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andrewchon
Joined: 16 Nov 2008
Location: Back in Oz. Living in ISIS Aust.
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 Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 2:32 pm Post subject: question about pronounciation |
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| I hear Americans pronounce 'Iran' and 'Iraq' as 'eye-raan' and 'eye-raak'. I'm used to hearing 'ee-raan' and 'ee-raak'. I have met people from both countries and as far as I know, Iranians and Iraqi say it the second way. So, what's the explanation for this vowel shift? And why not 'eye-s-ra-il' and 'eye-gip-t'? |
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War Eagle
Joined: 15 Feb 2009
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| Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 6:28 pm Post subject: |
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I will take a stab at this as an American. However, I am totally pulling shit outta my ass.
Israel - The first syllable "Is" is pronounced [iz].
Egypt - The first syllable only consists of the letter "E".
Iran and Iraq - We use the ir- prefix before words that start with "r", like "irregular", and it is pronounced [ih-reg-yuh-ler]. Iran and Iraq (not Irran and Irraq) does not look similar this rule, therefore we assume that the first syllable consists of only the letter "I".
Actually, the dictionary has 3 acceptable pronunciations for Iran [ih-ran, ih-rahn, ahy-ran], one of which confirms the American form. However, notice that none of these begin with [ee] as you suggest. Rather, it's [ih].
Iraq on the other hand, has 2 acceptable pronunciations, neither of which uses the American form: [ih-rak, ih-rahk].
EDIT: Damn, I must be bored. Time to get out and actually do something today  |
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andrewchon
Joined: 16 Nov 2008
Location: Back in Oz. Living in ISIS Aust.
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| Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 8:35 pm Post subject: |
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The 'ee' sound is just me. Dictionary form of 'ih' would be correct.
I have formed three theories:
1. Somebody in a movie said it that way and now people are mimicking
2. Geographically Embarrassed: Miss Teen South Carolina was (not intentionally) ... right.
3. Warhawk talk: belittling the countries by deliberately miss pronouncing their names before or during an invasion. |
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le-paul
Joined: 07 Apr 2009
Location: dans la chambre
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| Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 10:44 pm Post subject: |
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| andrewchon wrote: |
The 'ee' sound is just me. Dictionary form of 'ih' would be correct.
I have formed three theories:
1. Somebody in a movie said it that way and now people are mimicking
2. Geographically Embarrassed: Miss Teen South Carolina was (not intentionally) ... right.
3. Warhawk talk: belittling the countries by deliberately miss pronouncing their names before or during an invasion. |
Or on tv, for example the french, chef lady. And now everyone uses the article 'an' instead of 'a' for 'herb', even in spelling. |
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turkey12
Joined: 27 Jun 2011
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| Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 6:44 am Post subject: |
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| le-paul wrote: |
| andrewchon wrote: |
The 'ee' sound is just me. Dictionary form of 'ih' would be correct.
I have formed three theories:
1. Somebody in a movie said it that way and now people are mimicking
2. Geographically Embarrassed: Miss Teen South Carolina was (not intentionally) ... right.
3. Warhawk talk: belittling the countries by deliberately miss pronouncing their names before or during an invasion. |
Or on tv, for example the french, chef lady. And now everyone uses the article 'an' instead of 'a' for 'herb', even in spelling. |
This might be a regional pronunciaiton- some areas don't pronounce the "h" in "herb," so "an herb" would make sense. |
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CrikeyKorea
Joined: 01 Jun 2007
Location: Heogi, Seoul
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| Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 7:22 am Post subject: |
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| Same as "eye"talian... I did see a news article/video clip about 2 years ago and the US was talking about educating its masses to say it "correctly" as a form of respect or something, I wonder if I could find that article again... |
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War Eagle
Joined: 15 Feb 2009
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| Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 8:33 am Post subject: |
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| CrikeyKorea wrote: |
| Same as "eye"talian... I did see a news article/video clip about 2 years ago and the US was talking about educating its masses to say it "correctly" as a form of respect or something, I wonder if I could find that article again... |
I know no one who pronounces it "eye"talian. I think you've been watching too many movies. |
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thegadfly
Joined: 01 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 5:04 pm Post subject: |
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| le-paul wrote: |
| andrewchon wrote: |
The 'ee' sound is just me. Dictionary form of 'ih' would be correct.
I have formed three theories:
1. Somebody in a movie said it that way and now people are mimicking
2. Geographically Embarrassed: Miss Teen South Carolina was (not intentionally) ... right.
3. Warhawk talk: belittling the countries by deliberately miss pronouncing their names before or during an invasion. |
Or on tv, for example the french, chef lady. And now everyone uses the article 'an' instead of 'a' for 'herb', even in spelling. |
The choice of 'a' or 'an' depends on the pronunciation of the word -- an initial vowel SOUND gets 'an' and an initial consonant SOUND gets 'a."
That is why I can use a one and a ten dollar bill to pay an eleven-dollar tab, but an honest mistake can cause a host of problems....
As Eddie Izzard points out....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Y6lJGD3Q9Qs#t=52s |
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The Cosmic Hum
Joined: 09 May 2003
Location: Sonic Space
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| Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 5:08 pm Post subject: Re: question about pronounciation |
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| andrewchon wrote: |
| question about pronounciation |
Answer = pronunciation |
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