<p>If you don't usually use 'thy' instead of 'you', you should read 解 as 'jie' but not 'jiai'</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-07-12T08:20:35.870Z
I know this wasn't the point, but thy means your, not you. (you as subject is thou, as object is thee)
vermillon
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-07-11T11:58:17.460Z
2015-07-11T11:58:17.460Z
shenkwen
<p>If you'd ever seen Mathews' Chinese-English dictionary (rev. American ed. Harvard UP, 1957 and a million pirate editions), this would ring a bell. "Chiai" goes back to the OLD National Pronunciation system of 1920 and can also be found in a system used by the missionaries of the China Inland Mission, of whom <a href="http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mathews-robert-henry-7519" rel="nofollow">R. H. Mathews</a> was one.  </p>

<p>The revision of Mathews dictionary was done by Y. R. Chao in 1943, in gross violation of Mathews' copyright, but there <em>was</em> a war on at the time. Chao has a note on these quirks in his introduction to the revision. According to Chao, the 1920 system was "an eclectic system" put together by a government committee in 1920, and "took features of Central dialects into consideration." The 1920 system was replaced in 1931, right after Mathews dictionary was published, by a new system which is "practically a straightforward adoption of the pronunciation of Peiping." </p>

<p>Peiping pronuciation (whoops, I mean Beijing), has a sort of dissimilation of medials and diphthongs, such that you don't get u-u or i-i combinations; apparently this was not true of some of the dialects that went into the 1920 pronunciation stew. Other characters written "chiai" include 街、介、戒、皆 and most of the characters that use them as phonetics.  </p>

<p>I might add that Mathews contributed greatly to my confusion over Mandarin pronunciation. Apparently some people at an obscure diploma mill in Cambridge MA still use it. But as for why this is popping up now in China, color me puzzled.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-07-12T01:08:19.387Z
Is 界 also written as "chiai" (jiai) in Matthews'?
Mou某
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-07-12T07:30:12.097Z
Yup. Here's a list of all the chiai characters in Mathews: 界、玠、芥、蚧、疥、誡、屆、皆、偕、喈、楷，稭、階，plus 解、介、戒、街.

There are still plenty of chieh characters too: 接、揭、結、節、
姐 and a bunch more. Really doesn't have anything to do with Peiping hua.
wpt
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-07-12T07:45:30.437Z
How would chieh be properly "pinyin"-ized?
Mou某
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-07-12T10:37:09.670Z
Just the same as 解: jie.  So as far as standard Chinese is concerned, the difference between chiai and chieh in the CIM/NP systems is totally artificial.
wpt
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-07-12T11:32:15.703Z
Well I mean if chiai can be written jiai - what would chieh be?
Mou某
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-07-12T15:56:17.303Z
Just jie.  The ch = j, just like wade giles. the -h is weird, it means its 入聲. Pinyin ignores this, since Mandarin has no 入聲, so you're left with jie.
wpt
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-07-13T04:34:07.220Z
@wpt I don't think the `-h` designates 入聲. The character 姐, for instance, is not a 入聲 word. It appears Matthews uses a modified Wade-Giles romanization and `-ieh` is simply the spelling that Wade-Giles uses to represent the same sound as Pinyin's `-ie` (see [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wade%E2%80%93Giles#Finals)). Thus, Matthews' `chieh` = Pinyin `jie`.
Claw
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-07-13T06:21:14.727Z
Sorry, I answered carelessly.  -h is rusheng in the CIM system (in Mathews it is under WG and NP in parentheses). You're right about 姐; in the CIM system it is 'tsie'.
wpt
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-07-13T09:50:19.523Z
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_National_Pronunciation
Michaelyus
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-07-11T11:38:22.187Z
2015-07-11T11:38:22.187Z
wpt
<p>from《四川方言词典》:</p>
<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/4XtvL.png" alt="example one" /></p>
<blockquote>
<p>解</p>
<p>jiai3</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Originally, I just figured it was a topolectical reading but then I found this:</p>
<p><a href="http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_625b19d10102v26k.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">“解”的准确读音是“jiai”</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>最近发现仍然有人把“解”读为“jie”，他们的根据是现代的字典和词典，但是，他们不知道现代的字典和词典是根据“汉语拼音方案”，“方案”中“e”是戴帽的，不是“e”。实际上，“方案”的意图是用“e”代表“e”“ai”两个音（这种做法其实是有问题的）。如果“方案”真的想让大家把“解”读成“jie”，那么它就太没有道理了，因为古今汉语都不是这样读的，而是读成“a”或“ai”韵。</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The above blog post is also tagged as <em>汉语拼音方案</em> so it certainly is not talking about anything dialectical.</p>
<ul>
<li>What's the deal about 解 read as <code>jiai</code>?</li>
</ul>

