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 Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 3:08 am
It kind of annoys me when people:
(1.) do something like say "niña" as "neena" instead of "neenya", "dame" as "daym" instead of "dom", or "karaoke" as "Carrie okie" instead of "Ka-rou-kay". I mean, people are willing to pronounce "tortilla" as "torteeya" and "taco" as "tah-koh".
(2.) use a word for a really specific or outlandish (when compared to it's original language origins) meaning or usage. For example, "otaku" means "honorable house" and has two meanings in modern Japanese. A person who rarely leaves the house the house or a person who really REALLY likes something, anything, that isn't helping the person be productive. Neither type of person is liked by mainstream Japanese culture.
It does NOT specifically refer to a person who likes Japan and/or Japanese stuff. So the American usage is far too limiting.
I wish people would try to learn these things. I could not in good conscience intentionally mispronounce a loanword or use it in a limiting fashion.
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Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 2:27 pm
If you were truly a linguist, you would take into account accents and dialect, which would alter the way one pronounces a word, as well as which language it is that is being spoken. Even within a single country that speaks a common language, there can be variations on word usage and pronunciation. It isn't that some people are pronouncing it or using it "wrong". That is just their culture.
Your example of "dame" being pronounced "dom" is from a completely different language, French. And the French got it from the Latin "domina", so you can see just why they would say "dom" instead. However, just because a word originated from a certain language does not mean it maintains it's pronunciation. If everything borrowed from other languages were kept strictly to the originating language, then parts of Europe would still be speaking Latin rather than languages such as French, Spanish, and Italian.
Different regions will pronounce the same word in a variety of ways based on the way they are most accustomed to pronouncing things. It is literally almost impossible for some people to grasp certain types of pronunciations if they grew up always speaking a certain way. One example of such is the infamous "Engrish" that some of Asian countries will speak, because they are not accustomed to using the "L" sound in their native languages. I have also heard once, though I do not know for a fact if this is true, that some Asians actually have shorter tongues, thus making the "L" sound physically difficult, as it requires pressing your tongue to the roof of your mouth as you speak.
Even if such isn't true, it does go to point out the certain subtleties in spoken language that people don't even think about, such as how one moves the tongue, mouth, and lips to generate specific sounds which form into what we recognize as words. Some languages use movements that are completely unique and unlike anything people who did not grow up with it are accustomed to, such as the Khoekhoe language. Similarly, if one is accustomed to always using a certain set of moments for their own language, learning a completely new set can prove to be a bit difficult, hence where accents and variations on pronunciation come from.
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Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 7:28 pm
ThisEmptySoul lots of words that would stretch the page So... I can't be a linguist of the "if you can say and/or use the word properly, then do so" line of thought? Besides, it's not like I would fault a Japanese person for saying "paasonalu konpyuuta" since the Japanese accent doesn't really let a person say many isolated consonants and whatnot. If an accent acts as a speech impediment, I usually let it slide.
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Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 7:31 pm
Rei Inaba So... I can't be a linguist of the "if you can say and/or use the word properly, then do so" line of thought?
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Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 7:33 pm
ThisEmptySoul Rei Inaba So... I can't be a linguist of the "if you can say and/or use the word properly, then do so" line of thought? I see. >.>
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Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2011 4:13 pm
Rei Inaba If an accent acts as a speech impediment, I usually let it slide.
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Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2011 4:45 pm
ThisEmptySoul Rei Inaba If an accent acts as a speech impediment, I usually let it slide. I see... As a side point, German tends to be kind of harsh on my mouth, but I do expect to be able to sing even the fastest and throatiest German songs one day. I don't expect every non-German to be capable of that though.
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