PRONUNCIATION - also MISUNDERSTOOD WORDS AND PHRASES
(excerpts
from posts)
1)
The Cat of Dovrefjell, How do you
pronounce "Dovrefjell"?
"daw-vreh-fjell":
Do - like in dawn (without n), long sound
v
re - reh, short sound
fj - as in fjord
ell - like in (h)ell
Stress on first syllable.
This is the Swedish pronounciation - which sounds the same as
the Norwegian
(Dovrefjell is a mountain in Norway).
2) Nasrudin Hodja
In Albanian the name would be spelled Naxhrudin Hoxha and pronounced
NAZHJ-rue-deen HO-zhah. Hoxha is a common surname in Albania.
It was a province of the Ottoman Empire for about 450 years.
3) Nasrudin Hodja
From the land of many languages, mainly Hebrew and Arabic, here
is the answer to your request:
Naser-a-Din, The "Na" is pronounced with depth, something
between "Na" and "Nu". The "Di"
is a little bit prolonged and emphasised. The whole name is said
in one breath, don't stop untill you get to the "i".
Hodja in Arabic is "Haj" when the "H" is a
letter that does not exist in English, and it is pronounced from
the throut like the dutch pronounce "jj".
4) Unanana
U (as in oooo...almost like the sound you make when you stub your
toe ooo ooo ooo and then " na na " ooo na na.
5) Welsh Names and Words (source:
More Tales from the Welsh Hills by
Ellen Pugh)
C is always hard like the English K. C as in "cat."
CH is always a gutteral sound as in the Scottish "loch."
F is the sound heard in the f of "of," or the v in "van."
FF is the ff in "Afford," or the f in "fan."
G is always hard as in "gate," never soft as in "germ."
S is always hard as in "sat," neveer as in "his."
TH is as in "thank," never as in "thou."
W is a vowel, with an oo sound. It may be short as in "took,"
or long as in "food."
Amlwch = Am'look
Anglesey = Ang'l•see
Cadi = Kad'ee
ceffyl-dwr = keff'il-door
Cledog = Cled'og
Dai = Die
Dewi = Doo'ee
Efa = Ev'aah
Elfod = Ell'vode
Elin = Ell'inn
Elphin = Elf'inn
Hargan = Harg'an
Ifan = Ee'van
Jenkyn = Jenk'inn
Maldwyn - Mald'oe-inn
Mechel = Mek'l
Morvyth = Moer'vith
Niclas = Nik'las
Plynlymon = Plin•lim'un
Sioned = Shawn'ed
Tylwyth Teg = Tel-oe-ith Taeg
Wil = Wil
6) Swahili pronunciation
I came across this saying on the net, along with the meaning. I was wondering if anyone would be familiar with the Swahili pronunciation. Many thanks.
"Kujenga Pamoja! Together We Build!"
Nancy
Response: The nice thing about Swahili is that it's pronounced the way it's written, almost without exception. Here's a good online resource for you:
http://www.yale.edu/swahili/
Karen
7) I don't want to be responsible for causing offence to any grandmothers, especially not Baba Marta. So here post haste is the antidote in my best pigeon phonetics.
Chestita Baba Marta
Chestita:: chest + ee (short) + ta (short like ta- ffeta). The emphasis is
on the second syllable.
Baba: ba like in a ba - bble of babies
Marta: just roll that r.
Welsh isn't easy for me either! How do you say "Hwyl"?
Moni S.
8) Can anyone send me a phonetic pronunciation of the word 'mother' in Japanese?
Sue B.
Response: Who is speaking to whom? Speaking of someone else's mother, or speaking formally to one's own mother, the word would probably be "okaasan" (ohKAHsan). Babytalk or informal speech directly to one's mother would be "haha" (equal stress on the syllables).
9) Query: I am looking for a story containing some confusion because a word or phrase has been mispronounced.
Response: Not quite what you're asking, but the story in the Odyssey where Odysseus and his crew are trapped in the Cyclop's cave. They escape and blind the Cyclops, who asks who Odysseus is as he rushes off. He replies Nobody. Cyclops goes off and complains to his giant friends and demands they help him in revenge. They ask who did this to him. He says Nobody did it to me. They then think the Cyclops must have done it to himself and therefore doesn't need any help. Misunderstanding and confusion, but not exactly mispronunciation.
Another idea is all those pun stories we were discussing recently. They rely on using words that are 'mispronounced' versions of all the words in a familiar phrase that forms the punchline.
Tim S.
