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Re: How you render foreign place names in your conlangs (<: How you pronunce foreign place names)

From:Herman Miller <hmiller@...>
Date:Monday, January 22, 2007, 0:04
Deinx Nxtxr wrote:
>> Ditto for "Paris", "Seoul", "Kagoshima", "Iraq", "Madrid", "Havana", >> "São Paulo" etc. > > I thought this would make a good exercise as well. What are the same > names in your favorite conlangs. Show both the written form and the > phonemic form.
Well, I don't have conventional names for these yet in Minza, but I'll give what I think the Minza equivalents would be.
>> "Paris" > Sasxsek: pari /pari/ > Panamerikan: Pari /pari/
Paris in Minza is ta-Paghih /tapa'Gi:/. Yes, /G/ is what French /r/ sounds like to Minza ears, although in clusters it gets conventionally replaced with /ř/ which is a retroflex lateral approximant [l`] (and a relatively new feature in Minza, recently borrowed from Lindiga).
>> "Seoul" > Sasxsek: sxul /s@ul/ > Panamerikan: Seul /seul/
ta-Söul /ta's@ul/.
>> "Kagoshima" > Sasxsek: kagosjima /kagosjima/ > Panamerikan: Kagoxima /kagoSima/
ta-Kagosima /ta'kagosima/.
>> "Iraq" > Sasxsek: irak /irak/ > Panamerikan: Irak /irak/
ta-Ghirahk /taGi'ra:k/. The Arabic name starts with a /?\/ sound, which has no direct equivalent in Minza, so /G/ is substituted.
>> "Madrid" > Sasxsek: madrid /madrid/ > Panamerikan: Madrid /madrid/
ta-Madrihd /tama'dri:d/. Vowel length is substituting for stress here. With a short vowel, it would have been pronounced /ta'madrid/.
>> "Havana" > Sasxsek: avana /avana/ > Panamerikan: Avana /avana/
ta-Avahna /ta:'va:na/.
>> "São Paulo" etc. > Sasxsek: saun'paulu /sawn pawlu/ > Panamerikan: Saun-Paulu /saUn paulu/
ta-Saung Paulu /ta'sawN 'pawlu/.

Replies

<li_sasxsek@...>
Lars Finsen <lars.finsen@...>