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Coffee House => Coffee House Boards => CH / General => Topic started by: Argo on August 17, 2005, 04:06:23 AM
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Okay, the membership here looks to be a worldly bunch. So, I have a question.
How does one pronounce Æ?
My sister is planning to name her soon to be born son "Æson". From the Greek story of Jason and the Argonauts. Æson was Jason's father.
I'm questioning her pronuciation, the long A.
I've found this page:
http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=718621
I guess it really depends on the language. Either what you speak or the language origin of the word/name.
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That's a dipthong. It is used in English a fair bit, but no one ever bothers writing it properly. Examples I can think of (don't quote me on these) Encylopædia, pædophile, err, I can't think....perhaps æther.
It's when two vowel sounds appear together - often it results in elision (correct word?) where they combine together.
In French they have an oe dipthong, e.g. oeuf
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Not sure if its relevant, but that symbol is also used to represent a phoneme. I used to know the phonemic alphabet, but it would be foreign to me now :-(
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@ Cyberus
Surely the 'ae' combination is not the same as the symbol Argo is talking about? As far as I know the ae combination is pronounced differently depending on emphasis as befits its position in the word.
For example paediatric : is pronounced 'pee'. The phonetic guide in the dictionary is the same for paediatric and pea: (I:)
But that doesn't happen with anaesthetic. That is pronounced like animal. But if you anaesthetise someone, then you go back to the I: 'ee' pronounciation.
I would say Argo's friend would have to pronounce the Æ the same way you do with the Æsop (he of the fables fame).
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Ähh, this is to linguistic stuff is to hard for me...
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I'd say the English 'a' in 'ash' comes pretty close. Although in my pronunciation that 'a' is more rounded than the Norwegian 'æ' as in 'æsj' vs 'ash'.
I'd say Æson is pretty much Jason without the consonant J.
Clickety (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-open_front_unrounded_vowel) and click. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AE_ligature)
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eh?
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@ Blobzie
"Eh?"
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Nah, a bit longer, methinks...eeeeeeeehh maybe.
:-P
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Hum,
eeeeeeeehh - gee - an?
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Ja, but then we got a problem with these:
1) aetiology
2) aestivate
3) aegis
4) aeon
Those are pronounced like 'eagle'.
But I agree your eh makes sense with aerodrome, aeroplane, aerosol.
So let's see our options:
1) Æson, pronounced eeson
2) Æson, pronounced ason
3) Æson, pronounced ehson
And lastly the wildcard: ayson. (I think that's what the ordinary Joe will think it is.)
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Why don't they just call him Dave and be done with it?
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Don't you mean Daeve ? ;-)
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:lol:
Actually, Blobzie's 'eh' definitely fits Dave (at least I suspect it does, if she says that name). Okay, maybe it is a slightly longer eeh. :-P
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In old Dutch ae is often used, nowadays that's 'aa'.
When I was tought handwriting, the 'x' was written like 'æ'. I always wondered why :-?
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æ is not always a dipthong, depends on the language in which it is being used, in old english it represents a specific vowel that is "between" a and e, not a dipthong that merges them.
this vowel is called "ash" in english (in reference to the tree, not the sound of the vowel which in modern english sounds like ee)
in classical latin usage it IS a dipthong pronounced the way a long I is pronounced in modern English aaah-eeee (or more accurately [ai], sounds like 'eye')
I've been studying the IPA for awhile now (working as a classical vocalist), went and looked it up in my books.
EDIT - wanted to add that the greek and latin usages are the same. The latin lifted it from the greek (IIRC, it may be the other way around).
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Doh!
"Æson" is all Greek to me....
(Ignoring the Trojan connection)
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In the Scandinavian countries, æ (or ä) is treated as separate vowels, just as ø and ö.
æ is pronounced kinda like ai in hair. ø is pronounced somewhat like u in hurt.