(no subject)

[politicking.livejournal.com]

pronunciations of... Genevieve & Guinevere?

Comments

[th3-unicorn.livejournal.com]

Geneviève: the correct pronounciation in French is Je-ne-VEE-eh-v, where the first two syllables have a closed sound, like the vowel in the word 'search'.
It's absolutely not J-AWN-vee-ehv, nor J-AWN-vee-v

Guinevere: I could never figure it out :P

[lneef.livejournal.com]

You're right about it being properly Je-ne-vee-ehv... (where the j is pronounced zh) but in speaking French, most would slur it to Jehn-vee-ehv or even Jawn-vee-ehv.

[th3-unicorn.livejournal.com]

they would slur it to a very quick j-n sound, but they could never sound it as Jawn as if they were reading -en- as a diphthong, because the 'e' and 'n' belong to different syllables. Although in the end, to our ear, it would sound almost like that sound.

[th3-unicorn.livejournal.com]

p.s. I'm saying this because I've heard people (my mom for one) emphasyzing the -en- (awn) sound in attempt to make it properly french :P I guess it's because it's a characteristic sound in their language :P
but I'm annoyed by my own pedantry, so I'll stop :P

[lneef.livejournal.com]

Although in the end, to our ear, it would sound almost like that sound.

Yes, that's what I was getting at.