<pronunciation>
解 Read as Jiai?
# 解 Read as Jiai?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-07-11)

from《四川方言词典》:

![example one](https://i.sstatic.net/4XtvL.png)

> 解
>
> jiai3

Originally, I just figured it was a topolectical reading but then I found this:

[“解”的准确读音是“jiai”](http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_625b19d10102v26k.html)

> 最近发现仍然有人把“解”读为“jie”，他们的根据是现代的字典和词典，但是，他们不知道现代的字典和词典是根据“汉语拼音方案”，“方案”中“e”是戴帽的，不是“e”。实际上，“方案”的意图是用“e”代表“e”“ai”两个音（这种做法其实是有问题的）。如果“方案”真的想让大家把“解”读成“jie”，那么它就太没有道理了，因为古今汉语都不是这样读的，而是读成“a”或“ai”韵。

The above blog post is also tagged as *汉语拼音方案* so it certainly is not talking about anything dialectical.

* What's the deal about 解 read as `jiai`?

**Tags:** pronunciation


---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2015-07-11. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

If you'd ever seen Mathews' Chinese-English dictionary (rev. American ed. Harvard UP, 1957 and a million pirate editions), this would ring a bell. "Chiai" goes back to the OLD National Pronunciation system of 1920 and can also be found in a system used by the missionaries of the China Inland Mission, of whom [R. H. Mathews](http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mathews-robert-henry-7519) was one.

The revision of Mathews dictionary was done by Y. R. Chao in 1943, in gross violation of Mathews' copyright, but there *was* a war on at the time. Chao has a note on these quirks in his introduction to the revision. According to Chao, the 1920 system was "an eclectic system" put together by a government committee in 1920, and "took features of Central dialects into consideration." The 1920 system was replaced in 1931, right after Mathews dictionary was published, by a new system which is "practically a straightforward adoption of the pronunciation of Peiping."

Peiping pronuciation (whoops, I mean Beijing), has a sort of dissimilation of medials and diphthongs, such that you don't get u-u or i-i combinations; apparently this was not true of some of the dialects that went into the 1920 pronunciation stew. Other characters written "chiai" include 街、介、戒、皆 and most of the characters that use them as phonetics.

I might add that Mathews contributed greatly to my confusion over Mandarin pronunciation. Apparently some people at an obscure diploma mill in Cambridge MA still use it. But as for why this is popping up now in China, color me puzzled.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Is 界 also written as "chiai" (jiai) in Matthews'?  
> **username_3**: Yup. Here's a list of all the chiai characters in Mathews: 界、玠、芥、蚧、疥、誡、屆、皆、偕、喈、楷，稭、階，plus 解、介、戒、街.  There are still plenty of chieh characters too: 接、揭、結、節、 姐 and a bunch more. Really doesn't have anything to do with Peiping hua.  
> **username_0**: How would chieh be properly "pinyin"-ized?  
> **username_3**: Just the same as 解: jie.  So as far as standard Chinese is concerned, the difference between chiai and chieh in the CIM/NP systems is totally artificial.  
> **username_0**: Well I mean if chiai can be written jiai - what would chieh be?  
> **username_3**: Just jie.  The ch = j, just like wade giles. the -h is weird, it means its 入聲. Pinyin ignores this, since Mandarin has no 入聲, so you're left with jie.  
> **username_4**: @username_3 I don't think the `-h` designates 入聲. The character 姐, for instance, is not a 入聲 word. It appears Matthews uses a modified Wade-Giles romanization and `-ieh` is simply the spelling that Wade-Giles uses to represent the same sound as Pinyin's `-ie` (see [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wade%E2%80%93Giles#Finals)). Thus, Matthews' `chieh` = Pinyin `jie`.  
> **username_3**: Sorry, I answered carelessly.  -h is rusheng in the CIM system (in Mathews it is under WG and NP in parentheses). You're right about 姐; in the CIM system it is 'tsie'.  
> **username_5**: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_National_Pronunciation  

---

### Answer by username_1 on 2015-07-11. Score: 0

If you don't usually use 'thy' instead of 'you', you should read 解 as 'jie' but not 'jiai'

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: I know this wasn't the point, but thy means your, not you. (you as subject is thou, as object is thee)  

---

