Variations in Chinese Vocabulary Pronunciation among the Youths in Kisaran City

Abstract

The Weibo post on 21^st February 2023 showed the phenomenon of pronunciation variants in several Chinese vocabulary spoken daily by Chinese people that are different from the standard Chinese dictionary. It was also found in Kisaran City, North Sumatra, especially in the youths of Chinese people, who are numerous and often use the Chinese Language in their communities and vernacular languages ​​such as Hokkien and others. The method used is qualitative research. It uses phonology theory as the basis for research and uses the PRAAT application and native speaker assistance in data classification and analysis. From 60 vocabularies referred to from Weibo 人民日报, 20 respondents, 1200 data or vocabularies were produced. Data was obtained using the Bungin calculation system, and 33% of respondents pronounced according to the Chinese Dictionary, while 67% of respondents did not pronounce according to the dictionary. The factors that cause the youths of Kisaran City not to follow the dictionary pronunciation are the influence of respondents' learning sources, lack of knowledge of polyphonic characters, using radicals to guess how to pronounce vocabulary, and the similarity of Chinese characters.