<p>I cannot think of any epenthesis (增音) examples in Mandarin, but it exists in some dialects of Chinese. Here are some examples in Beijing dialect, from this webpage: <a href="http://yys.moe.edu.cn/81/peixun05_4.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">教育部语言文字应用研究所 - 普通话语音和北京语音的界限</a>.</p>

<p>1) 增加声母：</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>这儿 “儿” er-her<br>
  女儿 nǚ'er-nǚher （或变为nǚhuor）</p>
</blockquote>

<p>2) 增加韵尾：</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>把水倒净 “把” bǎ-bǎi<br>
  闭上嘴 “闭” bì-bìn<br>
  枳棘 “棘” ji-jin<br>
  八下里（各方面） “下”xià-xiàn<br>
  告诉 “诉” su-song</p>
</blockquote>

<p>3) 增加介音：</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>一般儿大（同样大） “般” bān-biān<br>
  动撼（动） “撼” han-huan（或更变hun）<br>
  凑合 “合” he-huo</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I think the third case is close to what you are looking for (though it's a dialect but not Mandarin), where additional segments are inserted between initials and finals.</p>

<p><strong>Relevant experiences</strong></p>

<p>I've met many people who will possibly do a similar thing due to they find it hard to pronounce some particular words in a standard way. However, even they know they are inserting syllables, some of them still think that they are speaking Mandarin rather than a dialect. But who can tell? I have no idea how to clearly draw the line.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-24T10:58:54.947Z
2018-04-24T10:58:54.947Z
wklchris
<p><strong>Epenthesis</strong> is a process that inserts a syllabic or non-syllabic segment within an existing string of segments. For example, it is common in casual speech for English speakers to insert a (p) in between [m] and [θ] when pronouncing "warmth" /morm(p)θ/. I am wondering if Mandarin has epenthetic sounds as well, and hopefully someone can give me some examples and reference.</p>

<pronunciation>
Examples of Epenthesis in Chinese
# Examples of Epenthesis in Chinese

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-04-24)

**Epenthesis** is a process that inserts a syllabic or non-syllabic segment within an existing string of segments. For example, it is common in casual speech for English speakers to insert a (p) in between [m] and [θ] when pronouncing "warmth" /morm(p)θ/. I am wondering if Mandarin has epenthetic sounds as well, and hopefully someone can give me some examples and reference.

**Tags:** pronunciation


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2018-04-24. Score: 3

I cannot think of any epenthesis (增音) examples in Mandarin, but it exists in some dialects of Chinese. Here are some examples in Beijing dialect, from this webpage: [教育部语言文字应用研究所 - 普通话语音和北京语音的界限](http://yys.moe.edu.cn/81/peixun05_4.htm).

1) 增加声母：

> 这儿 “儿” er-her  
> 女儿 nǚ'er-nǚher （或变为nǚhuor）

2) 增加韵尾：

> 把水倒净 “把” bǎ-bǎi  
> 闭上嘴 “闭” bì-bìn  
> 枳棘 “棘” ji-jin  
> 八下里（各方面） “下”xià-xiàn  
> 告诉 “诉” su-song

3) 增加介音：

> 一般儿大（同样大） “般” bān-biān  
> 动撼（动） “撼” han-huan（或更变hun）  
> 凑合 “合” he-huo

I think the third case is close to what you are looking for (though it's a dialect but not Mandarin), where additional segments are inserted between initials and finals.

**Relevant experiences**

I've met many people who will possibly do a similar thing due to they find it hard to pronounce some particular words in a standard way. However, even they know they are inserting syllables, some of them still think that they are speaking Mandarin rather than a dialect. But who can tell? I have no idea how to clearly draw the line.


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