OT: YAEPT: karaoke (was: Re: new Klingon spelling)

E fésto Axiem <axiem@...>:
> Oh, I agree. Like I said, I don't expect the accent to be dead-on. I'm
> more annoyed when people add what I consider a long "e" sound when there
> is just an "a" and an "o". It's like we don't even look at how the word
> is spelled when we pronounce it! (Not that we ever do with say, ough,
> but that's
> irrelevant...)
It's not a long "e" sound.  It's a long "a" sound (just like often happens
with originally short vowels before vowels: cf. 'chaos', 'neon', 'ion'),
only reduced from [ej] to [j] in pre-stress position.  Then... American
English at least doesnt allow [rj], so [rij].

So you have a progression going till you reach comfortable English:
*ra-O > ray-O [rej"o] > ry-O [rj"o] > riy-O [rij"o]

Same for the final "e" sound.  The only final short vowels allowed in
[standard American] English are schwa and "short o" (the one in "saw"), so
the "e" gets read as long (same in "sake").

[This is where I mention my theory that English final |-y| as in 'happy',
'authority' patterns better as short /E/ lengthened than it does as
anything you'd expect to be spelled with "y" (like 'cry').  Including the
fact that things like "-ity" come from Fr. "-ité" anyway.]

> I'll admit, actually, that when I started doing Japanese, "aoi" was a
> tongue-twister, because I'm not used to doing three vowels in a row. If
> people just didn't pronounce the "o" or the "a" in "karaoke", I wouldn't
> be quite so annoyed over it. Like I said, it's more the insertion of a
> vowel that isn't there that gets me.
I do know people that say "ka-rohkee" [k@"roki].


        *Muke!
--
http://frath.net/                  E jer savne zarjé mas ne
http://kohath.livejournal.com/     Se imné koone'f metha
http://kohath.deviantart.com/      Brissve mé kolé adâ.

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