Re: Another question about language naming

From: "Roger Mills" <romilly@...>
> >> After switching to "i" for a while,
> >> I compromised, and now typically use "ie" for this sound. On the other
> >> hand, a word like "Zirien" risks being mispronounced as a three-syllable
> >> "zi-ri-en". So does it make sense to go so far as "Zireen" to avoid the
> >> chance of misinterpretation? Or would conlangers, who tend to be more
> >> familiar with languages than the average English speaker, assume this is
> >> meant to be pronounced [zire:n]?
> >
> >I would assume /zIRiEn/ for the former and /zIRin/ for the
> >latter. The double letter spellings look oh so English. :)
>
> Agree on Zirien;  "Zireen" could be [zIri:n] or [zire:n] or even [zajri:n]
> depending on whim.  It strikes me that the <ee> will be quite confusing to
> _this_ group, many/most of whom are familiar with the idea of phonemics, and
> have managed to make the disconnect between the writing and pronunciation of
> English or English-ified words.
You could use "Zirene", probably, which looks English enough to provoke an [in]
ending in everybody.. but it might be [zajrin] there too.. Zirrene?  Zerene?

    *Muke!
--
http://www.frath.net/

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