I passed through this one in my queue a couple of days ago. I wasn't sure if the reading on Skritter is right or wrong. After asking a Chinese teacher, and a few other people, I've come to the conclusion that it is in fact wrong.

The middle character should be zi3, instead of zi5. Pleco has an entry for this and it's listed with a neutral tone, but that's probably because the word 辣子 is with a neutral tone, but 辣子鸡 is with a 3rd tone

I also just check the wikipedia page for this. It has it as 3rd tone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_with_chilies

It all depends on whether one interprets it as 辣子-鸡 (zi5) or 辣-子鸡 (zi3). I guess the later one which stresses that it is a young chicken is better, since the young ones are usually more delicious.

@pts, There is nothing quite like the taste of nature's newborns.

Hi Bohan,

There seems to be a regional difference for the pronunciation of this word. I've asked a lot of my friends and I'm getting very mixed results. My Taiwanese friends, who are generally much less strict on the subtle differences of 子, are all saying it should be a slight third tone. My friends in China are all saying it should be said with a neutral tone.

The curious thing to me is why it would be pronounced as a third tone in this instance. Is the 子 carrying some meaning other than just a noun suffix for 辣子? I can't see why it would since the dish is simply chicken with chilies, but maybe I'm missing something.

At this point I'm about to get on a plane to Sichuan and ask around for myself (and get me some proper 川菜)

Out of curiosity where are you living in China?

Jake

@pts 哈哈哈.

@ Jake "The curious thing to me is why it would be pronounced as a third tone in this instance."
The neutral tones are usually reverted back to their original tones when they are included in chengyu and longer words.

柚子茶

@pts but that is because the chengyu (not sure what you mean by longer words) is reference the original meaning of 子 and not the suffix that is considered a 虛字 in modern Mandarin. And again, the degree to which this is even followed is incredibly regional with colloquial Chinese.

Personally, when I read 辣子雞 I just didn't think that someone would put slight verbal stop between 辣 and 子雞 to create the meaning that would make this a third tone case.

Interesting question regardless.

If the focus is on the chili peppers, then it should be 鸡-辣子 if this word actually exists, since the stress is usually on the latter part of a word.

You're right about that. Forgive me, I've been on a 7 hour 報告 writing marathon and my brain is toast. Ignored the rules for a second.

The neutral tones that appears in chengyu is not limited to the 子's. They can be any neutral tones. For the longer words, I means those that have the neutral tone prefixed or appended by another word, just like this 辣子鸡.

But no matter whether this 子 is zi5 or zi3, since 辣子鸡 is a 3 characters word and this 子 sits in the middle, it should be read much more lightly, and often to a degree that it appears as a neutral tone, unless one wants to specifically stress its meaning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3gNnnW6DWI

It made me hungry and forgot all about zi3/zi5...

Hey guys,

Thanks for the interesting replies.

@Jake i live in shanghai, let me know if you ever come through here and let me know if you find out anything in Sichuan. What are you flying out there for?

@Bohan,

I was actually just joking around about going to 四川, seeing your post just really made me want some authentic 辣子雞, which is really hard to find here in Taipei. Although I am heading back to the states this week to attend ACTFL.

After all of this discussion I'm going to make the change. I think PTS said it right.

Best,
Jake

@Jake oh, haha, okay, have fun in the states. Yeah, before I made this thread, I asked one of my Taiwanese friends how she would read the characters 辣子雞, and after she gave me her answer, she said she didn't know what this is. It seems there are many types of Chinese food that are missing in Taiwan.

By the way, what did you mean when you said you are "going to make the change" ?

The reading has now been changed to zi3 rather than zi5, with a note also stating that zi5 is an acceptable alternative pronunciation.

Just curious to know if this conclusion comes as a result of your field research in Sichuan?