Who has the final say to what a Chinese character is pronounced in Mandarin?

Question

I hear that any mispronunciation of a Chinese word in Mandarin by a news anchor of China's major television broadcaster like CCTV 中央广播电视总台 will result in a deduction of fifty bucks from his salary.

In the case of a football player 韦世豪, whose last name is 韦 wei in second tone, the media people would pronounce it 伟 in third tone.

Another problem is that in Guilin of Guangxi, people with the last name of 阳 are often said in the first tone, like 央 but not its normal or standard sound 杨 in second tone. 阳太阳,a famous painter of 广西艺术学院 is pronounced 央太杨.

The same goes with 贾平凹, a noted writer who almost got the Nobel Prize, would like his name pronounced 贾平娃.

But in the latest edition of 新华字典,the most authoritive and recognized dictionary and guide for Mandarin pronunciation, the above three examples are not included, that is, as per the dictionary, under no condition can 韦 be 伟, 阳 be 央, and 凹 be 娃 in pronunciation.

So in this regard, who has the final say, the owner of the name or the dictionary that sets the rules?

Answer 1

At home, your parents and the local folks have the final say on pronouncing a certain word.

At school, your national language teacher, who follows the standards set by the central government's education ministry, has the final say. The standard pronunciations were compiled, and codified by well-known linguistic scholars.

Note that the Standard Chinese (现代标准汉语) is a modern standard form of Mandarin Chinese that was first codified during the republican era (1912‒1949). It is designated as the official language of mainland China and Taiwan. It is largely based on the Beijing dialect.

Answer 2

So in this regard, who has the final say, the owner of the name or the dictionary that sets the rules?

The owner of the name has the final say on how 'his or her' name is pronounced. But not on other people's names.

If someone's name contains the character 樂, he might demand people pronoun the 樂 in his name as /le4/ or /yue4/ or even /yao6/ (mostly for surname)

Dictionaries are the generally accepted authorities on how a word is pronounced

However, based on the recent "Loong" incident, I'd say the CCP has the final say (it should be the education institution's consent)

Answer 3

Chinese is defined/included in the Xinhua Dictionary as the pronunciation of each character (including multiple pronunciations), as well as the applicable ituations. For example, in the latest official version of the Xinhua Dictionary released in China in 2020; For example, 乐 (樂traditional Chinese writing) is generally used to pronounce words such as happiness, pleasure, and optimism as "l è", and is pronounced as "yuè" in proper nouns such as music, musical instruments, musical instruments (official titles of ancient wind instruments), and names.

The interpretation of the meanings of words in the Xinhua Dictionary has been continuously improved over time. In addition to being recognized by official educational institutions, some commonly used pronunciation customs, historical allusions, and specialized words in certain places will also be included and recorded in the dictionary, with their sources indicated.

So the pronunciation of Chinese is not entirely recognized and approved by official institutions, but rather continues from classical to modern times and is gradually determined based on the evolution of everyday language.