The key to pronunciation

I liked it so much I decided to start its own thread:

Well, remember -- in some places on Earth, the pronunciation of a word can change from mile to mile as you visit small villages with different dialects. Over the english-speaking world, many words have many different pronunciations. I say toe-may-toe, but I actually do know someone who says toe-mah-toe. There's not one way to say these words. Even in the movies, sometimes it's Han and sometimes Hahn in terms of pronunciation.

 

I just tend to go by the books-on-tape as my guides for pronunciation.

 

Good thread idea Mastadge...

Let's try and consolidate all pronunciation topics here, such as Leia, Han, C'baoth, etc... all the standard asked ones.

 

I go with the pronounciation that the least people accept or agree with.

And I pronounce tomato both ways, depending on if I'm using my British accent or not. I switch back and forth randomly to confuse people.

 

I try and pronounce it the way it looks first, and if that is too difficult than I try and pronounce it phonetically. Even after I find out that Im pronouncing the names wrong, which is often the case, I usually wont change it when I read. I get so used to my own pronunciations that altering them gets difficult out of force of habit.

A pefect example of this is the following : Danni Quee. Even though her last name is most likely pronounced Kwee, Ive always said it as Key. I dont know, for some reason I always felt it sounded stupid the other way...

 

I don't bother to change the pronunciation of names I've encountered in real life, even if the spellings are different (Jaina, Jacen, Gavin, Mara, Danni, Shirlee). With the rest, I tend to use Spanish vowel sounds (Why? I don't know), and take the consonants at face value. So, for example, I say Shada as Shah-duh, even though I know some people say Shay-duh.

 

General Pronunciation - UBB Vintage!

Joruus C'Baoth (Joe?'roo?uss See?'bay?oth [oth like Hoth])
Mit'thraw'nurodo (Mih?'thraw?nyurr?oh?dough)
Pellaeon (Pell?'ay?awn)
Exar Kun ('Ecks?are 'Kuhn)
Noghri ('Nawg?ree)
Khabarakh ('Kob?eh?rock)
Barkimkh (Bar?'kimmkh)
Mara Jade ('Marr?uh 'Jayd)
Disra ('Deez?rah)
Aing-Tii (Ang?'Tee)
Corran Horn (Kor?'ran Horn)
Kieran Halcyon (Kee?'air?en 'Howl?see?yohn)
Tycho Celchu ('Tie?ko 'Sell?choo)
Ton Phanan ('Tawn Fah?'nan)
Shada Dukal ('Shay?dah 'Doowk?owl)

More later...

 

I pronounce Shada as Shah-dah, too, and I anit changin my ways !

 

I too pronounce it Shah-duh. It just sounds right. Maybe because I took Spanish classes, I tend to pronounce unknown words phonetically, using the spanish vowel conventions. It's the way most languages (Romantic) pronounce vowels.

 

I personally say Shay-duh

 

thanx for the Pellaeon and Kabrak(spelling)

 

I've been reading the board for quite a while (almost a year) but reading this thread for some reason made me finally decide to take part.

I'm 22, and have had Heir to the Empire since it's original release in 1991, so forgive me if I get a bit opiniated.

Joruus C'baoth.... I have always thought of it pronounced in the following way: JORE OOS KAH BOTH. Jorus C'baoth I thought of this way: JORE US KAH BOTH.

 

I thought the change between the U and the UU was very subtle, such that if you're listening for it, you'll notice, but if not it'll kind of slip by.

 

very nice topic idea. well, jacen is pronounced jah-sen. my friends and i found timothy zahns e-mail address, so we asked. that ones riht

 

i, too, tend to pronounce unfamiliar words using the Spanish vowel pronunciations. i think it does have something to do with Spanish classes--i guess we tend to fall back on things we are most confident in, such as our formal training on how to pronounce Spanish vowels. strange.

yes, i say SHAH-duh.

but i've always put the accent on the first syllable of Corran's name-- COR-ran. i guess that's one thing that goes against the Spanish theory.

 

Well...if Jacen isn't pronounced as Jason, the way I've always done it, guess other things can be wrong too. Although I'm too stubborn to change pronunciation of "Jacen."

Well..what about Jaina? I've always said Jay-nah. Anyone else want to throw in on this one?

Well for Corran, one of my favorites, it's Core-un. That's the only other one I can think of to comment on right now.

 

I've been having problems with "Vader" and "Lumpy."

 

A tricky one is Chiss. (IMO)

Do you pronounce it

Kiss (Ch -> K, like for Charon, the satellite of Pluto)

or

Tchiss (like 'Chess')

or

Shiss ???

I once asked the question, and it seems most people tend to pronounce it like 'Chess'. I first said 'Kiss', but on second thought, I prefer 'Tchiss', so that's how I pronounce it now.

EDIT : And I pronounce Shada 'Shah-dah'

 

I have trouble pronouncing "Star Wars."

Anyway, here's how I pronounce a few of the names.

M air ah Jayd

Kee-rahn Hal-see-ohn

Tone Phay-nan

Jay-son

 

You're not from the north, are ya Fluke ?

 

Kor-rahn'

Kor-an' (no pun intended)

Kor'-en


I've heard all 3, though I go with the first.

 

I tend to say Shadda "Shuh-dah" ([S@'dA] for anyone familiar with X-SAMPA IPA).

What's everyone's pronunciation like for Ysalimiri (perhaps that's misspelled, I can't remember...) and Myrkr? I say "ee-suh-luh-MEER-ee" ["ijs@l@.'mi:rij] and "meer-kur" ['mi:rkr=].

 

Ih-sal-uh-meer-ee

Muhr-kuhr

 

At least one of the authors addressed this question about some of his characters in the "Interviews" section here.

 

No, I'm not from the north. I live in Illinois, and have my whole life.