小孩兒

[skylee]

I would like to know how common it is for Mandarin speakers to use 小孩兒 to refer to children.

In my vocabulary, children is 小孩/小孩子/孩子 (PS - and 兒童/小朋友）. 小孩兒 is not commonly used in HK. However, there is a newish Mandarin announcement at the metro stations in HK telling people to 照顧同行的老人和小孩兒. It is at the end of the message and the er-hua sounds extremely heavy and detestable to my ears. I am going to lodge a complaint on the choice of word anyways， but I think it would be interesting to ask here how common 小孩兒 is used by Mandarin speakers.

[Kenny同志]

Uncommon in the south. For me, mild 兒化 with 小孩 is tolerable but not if overdone.

[tooironic]

I've heard both 小孩兒 and 開門兒 in public announcements in Xiamen.

[Demonic_Duck]

Very common in Beijing. I'd say it's more colloquial than “孩子”, though.

[imron]

Yes, very common in the north.

[skylee]

I recorded this today.

照顧小孩兒.mp3

[陳德聰]

I just think her voice is annoying.

 

There actually is something that sounds distinctly wrong about "小孩". I don't ever say this. I always say 小孩子 or 小孩兒 or 孩子, but I do not say 小孩. I rarely write 小孩兒 though, and almost always will just write 小孩, but I pronounce that as 小孩兒 in my mind as far as I can tell.

[imron]

and almost always will just write 小孩, but I pronounce that as 小孩兒 in my mind as far as I can tell.

This is also very common in the north, 小孩兒 is often written as just 小孩.

[oceancalligraphy]

小孩兒 reminds me of textbooks in Taiwan, that overly used 兒.

 

When I say 小孩, I'm usually talking about someone's children. 小孩子 and 兒童 are typical. In public places I usually see 孩童. I only see 小朋友 in when children are specifically addressed.

[anonymoose]

Can't speak for the mandarin, but I like the British English.

[skylee]

Interesting replies.

As I said, I sent a complaint (well "comments" as there are no complaint forms nowadays) yesterday. Photo attached.

[Kenny同志]

As a southerner, I understand how you feel about heavy 兒化 but to be honest, I think the association is a bit too far-fetched..

[skylee]

Yes, it is. Otherwise they wouldn't respond to the "comments". This is one of the techniques of writing complaints.

[Kenny同志]

Er, OK, I see...

[889]

令人非常反感？

It matches up with 小朋友. They're both informal pat-the-little-kid-on-the-head terms.

Indeed, the woman behind the MTR voice says she intentionally tried to keep the escalator annoucements warm and friendly since they're directed at children.

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1731267/mind-gap-meet-woman-behind-those-mtr-announcements?page=all

[Demonic_Duck]

For what it's worth, I don't think it's used anywhere in 书面语. Seems to me that 儿化音 is normally absent from 书面语, even if the author would use it when reading aloud.

[skylee]

Re #15, I suppose the lady featured in that article makes the Cantonese and English announcements only, no?

It is OK that other people have other views on this subject. I have just presented my own views here.

[889]

I know what the article says, but it does sound to me like the same voice. If so, you can hardly blame a native Cantonese speaker for slightly over-stressing the er hua.

 

Your complaint did sound an awful lot like this complaint about her, though:

 

"I dislike her voice so much that sometimes I will not use the MTR. This might appear extreme to some people, but perhaps it is just that different people have different tastes."

 

http://www.scmp.com/article/71700/put-mtr

 

That was in 1994. So much for the effectiveness of strongly-worded complaints.

[陳德聰]

I think it's often easier to dismiss an extreme view than consider it. I do think the recording sounds awful and awkward, but I think it's more to do with her actual pronunciation. It could be pronounced with erhua and still be soft, but she sounds like she's trying to use a hammer to smash a square peg into a round hole.

[renzhe]

For what it's worth, I don't think it's used anywhere in 书面语. Seems to me that 儿化音 is normally absent from 书面语, even if the author would use it when reading aloud.

You mean this particular phrase, not erhua in general, right?