The Sounds of Confluence

David, from Recorded Books, rang the other day.

He had a list of words he wanted to run through, to hear how we wanted them pronounced.

Recorded Books have done this for every book so far.  It’s mostly names. People’s names and place names.

Believe you me, some of these words, when spoken with an Australian accent, come out very flat.

Some of the words we were asked to pronounce.

Tse
Henri
Merchett
Ghyslain
Aeolus
Hebe
Hella

How would you pronounce them?

Tse. Tss – ee, but short, not long. Emphasis on first syllable

Henri. On-ray. Emphasis on second syllable

Merchett. Mer-chett. Emphasis on second syllable

Ghyslain. Giz-lane. Emphasis almost even here, but a little heavier on the second syllable.

Aeolus.  A (as in hay)-ole-uss. Emphasis on the second syllable.  (Most people, we think, do it on the third).

Hebe.  Hee-bee.  Emphasis on the first syllable.

Hella.  Hell-ah.  Emphasis on the first syllable. The ‘ah’ is very short.

Engen.  Enn-gen.  The g here is a hard g, not a soft g.  (That is, not the g in engine, more like the g in gas.)  Emphasis on the first syllable.

 

How’d you go?

 

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