Pronunciation of Timothy Zahn's Trilogy

C'both, pronouced with a S sound?! that seems weird! whilst i try to think of another example, personally thought a C' should be a ka sound. personnally(i know im not TZ or GL) but Ka Both rolls off the tougne better than Sa Eboth. uh, ok, out!

 

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-.

I believe it's "kor-us-sant", and there's nothing wrong with that. "sca" is two syllables: "ess-sah", not "sah". When one syllable ends with a sound, and the next syllable begins with that same sound, then the sounds will often merge together. Think of "We'll leave" or "his song". The sounds merge. Don't let that confuse you.

So, sorry, but it's not wrong. And even if it was "wrong", that would be okay. Every rule in grammar has its exceptions. And who says that the rules of English have to apply to the rules of Basic?

As for George, well, he has his own pronounciations for everything. Han, Leia, Gungan, Shmi; he says them all differently. Obviously, though, he doesn't force (no pun intended) his pronunciations on the actors.


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

Qui-[Gon]: Kor-is-sint

Ric Oli[é]: Kor-us-sint

Droid: Kor-is-kant

IIRC, the battle droid used a soft "C", but I could be wrong. Even if he didn't, he's just a battle droid. Try plugging "Coruscant" in BonzaiBuddy; he'll probably say it with a hard "C". It probably has better grammar/vocabulary skills than a battle droid would.

As for the difference between Qui-Gon and Ric Olié, well, one is Irish and the other is Australian (well, he was born in the UK, but that's an Australian accent. Maybe he grew up there or something; I don't know. Anyway...). Just listen to the difference between the way Anakin (Hayden) and Obi-Wan (Ewan) say "Master". Obi-Wan says it with a British accent, while Anakin says it very clearly and properly with a Canadian accent. (BTW, Ewan's British accent amazes me, given he normally speak wih such a strong Scottish one.)

My point is, everybody has a different accent. They are all going to say "Coruscant" a little bit differently.


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

"Yeah, well, that's your opinion."

 

Well, the word Celtic, is actually given two pronunciations that are correct, and it really depends on linguistic and dialect.

The two valid pronounciations are:
Keltic, and Seltic.

Main Entry: 1Celt·ic
Pronunciation: 'kel-tik, 'sel-

Other words that are like this, are Tomayto, and Tomahto.

Main Entry: to·ma·to
Pronunciation: t&-'mA-(")tO; chiefly British, eastern New England, northeastern Virginia, and sometimes elsewhere in cultivated speech -'m[a']- or -'mä-; chiefly Northern -'ma-


Misourri, and Misourra

Main Entry: Mis·sou·ri
Pronunciation: m&-'zur-E, by some residents m&-'zur-&

...and many many more examples.

True the word Coruscant, is done with K sound by earth standards. But within the star wars universe it could have two dialect variations as well.

Main Entry: co·rus·cant
Pronunciation: k&-'r&s-k&nt
Function: adjective
Date: 15th century
: SHINING, GLITTERING

As for c'baoth having the s sound it's a quite common way to pronounce c, like seltic pronunciation. plus other words like,

Main Entry: cel·lu·loid
Pronunciation: 'sel-y&-"loid

Main Entry: cell
Pronunciation: 'sel

Main Entry: cel·lu·lose
Pronunciation: 'sel-y&-"lOs, -"lOz

Main Entry: scene
Pronunciation: 'sEn

Main Entry: cent
Pronunciation: 'sent

etc. etc.

 

Ewan's British accent amazes me

Me too, never heard a BRITISH accent before either, maybe it's his ENGLISH accent you're refering to.



Maybe dialects do allow different pronounciations, but Tatooine is pronounced the same by everyone, as is Naboo (although in one of GL's early interviews he pronounced it "Nay-boo".

 

Actually as I recall one person pronounced Tatooine as Tattooine, heh heh. But that was thanks to a mispelling. Other than that not all places are pronounced the same by everyone on earth, while some are. The same could be said for coruscant.

 

All I know for sure is that everytime I read "Coruscant" in any novel or story I probably correct the spelling every once in awhile in my head. 'Cause even after TPM the "K" sound is the one that automatically pops in my head when reading the name. As it should be.

 

Me too, never heard a BRITISH accent before either, maybe it's his ENGLISH accent you're refering to.

You know what I meant. You've gotta admit, the whole English/British/American thing is a mess. It's just like the India/Native American/Indian deal. Silly Columbis!

 

I have a tendency to read a word I don't recognize quickly and say whatever I think it says. So sometimes I know I'm pronouncing a word terribly wrong but I don't care. When I read Harry Potter I constantly pronounced Hermoine, her-mee-own-ee

Spaarti - Spar-Tee
C'Baoth - Ka-bowth
Pellaeon - Pell-ee-On
Y'salimari - Ya-sil-ih-mar-ee
Luuke - La-ook
Noghri - naw-ree
Honogr - on-er (like the word honour)
Kashyyk - Kah-sheek
B-fapph - Boo-fah-sa
Corascant - Cor-a-sant
Borleias - Bor-ee-ah-lus

 

I've always pronounced C'both as Ka-both. Hmm...but some say the "C" is pronounced See...arghhh, can we get someone to interview Zahn and sort this out?

Oh, and Luuke I pronounce as Loo-uk. LOL...though maybe the second "u" should have been a silent one, eh?

 

I still need to read TTT

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

He said TTT, not Starfighters of Adumar

 

"arghhh, can we get someone to interview Zahn and sort this out?"

TFN already did, it's in the interview archives:

TFN: How do you pronounce Joruus' name?


TZ: "Jo-roo-us Sa-bay-oth".

All the official refrence books are more or less close to that pronunciation.

 

It's just like the India/Native American/Indian deal. Silly Columbis!

columbus wasn't silly, he just wasn't very good with spanish. the term 'indian' used to refer to the tribes colubus encountered had nothing to do with india. since at the time of his voyages india was called hindustan and NOT india

~NiKe, DaRK LaDy oF THe SiTH~

 

What? That's a new one to me. So where did Columbus get the term "Indian" from? He was headed for the "East Indies" wasn't he?

 

he called the tribes... ummm... what was it??? 'un pueblo in dios' or something like that... indian was later derived from 'in dios'

~NiKe, DaRK LaDy oF THe SiTH~

 

I wrote:
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-.


PEZman4's reply:
I believe it's "kor-us-sant", and there's nothing wrong with that. "sca" is two syllables: "ess-sah", not "sah". When one syllable ends with a sound, and the next syllable begins with that same sound, then the sounds will often merge together. Think of "We'll leave" or "his song". The sounds merge. Don't let that confuse you.

So, sorry, but it's not wrong. And even if it was "wrong", that would be okay. Every rule in grammar has its exceptions. And who says that the rules of English have to apply to the rules of Basic?


a) as you said -sca- in Coruscant belong to two different syllables: Co-rus-cant. That's what makes it impossible for you to pronounce it Corusant. There are no English words with ca- pronounced as sa- (if there is any, please give the example).

b) Star Wars books are not written in Galactic Basic, but in English. Film dialogues are in English (most of them). So English rules apply. If Lucas wanted the name to be pronounced Corusant, he could have spelled it as Corusant, or even Coruscent, but not Coruscant. If he wanted the spelling Coruscant, then the sound is -K-. He's got the right to choose the way he has, but then he's grammatically wrong, and we've got the right to point it out. (In my mind, it'll always be -skant-.)

It's very easy to say "every grammar rule has its exceptions". I don't know any exception to this spelling rule. If you know any, please give the example.