Pronunciation of Timothy Zahn's Trilogy

I just re-read the Zahn trilogy. I have some issues with it (after seeing AotC) but on the whole I think it's a great story.

I have some questions on pronouncing some of the elements he wrote about. It sort of seemed like he was just thrown consenants together.

ex: Bpfassh (which I took to pronounce Bip-Fash)

So I'm going to write down some of the questionable names and how I was saying them and you all give me your take.

Spaarti - Spar-Tee
C'Baoth - Sih-Bay-Oth
Pellaeon - Pell-Aye-On
Y'salimari - Eee-sal-ih-mar-ee
Luuke - Lee-ook
Noghri - No-gree
Honogr - Hah-nah-gerr
Kashyyk - Kah-sheek

Give me any more weird names you think of and how you pronounced them.

PS
Side note here, but while reading this series were any of you SICK TO DEATH of the word sardonic by the time you were finished?

 

I got a mag at home with a big article on the EU and pronounciations. That's how I discovered how to pronounce Karrde (as card). I had been doing it like it was french

 

here are my guesses on pronounciation, which i made when i originally read the Zahn novels(a very long time ago), but a lot of my guesses from other novels have been wrong, so be warned.

C'Baoth - Ca-bay-oth
Pellaeon - Pell-a-On
Spaarti - Spar-ti
Noghri - Nog-hri
Honogr - Han-O-Gerr
I never really guessed at the other two.
Hmm, I just noticed that for some reason I choose the long vowel sounds even when the spelling doesn't suggest it. I wonder why i did that? ? I guess that would explain why so many of my guesses have been wrong.

I think Kashyyk is the wrong spelling, but i'm not sure how exactly it's spelled.

 

Personally, I always felt that Honogr was pronounced hard, short and fast (as in Japanese): HON-oh-GRRH (as befitting a race of silent assassins - ninja).

But, I swear TZ made up these so as to ensure difficult pronouncation/reading - even Coruscant is pronounced at least three different ways in TPM.

 

Ka-Shik

Ar leats thats how GB says it.

 

I have allways suspected that Noghri is with a silent G.

Also sardonic is great word.

 

I still need to read TTT

 

I still need to read TTT

Are you joking or what. How can you have not read the finest instalment of SW literature.

 

Here's how I say 'em. These are probably wrong, but I try to make them simple so I can read them without slowing down.

Bpfassh - Bup-Fosh
Spaarti - Sparty
C'Baoth - K'Bowth
Pellaeon - Pell-yon
Y'salimari (isn't it y'salamari?)- ee-Sal-ah-mar-EE (accent on the last syllable)
Luuke - Loo-uke (I always thought this was stuupid)
Noghri - Naw-gree
Honogr - Anna (as in Kournikova) - grr
Kashyyk - Kah-sheek

 

The following two are both correct:

Pellaeon - (peh-lay-ahn)
C'baoth - (suh-bay-ahth)

And Kashyyyk (yeah, that's 3 "Y"s), well, I always go with (cash-eek). But, (ka-zook) also works (which is the way it was said in the Holiday Special).

 

Well, I know in the audio book version, the names are pronounced as such:

Bpfassh - Bi-fash
Spaarti - Sparty
C'Baoth - Si-bow-ath. (?)
Pellaeon - Pell-E-on
Y'salimari -yee-saa-laa-mir-ee
Luuke - Looke
Noghri - No-gree
Honogr - Ha-no-grr
Kashyyk - Kah-sheyek (2nd syllable said real fast)

 

Some audiobooks also say "kor-us-kant", and we know that's wrong.

The 2 I listed before came from the New Essential Guide to Characters.

 

That's because coruscant is a real word, and that's how it's pronounced. The movies are wrong. Hey, it happens. Leia is pronounced Lee-a sometimes. And Han should be pronounced Hawn, but Lando doesn't say that.

What I don't understand is when Han says "...some place called Bpffash and two I can't pronounce." You mean to say he can pronounce Bpffash?

 

Forget the Zhan Trilogy...I'm still confused on Mirax...

 

Spaarti - Spar-Tie
C'Baoth - See-Bay-Oth
Pellaeon - Pell-Ay-On
Ysalimiri - Ya-sal-ih-meer-ee
Luuke - Luke
Noghri - Naw-gree
Honogr - Hawn-ah-gur
Kashyyk - Kah-shee-ack

 

Wait, 3 ways to pronounce Coruscant? I know the one I knew of was 'kor-us-sint', and I think that's what they use in Episode II also, isn't it?

 

The right pronunciation for Coruscant is CorusKant... George decided otherwise, but he's wrong. The word "coruscate" exists (that's where you get "coruscant" from), and you pronounce it with -k-.

If you can, find any word in English where -sca- is pronounced -sa-.

On the TPM DVD (disc 2) there's a scene where Jake said something like "I was used to pronouncing it corusKant and I didn't want to mispronounce it..." Funny, because he was right. If you want to pronounce it like GL, you'd have to spell it "Coruscent".

 

Are you joking or what. How can you have not read the finest instalment of SW literature.

I know, how can you have not read The Jedi Academy Trilogy

 

That's how I discovered how to pronounce Karrde (as card). I had been doing it like it was french.

Me too! Only when I found out the right way to pronounce it did I get the 'Wild Karrde' pun.

 

If memory serves well, the three ways of pronouncing Coruscant in TPM were:

Qui-Gonn: Kor-is-sint

Ric Olie: Kor-us-sint

Droid: Kor-is-kant

 

This is how they should sound. No, its not my opinion, THIS IS HOW THEY SOUND!

Spaarti - Spar-Tee
C'Baoth - Ka-boe-th
Pellaeon - Paell-ee-on
Y'salimari - Ye-sal-ih-mar-ee
Luuke - Lu-uke
Noghri - No-gir-ee
Honogr - Hah-nah-gerr
Kashyyk - Kah-sheek

 

C'Baoth - Ka-boe-th

According to the NEGTC, C'Baoth sounds more like "See-Bay-Oth"

 

C'Baoth - Ka-boe-th

According to the NEGTC, C'Baoth sounds more like "See-Bay-Oth"

And then I read elsewhere that it's supposed to sound like "See-both", though as a latino I sure can't understand why the "a" dissapears on the pronunciation.

Then again I can't fathom how you make a name like "Coruscant" sound like "Co-ruh-zahn"...


Ohh! I get it now! The mispronunciation is deliberate. It's GL's way to "honor" the name of the person who coined the planet's name!

 

And then I read elsewhere that it's supposed to sound like "See-both", though as a latino I sure can't understand why the "a" dissapears on the pronunciation.

In full, the NEGTC has it sounding like this:

Su (u as in up) Ba (a as in may) oth (o as in pot)

So it would sound like "Su-Bay-Oth"

 

I still need to read TTT

Are you joking or what. How can you have not read the finest instalment of SW literature.

i didn't read TTT until i had been reading star wars books for a few years... i greatly regret ever reading them. i've been trying to erase the event from my mind. it was very traumatic. if TTT were the first SW books i ever read (as a lot of people recommand) i would *not* be reading the books today

~NiKe, DaRK LaDy oF THe SiTH~