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Post by omega on Oct 15, 2017 7:13:34 GMT
In the extras for The Behemoth, Marc Platt (the writer) noted there were debates in the studio about how to pronounce the title between Be-heem-oth and Bea-moth. It struck me that this is only one of many instances where one word is said different ways. The most obvious explanation is American vs British english, left-tennant vs loo-tennant for example. There's aluminum or aluminium, where the difference comes from which part of the word is being emphasised. There are a couple of examples I'm sensitive to, day-bew vs dayboo and harras-mint vs harris-ment. Not to mention grim-iss vs grim-ace.
Thoughts?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2017 7:46:59 GMT
It's all about the vowels, I think. Usage of the letter A, E, I, O and U in Modern English tends towards particular dialects based on the sound made with an open larynx (rather than closed as is the case with consonants).
I've had a longstanding and fairly mad theory that one prominent influence at the very beginning, when language was being formed, was the regular climate of a region. Colder climates produced a similar sound to other colder climates, while warmer ones did the same. It's just a theory, mind. I've nothing to really back it up with.
Edit: Case in point for how relative language can be, I just accidentally blew my own mind by finding out that the phrase "flat chat" is an Australian idiom. It means "to great intensity" as in "I was working flat chat yesterday evening and to raise me from this bed, I promise you, will take some kind of mobile crane." I had no idea, that's kinda neat.
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Post by aussiedoctorwhofan on Oct 15, 2017 12:24:02 GMT
Have had this discussion with my English mates at my old work place.. Lego vs Lay-go. Pahstie vs passti Duhnce vs dance It's all relative  |
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Post by barnabaslives on Oct 16, 2017 13:04:48 GMT
I dunno - I wonder if many of us Americans are any the wiser if someone did mispronounce "Behemoth", I'm not sure I've heard an American use this word more than once or twice in my life. I think most us probably prefer "great big (some expletive or other deleted)" to "behemoth". :-)
I'm usually not fussed about it - I had an English teacher who encouraged us that "no word is misspelled that can be read" (not that this kept him from deducting grade points for spelling errors, lol) and I think that can easily be extended to "no word is mispronounced that can be understood" although I occasionally enjoy attempting to poke well-meaning fun at those extra letters in some British pronunciations like "aluminium" or "drawrings". I just think it's all kinda cute and endearing - the sound of diversity is really sort of musical.
That rare one that threw me was the "Legal clark" joke in The Last Adventure, I had no idea what they were talking about until I actually stopped and took a minute to think it out. :-)
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Post by charlesuirdhein on Oct 16, 2017 16:29:38 GMT
Just a point, aluminum and aluminium are pronounced differently because they're different words for the same metal. The different variants have a fiddly history that's fun to read but I'm not pasting it here. Check:http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/aluminium.htm
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Post by theotherjosh on Oct 16, 2017 16:40:40 GMT
I was listening to a Fifth Doctor, Peri and Erimem story. I think it was The Axis of Insanity. Peri says "solder" at one point (the process of joining something together with low-melting point metals) and she pronounced the "l". Americans don't; we pronounce it "sodder".
...Ish has a good bit about these very differences.
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