Altered Maps VI: Xorda Gene Bombs.. going from Earth to Mobius

[cardgame]

mass-a-dohn-ya

four.

 

[warpus]

nia is ni-a to me.

By that logic, any other country ending -ia should be shortened one syllable.

When you pronounce Macedonia, do you put an extra emphasis on the -ia ?

Cause I just say: Mah-ceh-doh-nyah

You say: Mah-ceh-doh-neee-yah ? Cause that would be 5 syllables, but I've never heard anyone say that word like that.

 

[PiMan]

(Ma)(ce)(don)(i)(a)
"Ma" from maths
"ce" like in "said"
"don" rhymes with "own"
"i" is a very short sound
"a" should be obvious

 

[sophie]

When you pronounce Macedonia, do you put an extra emphasis on the -ia ?

Cause I just say: Mah-ceh-doh-nyah

You say: Mah-ceh-doh-neee-yah ? Cause that would be 5 syllables, but I've never heard anyone say that word like that.

I normally say it with 5 syllables as well.

Technically, though, it should be 14 syllables for for-mer yu-gos-lav re-pub-lic of ma-ce-don-i-a

 

[RedRalph]

Nice to see I sparked some discussion. Kosovo is part of Serbia, and yeah I made a few errors elsewhere.

 

[TheLastOne36]

Guys, that is because Canadian/Great Lakes accent makes you say "Ma-ce-don-nyah".

 

[Winner]

Edit: Winner, I'm going on English pronounciation. BTW, is 'Hrad' as in Czech for castle' related tp 'Grad' in Russian?

Yes. Funny how these original proto-Slavic words survived in very similar forms.

When you pronounce Macedonia, do you put an extra emphasis on the -ia ?

Cause I just say: Mah-ceh-doh-nyah

You say: Mah-ceh-doh-neee-yah ? Cause that would be 5 syllables, but I've never heard anyone say that word like that.

5 syllables is correct.

Consider:

Bri-tain (2)
Bri-tta-ny (3)
Bri-ta-nni-a (4)

I think it's the same with Yugoslavia or Macedonia.

 

[say1988]

Britannia is often pronounced with 3 here, with the -ia as -yah (both pronunciations are used), while Yugoslavia is always separated.

 

[Mirc]

I know that nobody other than me finds this interesting, but pronouncing the "ia" at the end of words as one syllable is a typical feature of the Moldovan accent in Romanian - I'm really surprised to see other people from countries with other native languages do it too! I thought it was an absolutely isolated phenomenon.

 

[Winner]

Britannia is often pronounced with 3 here, with the -ia as -yah (both pronunciations are used), while Yugoslavia is always separated.

Reminds me of my yesterday's lecture in English phonetics and phonology. As the lecturer said: "We Czechs are raised to speak clearly in order not to mumble. (...) If you want to speak English properly, you have to learn how to mumble".

So true

 

[say1988]

Not saying it is common though.

Australia is about the only current country where the "yuh" ending is standard in my experience. Macedonia, Slovenia being pronounced wither way.
Actually all examples I can think of have a last consonant of either "l" or "n" with the l more likely to result in combining the end.

Of course there are a number such as Indonesia, Croatia, Malaysia where the i is not pronounced at all.

 

[RedRalph]

Britannia is often pronounced with 3 here, with the -ia as -yah (both pronunciations are used), while Yugoslavia is always separated.

That's true actually... I think that's what confused me with the maps.

 

[Heretic_Cata]

Note to self: never mention grammar on nerd forums.

 

[warpus]

Man, that is so weird, I have never ever heard anyone pronounce Britannia with 4 syllables, or Macedonia with 5. When I pronounce Macedonia with 5 syllables it makes it sound Russian almost.

Pronouncing it with 5 syllables makes me want to spell it like this: Macedoniya.

 

[say1988]

Sorry if I am stealing RRW's thunder, but I thought it would be interesting to see for North America, with a more homogeneous language, based on Province, Territory, and State names and their capitals. I didn't do Mexico as I am unsure about proper pronunciations.

Names:

I used common names, not official ones (i.e. no "Commonwealth of Massachusetts" or "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations" just "Massachusetts" and "Rhode Island").
Newfoundland was tough, since "Newfoundland and Labrador" is quite commonly used, but I went with the former.
Florida, I pronounce with 2 syllables, so I went with that, but know plenty of people that pronounce the "i" making it three.

Capital cities:

Same rules.
Quebec City's name is officially Quebec and commonly used as such, teh city is just added as differentiation.
Fredericton I usually hear with 3, but occasionally people pronounce the "er"
Montgomery is much the same, but I rarely hear about the city, so not knowing which was most common I went with what I use.

The capital city names do tend to be noticeably shorter than the State/Province/Territory names

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

I know some people who pronounce "Louisiana" as 4 syllables - including myself. But it's rare.

 

[Tani Coyote]

Spoiler :

Operation: Pole to Pole is the New Sea to Shining Sea is now in effect.

Thank RRW's new thread on the OAS's new rival for giving me the inspiration.

 

[RedRalph]

I note Las Malvinas is back with the South!

 

[bombshoo]

This is just taken from wikipedia but I thought it was interesting.

Spoiler :

 

[say1988]

State name etymologies?