Re: Rhys Ifans! Welsh fans, another pronunciation pop question

Among others, Sally Caves wrote:
> Kris disagrees, and writes instead that:
>
> > most Americans are pretty damned
> > lazy/arrogant about international pronunciation.  The American palette
> > just "ain't" that flexible.
Well, one problem is that _English spelling/Amer.pronunciation_ is so
completely out of whack with that of almost any other language. But I guess
it takes a certain small amount of sophistication to know that "a" in
another language is more likely to be [a ~A] than [&]. But we have "Sam,
ham, lam, cam, ram" etc. so it's not surprising.  OTOH, in one of the
Harvard "humanities" courses I took, the professor consistently referred to
[dAn 'kwIks@t] (Don Quixote).


> I think many young Americans are terribly embarrassed by language issues
> and
> the "deformation" of what sounds "normal" to them, such that bilabial
> fricatives, tense vowels and other sounds in Spanish would make them
> uncomfortable....
Perhaps the "I-wrack, I-ran" business is a symptom of that, since one hears
it from e.g. congressmen (and those above them) who presumably ought to know
better.

>....whereas I don't think that
> "Viet n&m" does in quite the same way.
Seems to me I've heard both [nAm] and [n&m] from vets; those who say the
latter may perhaps be expressing a little more contempt/rage/what have you.

Interestingly, during my 1958-59 service in Viet Nam/Saigon, I can't recall
anyone pronouncing it ...[n&m]-- of course (if I say so meself) we were a
select group (350), better educated and aware of things international, and
for the most part there because we'd volunteered. Many knew a little French
(still useful in those days), some even knew or picked up some Vietnamese.
Aside from the country's name, everyone was also familiar with the "Cinema
Dai Nam" [nAm], which showed good movies in air-conditioned comfort; and
most importantly, its upper floors contained the main enlisted-men's bar and
dining room, plus some EM quarters (it was a former hotel too). But I do
recall an amusing lapsus in print somewhere at the time-- a notice to the
effect that "transportation arrangements should be made with Pan Nam",
otherwise known as Pan Am(erican) Airways, now alas extinct.

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