Re: Woody or tinny?
| From: | David Peterson <digitalscream@...> |
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| Date: | Tuesday, May 22, 2001, 20:02 |
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In a message dated 5/22/01 10:28:28 AM, valoczy@VCN.BC.CA writes:
<< Our now thankfully departed ex-Premier goes by the name of Ujjal Dosanjh,
with the /j/ supposed to be pronounced as in English, namely as [dZ]. Why
then, do most people say [u:Z@l do"sA:nZ] instead of [udZ:al dosandZ] or
[u:dZ@l do"sA:ndZ] even? I've noticed this often when whites here
pronounce Punjabi names, that they pronounce the /j/ as [Z] instead of
[dZ]. Would anyone have any ideas as to why?
>>
It's a more exocoticized sound, is my guess. "This person's foreign,"
thinks Englishy Joe, "so all those jays probably aren't pronounced the way I
pronounce them..." Hence, [Z]. Though I'd wager that no English speaker
could pronounce [nZ] without throwing a [d] in the middle--even if it's just
a little one.
-David
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