Response: The Hungry Thing is a picture book. The hungry thing shows up in the village with a sign that says Feed Me. When asked what he wants, he says, "Feetloaf". No one understands except one child who thinks Feetloaf sounds like meatloaf and so it goes with various foods until he is full.
Rose O.
Response: Not mispronounced but misheard. I was re-listening only yesterday to the great story by Billy Teare, Martha Clark and Johnny Brady, on the CD Crosskeys Inn: Tales Across the Ocean. Old woman looking for her strayed sheep - just a little bit deaf. Old man she asks - just a little bit deaf. When the inevitable shouting match starts, they are taken before a judge - not only just a little bit deaf but short sighted, too. He thinks they have come for a divorce - tells them to go an live together in peace or they'll be in REAL trouble. They do and are happy for the rest of their days - because neither could really hear a word the other said.
Richard M. Germany
Response: There is a recent children's book called 'Hooway for Wodney Wat' by Helen Lester in which the bully is undone when she tries to take Rodney's mispronunciations literally.
Tom & Sandy F.
Response: The first story I ever told in front of a group was a joke that would answer your purposes. I was 4 and a half, it was our first church potluck in our new church. The fund-raising skit was over, Mr. Bennett had led us all in Christmas carols while playing accordian, which he always did, and the minister said, this concludes the scheduled portion of our entertainment, but if anybody would like to sing a song or tell a joke, and I stood up and said "*I* know a joke," and before my parents could react was in front of the room. They were terrified-- we told *all* kinds of jokes around our house-- but it was ok, and I still remember the crash of laughter at the end. I told it in the style of my mother, big moves, "selling" the punchline.
The lady comes into the butcher shop, butcher says, "can I help you?" "Yes," she says, "give me a pound of kiddleys." He says, "what?" she says "kiddlies, give me a pound of kiddleys." He says, "Lady, we have no kiddleys." She says "yes you do, right there" and points. He says, "Oh! You mean KIDneys!" She says, "Well, I said kiddleys, diddle I?"
Tim J.
Response: Ooh, I remember this joke with whiskers, not for you, about the couple on their first date, and the girl keeps saying "Weigh me," so he keeps taking her to pay scales, until at the end of the evening she says: "I had a wovely time."
Dvora S.
Response to above: same story -- the line I heard was "What do you want to do next?" "I want to get weighed."
Dale P.
Response: There was a story which I read on Storytell once, which featured not so much a mispronunciation, but a different dialect. I'm using // to indicate pronunciation.
The Ulster pronunciation of mouse is /mu:s/, the same as the North American animal the moose (and of course a /mu:s/ lives in a /hu:s/). So when an Englishman told an Ulsterman how he shot a _moose_ over in Canada, the Ulsterman was understandably confused, and then astounded when it took four men to lift it onto a truck, and provided a meal for I don't know how many. But it really needs to be told with the accents.
A friend once met a girl who'd called her son "Huggy", and when asked how it was spelt, said H-U-G-H; she'd seen it in a book and liked it! Which is the friend called her son "Huw", which is the Welsh spelling.
Philip A.
Response: Hooway for Wodney Wat is a great story of misinterpretation of words. It's available from Scholastic. Perhaps the classic misunderstanding (rather than mispronunciation) story is the A&C routine of "Who's on First?" It's found freely on the net in a number of sites. Somebody sent me the other day a Johnny Carson/Jack Webb routine on a robbery.
Dale P.
Response: The following is a direct quote from the Center for Strategic and International Studies report on GLOBAL ORGANIZED CRIME; the author who introduces the story swears it's true.
FBI agents conducted a raid of a psychiatric hospital in San Diego that was under investigation for medical insurance fraud. After hours of reviewing thousands of medical records, the dozens of agents had worked up quite an appetite. The agent in charge of the investigation called a nearby pizza parlor with delivery service to order a quick dinner for his colleagues.
The following telephone conversation took place and was recorded by the FBI because they were taping all conversations at the hospital.
Agent: Hello. I would like to order 19 large pizzas and 67 cans of soda.
Pizza Guy: And where would you like them delivered?
Agent: We're over at the psychiatric hospital.
Pizza Guy: The psychiatric hospital?
Agent: That's right. I'm an FBI agent.
Pizza Guy: You're an FBI agent?
Agent: That's correct. Just about everybody here is.
Pizza Guy: And you're at the psychiatric hospital?
Agent: That's correct. And make sure you don't go through the front doors. We have them locked. You will have to go around to the back to the service entrance to deliver the pizzas.
Pizza Guy: And you say you're all FBI agents?
Agent: That's right. How soon can you have them here?
