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娘 as in "girly" - niáng or niāng?


tooironic

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The other day I had someone claim that 娘 as in "girly"/"effeminate" should be pronounced niāng not niáng as I've been pronouncing it my whole life. He said that niáng can only mean "mother".

Is what he said true? No one else I've ever met has pronounced it in such a way.

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I was taught the phrase 娘娘腔 (nothing to do with me, by the way:-) ) and heard it as niāng niāng qiāng, but checking right now all the dictionaries have it as niáng niang qiāng. Maybe it's pronounced in an effeminate way for effect.

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The MDBG pronounciation for 姑娘 gives 娘 a neutral tone. I checked another dictionary app and found that only when paired with 姑 does 娘 have a neutral tone. Perhaps this is the reason the person told you to pronounce 娘 differently?

http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=worddict&wdrst=0&wdqb=%E5%A7%91%E5%A8%98

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