<p>There is no labiodental fricative [v], including in northerners' pronunciation. What you're hearing is a labiodental approximant [ʋ], which is sort of halfway between [w] and [v]. This is a variant pronunciation and phonemically equivalent to [w].</p>
<p>Because they are phonemically equivalent, both [w] and [ʋ] are represented by pinyin ⟨⁠w⁠⟩, rather than ⟨⁠v⁠⟩ or anything else.</p>
<p>The paper cited by the accepted answer looks pretty questionable to me, given that it doesn't make any distinction between labiodental fricative and labiodental approximant. In addition, the translation of 普遍 as &quot;universal&quot; in the abstract is wrong, because pronunciation of [w] with some dentalization is <em>not</em> universal, but rather a variant pronunciation that (by the paper's own conclusions) is in the minority.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-10-29T23:48:43.743Z
2022-04-25T14:40:50.590Z
2022-04-25T14:40:50.590Z
Lionel Rowe
<p>According to Mandarin, <em>yinwei</em>, but you may pronounce as <em>yinvei</em>, it is just another variant of pronunciation of the word.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-03-02T04:50:56.217Z
Hokkien, Cantonese, Hakka all say it with a "W"
Wayne Cheah
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-03-02T05:42:50.247Z
@WayneCheah, oh, man, Cantonese is not mandarin.
XL _At_Here_There
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-11-28T21:24:35.177Z
2020-10-29T15:56:34.667Z
2020-10-29T15:56:34.667Z
XL _At_Here_There
<p>因为 is always pronounced as /Yīn wèi/</p>

<p>/yin vei/ sounds like a foreigner's mispronunciation of the words</p>

<p>there is no /vei/ sound in Mandarin pinyin (I searched all 4 tones)</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-11-28T22:09:22.477Z
It really _doesn't_ sound like a "foreigner's mispronunciation"--it sounds like a Northerner's mispronunciation! I've had professors at 复旦 who talk this way (who I presume were from the north).
Stumpy Joe Pete
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-03-02T07:20:02.507Z
It's very common among speakers in the north who otherwise have perfectly standard Mandarin, including teachers.
Olle Linge
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-11-24T04:08:48.270Z
2018-11-24T04:08:48.270Z
Tang Ho
<p>/v/ is not an initial found in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Chinese" rel="noreferrer">MSM</a>.</p>
<hr />
<p>The initial /v/, though, is often found in Northern Mandarin and its branches. In fact, it can still be found, even, in distant branches like Sichuanese.</p>
<p>If you ever saw the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mq-pQpIwqIo" rel="noreferrer">马蜂窝</a> commercial that aired, ever single night, during the World Cup, you'd certainly notice that 唐僧's &quot;为&quot; is very /v/'d.</p>
<p>You can also refer to the paper <a href="http://www.zndxsk.com.cn/upfile/soft/200861/200861183256465.pdf" rel="noreferrer">The geographic distribution rules and reasons of zero initial “w” pronounced as “v” in Mandarin </a> by Wang Fan. The abstract for the paper goes into some detail in English:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Abstract</strong>:</p>
<p>It  is  universal  to  pronounce  zero  initial  “w”  as  “v”  in Mandarin. Researches  show  that  38%  of  the  people with northern dialect do so with 10% in other dialect districts. When analyzing its features and reasons, we find that the dental fricative sound “v” is indeed a variant of the semi-vowel “w”. Its coming into being is affected by the variation of the  mouth  in  different  phonemes.  It  is  also  related  to  individual  pronunciation  habits  and  the  instability  of  the  pronunciation.  The  universal  “v”  pronunciation  in  northern  dialect  district  is  caused  by  the  stronger  movement  of  the mouth and the face in pronouncing than that in other dialect districts.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr />
<p>The 为 in 因为 should be pronounced <code>wei</code> if you're going for &quot;standard&quot; Mandarin. But, if you want to make yourself sound more Northernized you can also opt for the v.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-12-06T10:46:38.433Z
The characters 维 and 为 both reads **wei** in Mandarin, but 维 reads as **vei** in our Xi'an dialect.
xenophōn
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-11-24T04:39:38.547Z
2018-11-30T02:54:39.550Z
2020-06-17T09:50:11.587Z
Mou某
<p>I hear some people say 因为 as “yinwei”, but also some say it sound like “yinvei”. I’m not sure why there is a difference in pronunciation.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-11-24T05:00:58.327Z
You should notice that there's a thing called accent, which doesn't only occurs in foreigners.
炸鱼薯条德里克
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-11-24T17:14:42.800Z
To be clear, no /v/ exists in the pronunciation in Putonghua. However this is acceptable.
xbh
<pronunciation><pinyin>
Yinwei or Yinvei? 因为
# Yinwei or Yinvei? 因为