Pizza Guy: And everyone at the psychiatric hospital is an FBI agent?
Agent: That's right. We've been here all day and we're starving.
Pizza Guy: How are you going to pay for all of this?
Agent: I have my checkbook right here.
Pizza Guy: And you're "all" FBI agents?
Agent: That's right. Everyone here is an FBI agent. Can you remember
to bring the pizzas and sodas to the service entrance in the rear?
We have the front doors locked.
Pizza Guy: I don't think so... >click<
Tom & Sandy F.
Response: Did anybody mention the new variation, featuring Bush, Condi Rice, and Premier Hu?
Well, this version is a bit dated now.
HU'S ON FIRST
By James Sherman, Date: Sun, 24 Nov 2002
(We take you now to the Oval Office.)
George: Condi! Nice to see you. What's happening?
Condi: Sir, I have the report here about the new leader of China.
George: Great. Lay it on me.
Condi: Hu is the new leader of China.
George: That's what I want to know.
Condi: That's what I'm telling you.
George: That's what I'm asking you. Who is the new leader of China?
Condi: Yes.
George: I mean the fellow's name.
Condi: Hu.
George: The guy in China.
Condi: Hu.
George: The new leader of China.
Condi: Hu.
George: The Chinaman!
Condi: Hu is leading China.
George: Now whaddya' asking me for?
Condi: I'm telling you Hu is leading China.
George: Well, I'm asking you. Who is leading China?
Condi: That's the man's name.
George: That's who's name?
Condi: Yes.
George: Will you or will you not tell me the name of the new leader of China?
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Yassir? Yassir Arafat is in China? I thought he was in the Middle East.
Condi: That's correct.
George: Then who is in China?
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Yassir is in China?
Condi: No, sir.
George: Then who is?
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Yassir?
Condi: No, sir.
George: Look, Condi. I need to know the name of the new leader of China. Get me the Secretary General of the U.N. on the phone.
Condi: Kofi?
George: No, thanks.
Condi: You want Kofi?
George: No.
Condi: You don't want Kofi.
George: No. But now that you mention it, I could use a glass of milk. And then get me the U.N.
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Not Yassir! The guy at the U.N.
Condi: Kofi?
George: Milk! Will you please make the call?
Condi: And call who?
George: Who is the guy at the U.N?
Condi: Hu is the guy in China.
George: Will you stay out of China?!
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: And stay out of the Middle East! Just get me the guy at the U.N.
Condi: Kofi.
George: All right! With cream and two sugars. Now get on the phone.
(Condi picks up the phone.)
Condi: Rice, here.
George: Rice? Good idea. And a couple of egg rolls, too. Maybe we should send some to the guy in China.
And the Middle East. Can you get Chinese food In the Middle East?
Tom & Sandy F.
Response: The "Who's on First" routine is in Amy Cohn's From Sea to Shining Sea (a must-have collection of classic stories and songs).
Faye H.
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10) Query: Does anyone know how to pronounce the following Japanese words? They seem ... obvious to me ... but they might not be.
me (eye)
Kuchi (mouth)
Mimi (ear)
Hana (nose)
Mary K.C. 10/10/05
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Response: I don't know those specific words, but I can say that Japanese tends to stress all syllables equally, and that all vowels are fully pronounced - unlike in English where unstressed vowels tend towards schwa (uhh). There are also lots of glottal stops after final vowels and even hints of them after middle vowels - vowels are often short. So instead of saying 'hana' in an English or American way, where the final 'a' trails off gently as a slightly extended aaaaa or uhhhh, imagine someone suddenly chopping off virtually all of that sound, almost as if someone punched you in the stomach as you were beginning to say it and cut off the air suddenly. Luckily you don't have to get anyone to actually help you like that, you just suddenly cut off the air in your throat with your glottis.
So I would guess that e.g. Kuchi would not be COOOOcheee, but rather a staccatto kuh.chih.
My Japanese is rather elementary, so I'd be happy to stand corrected by someone more experienced - I'm sure Fran, if she's around.
Tim S. 10/10/05
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11) Query: Does anyone know what the Spanish words for the following are and what the pronunciation might be?
Eye, mouth, ear, nose
Mary K.C. 10/10/05
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Response: Los ojos [o-hos] are eyes, la Boca [bo-cah] is the mouth. I forget the others. Vowels are similar to Italian O is long and A is AH. J is hard H, B and V and inter changeable especially in mid word. I initial position they're closer to our sounds.
I teach ESL to Spanish speakers so I can ask Tuesday evening and report if there isn't a better response by then.
