The Unpronounceable: Difference between revisions
m
→top: clean up, replaced: [[The Simpsons| → [[The Simpsons (animation)|
(quote cleanup) |
m (→top: clean up, replaced: [[The Simpsons| → [[The Simpsons (animation)|) |
||
Line 9:
Foreign names can be difficult to pronounce for English speakers, but the [[Starfish Language|names of aliens and monsters are often worse still]].
In the mildest version, the character's name is simply [[Overly Long Name|unusually long]], set up with a phonetic maze like a tongue twister, or merely linguistically bizarre even given where it originates; [[Doctor Who|Romanadvoratrelundar]], [[The Simpsons (animation)|Nahasapeemapetilon]], [[Crossing Jordan|Vijayaraghavensatyanaryanamurthy]], [[Godzilla|Tatopoulos]], [[Alan Dean Foster|Abalamahalamatandra]], [[Transformers|Witwicky]]. Pronouncing names like these correctly is a sign of linguistic skill. Mispronouncing them is [[Hilarity Ensues|allegedly funny]].
In practice, most languages contain at least one sound, or sound combination, not allowed in English. Names containing such sounds will always be unpronounceable, though spelling may obscure this. Naturally, this works both ways. English has more sounds than most other major languages, and its speakers pile up consonants in ways which the rest of the world wouldn't dream of, so it is rich in unpronounceable names. Some languages even have linguistic variables that don't affect meaning at all in English—most famously, changing the tone of a Chinese word changes its meaning, whereas in English tone doesn't do much other than change the emphasis of a sentence.
| |||