Re: 'out-' affix in conlangs?

On Tue, Aug 12, 2008 at 7:53 AM, Benct Philip Jonsson <bpj@...> wrote:
> Now why don't English people hear
> French words with final stress?
We (well, if by "English" you mean "Anglophone") do.  Why do you ask?

As for the capital of China, the standard AmE pronunciation is indeed
[bej'dZiN], consistently emphasized on the second syllable.  The older
pronunciation (based on the Wade-Giles Romanization) seems to have
variable stress as well as a variable first-syllable vowel; I've heard
['pi:.kiN], ['pej.kiN], [pi'kiN], [pE'kiN], [p@'kiN], and even
['pi'kiN] with equal stress on both syllables (this often shows up in
the name of the dish "Peking Duck", in which case all three syllables
are usually given equal weight).

And as for attempting the actual Mandarin pronunciation, I'm out of
luck on two counts.  First, my ability to produce recognizable tones
is apparently nil.  Second, I have no idea how to pronounce [ɕ]; it
tends to come out as either [ʃ] (Holy American accent, Batman!) or [ʂ]
(which I have a decent handle on thanks to Klingon).

--
Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>

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