Sandy F. 10/10/05
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Response: Here are a couple of places to hear pronunciation :
Japanese
http://japanese.about.com/bl_body.htm
Spanish
http://spanish.allinfo-about.com/vocabulary/vo-body.html
Irene D. 10/10/05
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12) baobab [bä'?b?b", b?'?–]
Pronunciation Key
http://www.infoplease.com/pronkey.html
baobab , gigantic tree of India and Africa, exceeded in trunk diameter only by the sequoia. The trunks of living baobabs are hollowed out for dwellings; rope and cloth are made from the bark and condiments and medicines from the leaves; the gourdlike fruit (monkey bread) is eaten. The botanic name is Adansonia digitata. An Australian baobab is also called sour gourd. In spite of the enormous girth of the trees, they are not particularly tall, and thus have a bottlelike appearance. Baobab is classified in the division Magnoliophyta <http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/sci/A0831174.html> , class Magnoliopsida, order Malvales, family Bombacaceae.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2005, Columbia University Press.
Jane C. 11/14/05
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13) The Merriam-Webster dictionary web site includes audio pronunciations. They give two pronunciations. You can hear it at:
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/baobab
Mary M.S. 11/14/05
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14) How is the name "Antiochus" pronounced (in the Chanukah story)?
Judith W. 12/6/05
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Response:
If you were pronouncing the word close to the Hebrew it would be: anti-yo-kus. (Short 'a' as in father and short 'i' as in hit, accent on the middle syllable). An Anglicized pronunciation would be : antee-yokus. (With 'a' as in apple and accent on the "tee") Another pronunciation would change the second vowel sound to 'i" as in ice. Anti-okus with the accent on the "ti" syllable.
Since the name is not native to Hebrew, I am not sure of the original pronunciation. The hebrew is: àðèéåëåñ
(aleph-nun-tet-yod-vov-kof-vav-samekh in case you can't see the Hebrew font.)
Daniel S. 12/6/05
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IRISH PRONUNCIATION
Query: Could anyone give me the pronunciations for any of these?
Irish: sidheog; sheogue (anglicised).
daoine maithe ("good people"),
daoine sidhe;
daoine uaisle ("the noble people");
bunadh na cro,
bunadh na gcnoc ("host of the hills");
bunadh beag na farraige ("wee folk of the sea").
Scottish Gaelic: boctogai, s'thiche.
daoine s'th ("people of the mound").
Manx: ferrish.
ny guillyn beggey ("the little boys");
ny mooinjer veggey ("the little kindred");
ny sleih veggey ("the little people").
Welsh: y tylwyth teg (the fair folk).
bendith y mamau ("mother's blessing").
Cornish: spyrys.
an bobel vyghan ("the little people").
Cathy M. 5/17/06
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Response: Take a look at these websites for Irish pronunciation. They might help:
http://www.chronicles-network.com/forum/8834-writing-with-an-accent.html
http://www.pubinfo.vcu.edu/artweb/playwriting/accents.html
http://www.soyouwanna.com/site/syws/irishaccent/irishaccent.html
http://www.mylanguageexchange.com/learn/Gaelic-Irish.asp
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743500156/104-2288514-8659115?v=glance&n=283155
http://www.gumbopages.com/fridge/dubbelin.html
Jackie B. 5/17/06
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Response: Richard Marsh is the best source but I'll have a go. When you're in front of people between stories, a pronounciation list for phrases in specific stories is a good idea.
Gross generalization: keep the sound in the front of the mouth. Tip o'the tongue, the teeth, the lips.
There are 3 main accents: North differs greatly from the South of my family. So there's room for variation. There were oodles more but they streamlined in 1952. Aspirated sounds are difficult to master without an teacher in front of you. We tend to sound them too heavily. They're like the vermouth in a martini: thought rather than poured.
Irish:
sidheog; sheogue (anglicised). - shee-OHg
daoine maithe ("good people"),- dween MAWDh
daoine sidhe; - dween SHEE
daoine uaisle ("the noble people"); - dween UE-sleh (EOO = like "ue" in "blue")
bunadh na cro, - ("u" like "under) bun AWDh nah CROW
bunadh na gcnoc ("host of the hills");bun AWDh nah NOC
bunadh beag na farraige ("wee folk of the sea"). bun AWDh bog na fair-AHG
A good pronounciation guide is in preface to Peter Tremayne's Smoke in the Wind, Sister Fidelma mystery. He also discusses Welsh but that's beyond me. Eliminating vowels: a strategy for confusing invaders?
