们也会当成对的了。其实不然。


抱歉。首先普通话不是一个自然存在方言，没有人以普通话为母语。即使是普通话考试和CCTV的播音员，也要参考“*主流的发音*”，对于一些轻声、儿化、变调的分歧，这里无所谓对错。我非常不认同您以字典为依据判定别人发音正误的做法。我宁愿说“可能不符合普通话考试的标准”或者“不符合普通话的习惯”。

“jiao3 se4”必然是正确的读音。从理论的音韵上讲，是正确的。从实际的使用来看，仍然是正确的。最后根据你查字典的方法，它还是正确的。解剖 pou or pao?


----------



## yuechu

Thank you for all of your replies! I realized later (after hearing the word pronounced by different actors) that it was indeed a case of "轻声". The person who pronounced it as lin2ju4 (with the tonic accent on ju4 and not lin2) was a southerner playing a northerner... I noticed the northerners had a more pronounced 轻声 (with a lighter second syllable). (although perhaps the fourth tone pronunciation is also used by some speakers in real life too... ?)
Either way, the qingsheng pronunciation must be a colloquial one (in 北方话） and not considered the formal/standard pronunciation, right? I'll have to remember this 轻声 in the future! (since it is not always marked in dictionaries)


----------



## lixiaohejssz

Yes. This has given me a lesson. For Chinese, there is rich diversification of pronunciation just like English. Thank YangMuye for advice.


----------



## YangMuye

baosheng said:


> Thank you for all of your replies! I realized later (after hearing the word pronounced by different actors) that it was indeed a case of "轻声". The person who pronounced it as lin2ju4 (with the tonic accent on ju4 and not lin2) was a southerner playing a northerner... I noticed the northerners had a more pronounced 轻声 (with a lighter second syllable). (although perhaps the fourth tone pronunciation is also used by some speakers in real life too... ?)
> Either way, the qingsheng pronunciation must be a colloquial one (in 北方话） and not considered the formal/standard pronunciation, right? I'll have to remember this 轻声 in the future! (since it is not always marked in dictionaries)


轻声 does not always sound light.
In fact, it's even hard for native speaks to tell the difference between 4rd tone and the neutral tone after 1st tone, 2nd tone and 4th tone.
There was a debate on if 个 should be neutral tone: http://www.pkucn.com/viewthread.php?tid=276815&extra=page=1
Shenj, who was a former professor of Peking University, used phonetics experiments to show that it was neutral tone.


----------



## xiaolijie

轻 means light, but when you try to *enunciate* a 轻声, then it can no longer be "light" , but sound more like a 4th tone.
The same goes for a 轻声 following a 3rd tone: the 轻声 in this case when *enunciated* should sound like a 1st tone.


----------

