<p>Honorific space only appears in old texts. Traditionally Chinese is written from top to bottom. Not having anything above you signifies your importance. It used to be that you need to start a new line to show that. Using a space is a kind of compromise since it's hard to read when part of a sentence gets moved to the next line.</p>
<p>In text written horizontally, it doesn't make much sense. Perhaps that is why we don't see it often nowadays.</p>
<p>When read aloud, the space is ignored. You read normally, as though the space is not there.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-01-30T15:37:04.353Z
2023-01-30T15:37:04.353Z
monalisa
<p>The ideographic space (<a href="https://unicode-table.com/en/3000/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://unicode-table.com/en/3000/</a>) is used in one copy of the CUV Bible but not in another. Does its presence affect how it's read aloud? If the ideographic space is used simply for word grouping and not as an honorific, does that change whether it's &quot;pronounced&quot; as a pause?</p>
<p>Example in John 1:1 CUV:</p>
<p>太初有道，道与神同在，道就是神。</p>
<p>太初有道，道与　神同在，道就是　神。</p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_punctuation#Punctuation_marks" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_punctuation#Punctuation_marks</a>
Under &quot;Spacing&quot;:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When a space is used, it is also fullwidth (U+3000 IDEOGRAPHIC SPACE). One instance of its usage is as an honorific marker. A modern example in 20th century Taiwan, is found in the reference to Chiang Kai-shek as 先總統　蔣公 (Former President, Lord Chiang), in which the preceding space serves as an honorific marker for 蔣公. This use is also still current in very formal letters or other old-style documents,[7] as well as religious scripture.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://gniw.ca/cjk-honorific-fullwidth-space.php" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://gniw.ca/cjk-honorific-fullwidth-space.php</a> says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>it is (obviously) not pronounced</p>
</blockquote>
<p>but I don't know if they're just making a mild joke about spaces not making actual sounds, or if there really is no pause.</p>
<p>Google's TTS does not have a pause:
<a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=zh-CN&amp;tl=en&amp;text=%E5%A4%AA%E5%88%9D%E6%9C%89%E9%81%93%EF%BC%8C%E9%81%93%E4%B8%8E%E7%A5%9E%E5%90%8C%E5%9C%A8%EF%BC%8C%E9%81%93%E5%B0%B1%E6%98%AF%E7%A5%9E%E3%80%82%0A%E5%A4%AA%E5%88%9D%E6%9C%89%E9%81%93%EF%BC%8C%E9%81%93%E4%B8%8E%E3%80%80%E7%A5%9E%E5%90%8C%E5%9C%A8%EF%BC%8C%E9%81%93%E5%B0%B1%E6%98%AF%E3%80%80%E7%A5%9E%E3%80%82&amp;op=translate" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://translate.google.com/?sl=zh-CN&amp;tl=en&amp;text=%E5%A4%AA%E5%88%9D%E6%9C%89%E9%81%93%EF%BC%8C%E9%81%93%E4%B8%8E%E7%A5%9E%E5%90%8C%E5%9C%A8%EF%BC%8C%E9%81%93%E5%B0%B1%E6%98%AF%E7%A5%9E%E3%80%82%0A%E5%A4%AA%E5%88%9D%E6%9C%89%E9%81%93%EF%BC%8C%E9%81%93%E4%B8%8E%E3%80%80%E7%A5%9E%E5%90%8C%E5%9C%A8%EF%BC%8C%E9%81%93%E5%B0%B1%E6%98%AF%E3%80%80%E7%A5%9E%E3%80%82&amp;op=translate</a></p>
<p>Microsoft's TTS does have a pause (if you scroll to the section &quot;Try Text to Speech with this demo app, built on our JavaScript SDK&quot; you can compare the outputs from the text above):
<a href="https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/cognitive-services/text-to-speech/#features" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/cognitive-services/text-to-speech/#features</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-01-30T01:07:21.527Z
As a native Chinese, I have never seen this "the honorific space" before.
fefe
<pronunciation>
Is the honorific space in a text "pronounced" as a pause when read aloud?
# Is the honorific space in a text "pronounced" as a pause when read aloud?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-01-30)

The ideographic space (<https://unicode-table.com/en/3000/>) is used in one copy of the CUV Bible but not in another. Does its presence affect how it's read aloud? If the ideographic space is used simply for word grouping and not as an honorific, does that change whether it's "pronounced" as a pause?

Example in John 1:1 CUV:

太初有道，道与神同在，道就是神。

太初有道，道与　神同在，道就是　神。

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_punctuation#Punctuation_marks>
Under "Spacing":

> When a space is used, it is also fullwidth (U+3000 IDEOGRAPHIC SPACE). One instance of its usage is as an honorific marker. A modern example in 20th century Taiwan, is found in the reference to Chiang Kai-shek as 先總統　蔣公 (Former President, Lord Chiang), in which the preceding space serves as an honorific marker for 蔣公. This use is also still current in very formal letters or other old-style documents,[7] as well as religious scripture.

<http://gniw.ca/cjk-honorific-fullwidth-space.php> says:

> it is (obviously) not pronounced

but I don't know if they're just making a mild joke about spaces not making actual sounds, or if there really is no pause.

Google's TTS does not have a pause:
<https://translate.google.com/?sl=zh-CN&tl=en&text=%E5%A4%AA%E5%88%9D%E6%9C%89%E9%81%93%EF%BC%8C%E9%81%93%E4%B8%8E%E7%A5%9E%E5%90%8C%E5%9C%A8%EF%BC%8C%E9%81%93%E5%B0%B1%E6%98%AF%E7%A5%9E%E3%80%82%0A%E5%A4%AA%E5%88%9D%E6%9C%89%E9%81%93%EF%BC%8C%E9%81%93%E4%B8%8E%E3%80%80%E7%A5%9E%E5%90%8C%E5%9C%A8%EF%BC%8C%E9%81%93%E5%B0%B1%E6%98%AF%E3%80%80%E7%A5%9E%E3%80%82&op=translate>

Microsoft's TTS does have a pause (if you scroll to the section "Try Text to Speech with this demo app, built on our JavaScript SDK" you can compare the outputs from the text above):
<https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/cognitive-services/text-to-speech/#features>

**Tags:** pronunciation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: As a native Chinese, I have never seen this "the honorific space" before.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2023-01-30. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

Honorific space only appears in old texts. Traditionally Chinese is written from top to bottom. Not having anything above you signifies your importance. It used to be that you need to start a new line to show that. Using a space is a kind of compromise since it's hard to read when part of a sentence gets moved to the next line.

In text written horizontally, it doesn't make much sense. Perhaps that is why we don't see it often nowadays.

When read aloud, the space is ignored. You read normally, as though the space is not there.


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