Yvonne H. 5/19/06
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Response: This should help somewhat. Amazing what is now available since I started my Irish Resource pages in the stone age...
http://fiosfeasa.com/bearla/language/sounds.htm
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Added: Previous messageNext messagePrevious in topicNext in topicPrevious by same authorNext by same authorPrevious page (May 1991)Back to main GAELIC-L pageJoin or leave GAELIC-LReplyPost a new messageSearchProportional fontNon-proportional fontLog in
Date: Thu, 30 May 91 12:13:06 BST
Reply-To: GAELIC Language Bulletin Board <GAELIC-L@IRLEARN>
Sender: GAELIC Language Bulletin Board <GAELIC-L@IRLEARN>
From: John Phillips <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Pronounciation Guide
Someone was asking about the pronunciation of Welsh so here is a rough guide. Welsh is almost phonemically spelt, i.e. there is almost a one-to-one correspondence between written letters and spoken sounds. The alphabet has 28 letters as follows: a - as in "man" b - as in "but" c - as in "cup" (never like s) ch - a rough clearing of the throat, similar to German hard ch d - as in "dead" dd - as th in "the" (never as in "think") e - as in "men" f - as v in "van" ff - as in "puff" g - as in "get" (never like j) ng - as in the southern English pronunciation of "sing", i.e. an n at the back of the mouth but not followed by a pronounced g. In a small number of words, the ng is two letters n+g or ng+g pronounced separately, e.g. dangos "show" = dang-gos, Bangor = Bang-gor, Llangollen = Llan-gollen h - as in "hat" i - 1. as ee in "feet"; 2. as y in "yet" l - as in "laugh" ll - put your tongue as for l and say s m - as in "man" n - as in "not" o - a round vowel a bit like the vowel in "home" p - as in "pen" ph - as ff r - a rolled r, not like an English r rh - a voiceless rolled r, a bit like r and h pronounced together s - as in "set" (never like z) si is like English sh, e.g. siop "shop" t - as in "tea" th - as in "think" (never as in "the") u - mid-way between English oo and ee, like Russian bI, or a French u without rounding the lips w - 1. a round vowel a bit like oo in "boot"; 2. as in "wink" y - 1. as u in "circus" (in non-final syllables and in the words y, yr (the), dy (your), fy (my); 2. as Welsh u in final syllables and other monosyllables Stress is usually on the penultimate syllable and there is also a tonal accent on the final syllable. The consonants c, ch, ff, ng, ll, m, p, s, t, and th are long, i.e. they are pronounced with double length immediately following the stress. So the word cwpan "cup" is pronounced coop-pan with two p's, two full vowels oo and a, stress on the coop, and a raising of pitch on the pan. The plural cwpanau is coo-pan-au with three full vowels, oo, a, and au (= a+u, vaguely like the y in "lyre"), stress on the pan, and higher pitch on the au. Vowels are normally short but long in monosyllables before short consonants (and s and ch in most dialects), so that cwm "valley" has a short vowel (almost like English "come" but with a rounded vowel) where cwd "bag" has a long vowel (like English "cooed"). The circumflex is used over vowels to mark irregular stress and long vowels, e.g. ton "wave" (also spelt tonn) is like English "ton" but with a rounded vowel, where toˆn "melody" has a long vowel, a bit like some pronunciations of English "torn". The name of the language is Cymraeg with stress (and pitch accent) on the -aeg. This is because it used to be three syllables, Cymra-eg. Also Cymraes "Welshwoman" and Cymreig "to do with Wales, Welsh". By the way the pronunciation of the diphthong ae varies a lot with dialect, it can be a+e, aˆ+u, aˆ, or aˆ+i. Vowel quality in general varies considerably with dialect. The rounded vowels with consistent quality regardless of length, as above, are characteristic of north Wales.
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Added: Another good thing to do is to join the gaelic e.mail list. Or...search the archives....these are public so you dont have to be subscribed. The server runs several lists organized from beginner to advanced. The list welcomes new learners and list members gladly critique your writing. They also will be great for on line resources.
Here is the web address of the archive...
https://listserv.heanet.ie/gaelic-l.html
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Added: Here is a good site for Scottish Gaelic pronunciation
http://www.scottishradiance.com/galphr/galphr.htm
and here a very extensive all gaelic set of links..
http://www.rampantscotland.com/gaelic.htm
this might also help
http://www.scottisharts.org.uk/1/artsinscotland/gaelic/wordofthemonth/archive.aspx
Conrad B. 5/19/06
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(This
web page updated 12/6/05; 5/21/06)
