Re: YAPT
| From: | Paul Bennett <paul-bennett@...> |
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| Date: | Tuesday, January 4, 2005, 19:17 |
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----- Original Message -----
From: Carsten Becker <naranoieati@...>
> However, the speaker repeatedly said [SRi "lANka] for <Sri
> Lanka> and [ko"lAmbo] for <Colombo>. Is this really the
> local pronounciation?! It was pronounced as if these places
> were writen *Shri Lanka and *Columbo.
> IIRC they're speaking Tamil on Sri Lanka, don't they?
The majority language on Sri Lanka is Sinhalese, with some Tamil in the north, as
well as (IIRC) Hindi, English and Portuguese as the main L2s.
I was taught by a native Sri Lankan (along with a small amount of Sinhalese)
that the correct form is /Sr\i lANk@/, though to my ear, the native /A/ seems
dangerously close to /V/.
What's bugging the hell out of me is the BBC news, who insist on refering to the town
I thought was /'g@l`:e/ as /g&li:/
I think they're not far off on the pronounciation of Columbo, though, which
seems to be pronounced, in English at least, as it would if it were in your
local country.
Paul
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