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Pronunciation thread

Nights Kings Queen

By Nights Kings Queen,
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Zizoz Landed Knight

Zizoz

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The <gh> used to be pronounced, and now is useful since it indicates that the I is to be pronounced "long". I suppose having two extra letters is not the most efficient solution, compared to an accent or a single silent letter, but that's just how English developed.
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KaIsAWheel Sellsword

KaIsAWheel

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That's one thing I hate about the audiobooks read by Dotrice.. Bry-eene just sounds absolutely ridiculous to me. And the fact that he makes Tyrion sound like a damm leprechaun..but alas, that's another complaint for another thread for another day. :)
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Unwashed.Unkempt.Unshaven. Commoner

Unwashed.Unkempt.Unshaven.

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The show is actually wrong on this. When G meets up with an E, it's pronounced as a soft G. So, your correct, the show is wrong.

 

That rule actually can't universally be applied in the English language..

 

It can in Romance languages, where it applies with basically no exceptions, and that kind of transferred to English words with Latin or Romance origins (if you look at the words Victarion listed most of them actually do come from Latin)

 

If you look at words with Germanic origin things get a lot messier. There are plenty of words that follow your rule (siege, age, edge etc.), but there's also many that come with a hard "g": get, gear, geek, anger, finger, linger, bugger, *N-word* and so on.

 

Sooo, my point is that Gendry with a hard "g" sound isn't implausible at all, it would arguably even make more sense than the soft sound because Germanic words that start with "ge" tend to have the hard sound (assuming that the common tongue evolved like the Germanic language that it seems to be).

 

*English teacher mode off*

 

Edit for stupidity and spelling

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Unwashed.Unkempt.Unshaven. Commoner

Unwashed.Unkempt.Unshaven.

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I don't get the "Aenys = Anus" joke, not an anglophone, but does "Nys" sounds like "Nus"?

 

Yeah, basically. In English you don't really pronounce vowels in syllables that aren't stressed, they all kinda get morphed into an "uh"-sound of some sort. So if you put all the stress on the Ae- in Aenys then the "y" in -nys becomes this "uh"-sound and it does sound a lot like anus :)

 

Sooo......



Any ideas?

 

 

I would just pronounce it like "Earl" but with an "ee" sound in the beginning..

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J. Stargaryen Council Member

J. Stargaryen

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Dan-Ares was Khal Drogo trying to pronounce Daenerys, right? So it could just be that Dothraki doesn't have the short I sound and he substitutes an "ee" sound instead. Also, for me the "iss" pronunciation is the same as the ending of, say, Julius. I'd say Caesar is enough of a conqueror to base a pronunciation off of.

 

Pronouncing "Ares" like the Greek god of war makes sense, but it's possible that GRRM meant to convey something closer to Air-ess. I'm not sure obviously, but [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTBQZBMQtOw]here[/url] is an interview where GRRM says Aegon and Daenerys as A-gone and Duh-nair-iss, just after the 4:00 minute mark. Earlier he pronounced Targaryen as Tar-gary-en, for the record. Yes, like it has the name Gary right in the middle. That's around 2:40.

 

"Aenys" I'm half convinced was a joke on GRRM's part, but I pronounce it as "anise" when I remember.

That said, I'm happy to have never heard "Ay-gin". Would sound terrible to me.

 

Same. I think GRRM was having a little fun with that name.

 

The first time I heard this was when Ian McElhinney, the actor who played Ser Barristan, said it in season three. It really bothered me, but I wondered about it, since it basically rhymes with Aemon. Thankfully GRRM says A-gone.

 

I've heard so many variation's on Catelyn. I always say it as Cat-Lynn. But now I'm wondering.

 

I've definitely read that it's supposed to be three syllables. Probably something like [url=http://media.merriam-webster.com/soundc11/c/catala01.wav]this[/url]. Cat-uh-lynn.

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Victarion Chainbreaker Council Member

Victarion Chainbreaker

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Sooo, my point is that Gendry with a hard "g" sound isn't implausible at all, it would arguably even make more sense than the soft sound because Germanic words that start with "ge" tend to have the hard sound (assuming that the common tongue evolved like the Germanic language that it seems to be).

 

For simply "ge" anywhere in the word, sure. But when "gen" starts a word it's always a soft g.

 

I pronounce it Ay-knees, so the joke doesn't really work for me either.

Your loss.

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J. Stargaryen Council Member

J. Stargaryen

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When I am trying to pronounce it as I think I should pronounce it, I pronounce it Yown (like "own" except starting with a Y). But if I am not really thinking about it, I might pronounce it like "Yawn".

 

I prefer that pronunciation too, but apparently there's a good chance it's just an alternate spelling for John.

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Bael's Bastard Council Member

Bael's Bastard

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I've definitely read that it's supposed to be three syllables. Probably something like this. Cat-uh-lynn.

 

I say Kate-lynn, but if I were going to pronounce it differently I would probably say more along the lines of Cat-el-lynn. I've heard a number of people say Cat-lynn, but never really got that one.

 

 

I prefer that pronunciation too, but apparently there's a good chance it's just an alternate spelling for John.

 

Yeah, I can see that being the case. The name John comes from (which really starts with a Y sound) is more like the "oh" sound, but obviously that's not the case in English.

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Criston of House Shapper Noble

Criston of House Shapper

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^_^ What can I say? English student here.

 

 

 

*puts down his cup of tea somewhat disgruntled, knocking his cucumber sandwiches off the plate*

 

Well I say, kind sir!

 

Personally I have always found the language of the Blessed Isle to be far more intuitive in its written form than the confused and manifold languages of the continent. 

 

Half of those languages put little dots or lines over the letters, who has ever heard of such barbarity? (quietly hides the word "fiancé" under a pillow) The Germans and the Nordics have invented letters in their writing (I know of a certain lowercase s in German that has the shape of an uppercase B and the rules of when to use which appear rather random to me) and further east they have strange scripts, wholly alien to ours. 

 

/ joking

 

Joking aside I was raised bilingual (English and German) and if you asked me to write a letter in English and a letter in German, the German one would be riddled with spelling mistakes and even a few grammar inconsistencies. Seriously that language has random spelling!  :P

 

lol, you mean the double-s, that thing is totally useless and I would advise people not to use it and just write two S's. That's how we do it in Switzerland, where it has been banished for some reason. I can't even write it with my keyboard now that I'm trying to for the first time.

 

Actually though, the German way of spelling stuff is much closer to Latin than the English way, especially the vowels, so if any language has random spelling, it would be English (or French, that one's awful with all the àéèëêçâó-bs).

 

How do you guys pronounce Tollett?

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