Timewaster's Guide Archive
Local Authors => Brandon Sanderson => Topic started by: EUOL on May 05, 2005, 05:10:23 PM
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I know a lot of people have asked for one of these, so I decided to throw one up as the 'May Goodie' for Elantris. You can find it linked on the main page.
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...you're...crazy.
These pronunciations are pretty hard to say and don't make much sense internally! How do you pronounce "en" at the end of "Raoden" and "is" it the end of Elantris and "Sa-" at the beginning of "Sarene"? Is it Ray-oh-deen and Ee-lain-trice and Say-ray-nay? Or is it "-en" (as in "end" with no "d") and "-triss" (rhymes with "kiss") and "Suh-" (front rhymes with "Samantha")? Or Because if it's "-en" and "-triss" and "Suh-" then these pronunciations are not allowed by your AEIO rules, and if it's "-deen" and "-trice" and "Say-" then your listed pronunciations are not helpful.
Spelling some "a" sound with "e" instead also throws a wrench into the whole thing. Basically, the fact that you felt the need to do that should have been an indication to you that there were issues with the system to start out with, and that regular English speakers and especially Fantasy readers would just not automatically pronounce your names close to the way you meant them to be pronounced.
I will hopefully comment later, but there's nothing wrong with wanting to base a language around the just 4 long vowels A E I O (which are pronounced, phonetically, "ei ii ai ou"). It looks like there are some problems in implementation though.
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I thought that only applied to the Aons. The different names and words, ie Raoden, is only part Aon... the other half is like a totally different language. Sort of like a pidgen language combines two different languages into is own sort of language, and can eventually turn into a whole new language (creole). I think that is what happened here....
I would need to reread the article, but I think it also mentioned something about only the first so many vowels being long and the rest normal. That or just the vowels that dealt with the Aon part of the word.
I also think the 'ae' thing is pretty common in fantasy.
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...I did think something along those lines after I wrote the post above, and I haven't had time to read the whole thing... Well, I'll go back and check it later...
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Ookla,
You're missing the long/short combination. (EP has it exactly right.)
The Aon has long vowels, the rest of the word has short. Maybe I need to make that more explicit. However, reading it, it makes sense to me.
So, RAY-Oh-den would be pronounced, I think, exactly as I wrote it there. Two long--for the Aon--one short, for the non-Aon.
As for the 'A' exception, it was done out of necessity. You see, the truth is that I was creating a language to accent my novel, not the other way around. So, when it came down to writing a name like 'Sarene,' I just couldn't force myself to write it the way that looked worse, just to make the language feel a little more consistent. (There was no physical way to make the name on the page sound like the one in my head without writing something very silly, like Saraynay or Saraenae.)
I think that people in the world would pronounce her name, therefore, as "Sa-REE-Nee," as I pointed out in the article. However, I'm still going to pronounce it how I want, because I'm an English speaker, not an Aonic speaker. Just like I call Korea 'Korea,' instead of 'Kor-ryo' (or even Hanguk) as would be correct.
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*sigh* Well, looks like I was wrong. Sorry for jumping on it without reading and thinking enough...
Anyway I'm now confused on Sarene's name. Did you originally conceive her name as sa-RAY-NAY but since spelling it Sarana didn't work you changed it to Sarene, meaning now that the people in the world of the Dor pronounce it as sa-REE-NEE (rhymes with bikini)? So is it really a case of "e" being pronounced as "AY" or just another one of "e" being pronounced as "EE"?
[EDIT: Guh. I should just shut up. I've skimmed most of the rest of the article now, which answers the questions. v_v Well, after I've read it more carefully later, if there is still anything unclear I'll post again.]
If the book ever became a book on tape, how would you want the names pronounced on the recording? The way you say them in your head, the way most people might say it, or the way the people of that world would say it?
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That's a good question, Ookla. This one throws me into all sorts of wrinkles.
I realize that readers are going to pronounce names however they want, and that's okay with me. But, what do you do when the AUTHOR pronounces the names incorrectly?
Anyway, you're the resident linguist. I really would appreciate comments and suggestions on making this more readable, Ookla.
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again just let Gemm do the audio I'm sure he'll add a few more sylables into each name and solve everyone's problems by confuseing us all.
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I think for the audio books you should just change Sarene's name to Shanaynay. That would be both phonetically easy to say and funny at the same time.
:D
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And Raoden can be Todd
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And Teod can be Fred.