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-11-24)

I hear some people say 因为 as “yinwei”, but also some say it sound like “yinvei”. I’m not sure why there is a difference in pronunciation.

**Tags:** pronunciation, pinyin

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: You should notice that there's a thing called accent, which doesn't only occurs in foreigners.  
> **username_2**: To be clear, no /v/ exists in the pronunciation in Putonghua. However this is acceptable.  

---

## 4 answers

### Answer by username_9 on 2018-11-24. Score: 11 | Accepted answer

/v/ is not an initial found in [MSM](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Chinese).

---

The initial /v/, though, is often found in Northern Mandarin and its branches. In fact, it can still be found, even, in distant branches like Sichuanese.

If you ever saw the [马蜂窝](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mq-pQpIwqIo) commercial that aired, ever single night, during the World Cup, you'd certainly notice that 唐僧's "为" is very /v/'d.

You can also refer to the paper [The geographic distribution rules and reasons of zero initial “w” pronounced as “v” in Mandarin](http://www.zndxsk.com.cn/upfile/soft/200861/200861183256465.pdf)  by Wang Fan. The abstract for the paper goes into some detail in English:

> **Abstract**:
>
> It is universal to pronounce zero initial “w” as “v” in Mandarin. Researches show that 38% of the people with northern dialect do so with 10% in other dialect districts. When analyzing its features and reasons, we find that the dental fricative sound “v” is indeed a variant of the semi-vowel “w”. Its coming into being is affected by the variation of the mouth in different phonemes. It is also related to individual pronunciation habits and the instability of the pronunciation. The universal “v” pronunciation in northern dialect district is caused by the stronger movement of the mouth and the face in pronouncing than that in other dialect districts.

---

The 为 in 因为 should be pronounced `wei` if you're going for "standard" Mandarin. But, if you want to make yourself sound more Northernized you can also opt for the v.

> **Comments:**
> **username_10**: The characters 维 and 为 both reads **wei** in Mandarin, but 维 reads as **vei** in our Xi'an dialect.  

---

### Answer by username_3 on 2020-10-29. Score: 3

There is no labiodental fricative [v], including in northerners' pronunciation. What you're hearing is a labiodental approximant [ʋ], which is sort of halfway between [w] and [v]. This is a variant pronunciation and phonemically equivalent to [w].

Because they are phonemically equivalent, both [w] and [ʋ] are represented by pinyin ⟨⁠w⁠⟩, rather than ⟨⁠v⁠⟩ or anything else.

The paper cited by the accepted answer looks pretty questionable to me, given that it doesn't make any distinction between labiodental fricative and labiodental approximant. In addition, the translation of 普遍 as "universal" in the abstract is wrong, because pronunciation of [w] with some dentalization is *not* universal, but rather a variant pronunciation that (by the paper's own conclusions) is in the minority.


---

### Answer by username_4 on 2018-11-28. Score: 0

According to Mandarin, *yinwei*, but you may pronounce as *yinvei*, it is just another variant of pronunciation of the word.

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: Hokkien, Cantonese, Hakka all say it with a "W"  
> **username_4**: @username_5, oh, man, Cantonese is not mandarin.  

---

### Answer by username_6 on 2018-11-24. Score: -1

因为 is always pronounced as /Yīn wèi/

/yin vei/ sounds like a foreigner's mispronunciation of the words

there is no /vei/ sound in Mandarin pinyin (I searched all 4 tones)

> **Comments:**
> **username_7**: It really _doesn't_ sound like a "foreigner's mispronunciation"--it sounds like a Northerner's mispronunciation! I've had professors at 复旦 who talk this way (who I presume were from the north).  
> **username_8**: It's very common among speakers in the north who otherwise have perfectly standard Mandarin, including teachers.  

---

