Questions tagged [erhuayin]

儿化音 is a phonological process that adds the "ér" (儿) sound (transcribed in IPA as [ɻ]) to syllables in spoken Mandarin Chinese

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1 answer
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Is erhua standard (for Beijingers) in 中关村?

A Chinese friend told me that the reason I was having trouble talking with people in Beijing about 三里屯 is that I did not use erhua.  She told me no one in Beijing will recognize it unless I say ...
3 votes
1 answer
160 views

Use of 儿话 in Mandarin

I've noticed recently that the use of 儿 differs depending on the dialect but I'm not too sure why. It is present in 普通话 (Standard Chinese) and some gov docs, as well as taught to L2 learners, but ...
2 votes
3 answers
158 views

Different meanings of ‘儿’

I know 儿 can be a diminutive suffix, and can convey endearment or smallness but when used as a suffix for 这 to change the meaning from ‘this’ to ‘here’ I don’t think this applies. (Same with 那 ...
5 votes
1 answer
299 views

Looking for official specification of Putonghua in English

There has been some confusion here between different senses of "Putonghua." So to clarify: article 19 of the constitution of the PRC says "The state promotes the nationwide use of Putonghua (common ...
2 votes
4 answers
196 views

Implied erhua in writing?

I often see, what I refer to as, implied erhua written in shop names, advertisements, on menus, etc. Take the following for instance: 嗝屁 You'd rarely ever hear gé pì read without erhuaization. So ...
3 votes
2 answers
173 views

How should I understand the pronunciation of 驾驶证 (jiàshǐ zhèng) as 酱汁儿 (jiàng zhī er)?

I was reading this website ( https://pinyin.sogou.com/zimeiti/article/1255 ) to understand colloquial Beijing Mandarin and came across this pronunciation for 驾驶证 驾驶证 > "酱汁儿", i.e Jiàshǐ zhèng > jiàng ...
10 votes
4 answers
2k views

How to pronounce 儿 in conjunction with other characters

The textbook I'm reading now has liberal sprinklings of the 儿 character suffixing words that I have not previously seen suffixed. For example: 空儿。 How should this be pronounced? Are there any rules ...
4 votes
4 answers
287 views

How is 儿化 represented in other romanization systems like Wade-Giles, Zhuyin Fuhao, etc.?

I just realized that I have no idea how other romanization systems (besides pinyin) deal with 儿化 (er hua). What would be the Wade-Giles or Zhuyin-Fuhao equivalent to 电影儿 (diànyǐngr)?
1 vote
2 answers
128 views

What's the difference in pronunciation between kuàir and kuàr?

块儿 (kuàir) = a slice, etc. 跨儿 (kuàr) = "trans", in the sense of "transgender". Reading these aloud, I don't notice a distinction in pronunciation, but it seems like there should be. Question: What's ...
2 votes
3 answers
353 views

Understanding how to pronounce the “er” at end of words

I know how to pronounce stuff like: 玩儿 : war 哪儿 : nar 男孩儿: nan har But I recently came across 小偷儿. How would you pronounce that? Would it just sound like “xiao tour” like the English word “tour”?...
4 votes
4 answers
681 views

Is it incorrect to use 儿化 (érhuà) inside a word, e.g., 门儿口, and 小孩儿子 and 玩儿具?

Sometimes we use 儿化 (érhuà) without it changing the meaning of the word, e.g., 门 (mén; door, gate) becomes 门儿 (ménr). However, some Chinese words contain 儿化-izable words, such as 门口 (ménkǒu; doorway, ...
7 votes
5 answers
3k views

Chinese views on Erhua

I'm already well acquainted with erhua (儿化) in putonghua, essentially appending 儿 to the ends of words (or reading it when 儿 isn't written, as sometimes people do with 花 or 八点 etc). Many of these ...
0 votes
4 answers
234 views

Erhua and reduplication

If I want to say "a little" of something I might say 一点儿 yìdiǎnr. Or I might say 一点点 yìdiǎndiǎn. But I do not feel right using erhua with reduplication. It sounds wrong to me (and maybe I am just ...
8 votes
2 answers
514 views

Neutral tone and erhua (儿化) working as a word distinguisher

I know there are some words in which the use of neutral tone distinguish them the word from their non neutral equivalent, like: 东西 - dong1xi1 - from east to west 东西 - dong1xi - thing 虾子 - xia1zi3 - ...
12 votes
3 answers
1k views

How is the 儿 ending pronounced outside Beijing?

When Beijingers use words like 一点儿, the ending syllable will be very pronounced as far as I understand, and I'm aware that this is a typical feature of the Beijing dialect. But how is it pronounced in ...
8 votes
3 answers
735 views

How to distinguish the difference between the pronunciation of different erhuayin?

For example, 小黄儿, 小欢儿, 小花儿; 唱歌儿, 树根儿, 一横儿; What's the difference? I can't understand the difference between each phonetic symbol in the same row in the table below: The picture is from ...