Date:    Wed, 13 May 1998 09:40:13 +0900
<br>From:    Andrew Moody <moody[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]NUCBA.AC.JP>
<br>Subject: Re: Beijing /j/
<br>
<br>>Does anyone know why the j in Beijing is frequently pronounced as if French?
<br>>The Mandarin pronunciation is clearly like a "regular" English j, and the
<br>>switch from Peking happened recently enough that it shouldn't have gotten
<br>>mixed up.
<br>>
<br>
<br>The change to "Beijing," as opposed to "Peking," is probably a borrowing
<br>from the "pinyin" transcription system. "Pinyin" is the romanization system
<br>that is used in the People's Republic of China and does not necessarily
<br>represent the way that a native speaker of English would hear the Mandarin
<br>pronunciation. At any rate, though, I don't think many English speaker
<br>would have access to the Mandarin pronunciation.
<br>
<br>There is also a tendency for English speakers to use sounds that are less
<br>nativizing when pronouncing place names, especially foreign place names.
<br>This may be part of the reason for variation in names like "Colorado" were
<br>the "a" (Color_a_do) may be pronounced as /ae/ (as in Am. Eng "bat") or /a/
<br>(as in Am. Eng. "father").  If the fricative "j" (the French sounding one)
<br>is less native than the affricative "j" (the "regular" English one), then
<br>the French-sounding pronunciation may be a way to make Beijing sound more
<br>foreign and exotic.
<br>
<br>
<br>Andrew Moody
<br>Nagoya University of
<br>Commerce and Business Administration
<br>Nagoya, Japan
<br>