FXS_Sarah
2K Games Staff
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How to pronounce "Māori"...
- Thread starter Greywulf
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- maori pronunciation
Option B: It's not too far off from the vowel in American English bite (which is different from the vowel in bide).All I know re the Canadian accent is the whole "aboot" thing when they're trying to say about
Option C: Mara aids. Or for Southern Hemisphere Anglophones: Mara air.
Is that your voice in the intro video? Very cool!I'll take "not bad."
Can you pass on our thanks to everyone involved in designing the Maori, I'm genuinely impressed, and I can't wait to play as them!
You guys are the best!(Also, any tiny hints to who's being announced next? If that's allowed.
)
nzcamel
Nahtanoj the Magnificent
Option B: It's not too far off from the vowel in American English bite (which is different from the vowel in bide).
Option C: Mara aids. Or for Southern Hemisphere Anglophones: Mara air.
Yeah, I think that's it.
WillowBrook
Lurker
Okay, this seems a good place for a linguistics question. Or maybe it's orthography? Not sure of the category. Anyway...
It appears that the proper way to write 'Maori' is with the horizontal line over the 'a'. Why? I ask because I learned in school (public school in Pennsylvania, in case that's relevant) that you use that horizontal line to indicate the long vowel sound - so an 'a' with a horizontal line would be pronounced like the 'a' in late, not the 'a' in Maori. I'm guessing that two different groups of people could have come up with two completely different uses of the same symbol, but I'm wondering if there's more to it.
It appears that the proper way to write 'Maori' is with the horizontal line over the 'a'. Why? I ask because I learned in school (public school in Pennsylvania, in case that's relevant) that you use that horizontal line to indicate the long vowel sound - so an 'a' with a horizontal line would be pronounced like the 'a' in late, not the 'a' in Maori. I'm guessing that two different groups of people could have come up with two completely different uses of the same symbol, but I'm wondering if there's more to it.
This requires a bit of explanation. Yes, macrons (lines over vowels) are standard linguistic notation for long vowels. However, what English calls long vowels are not long vowels--they're diphthongs (two vowels pronounced together). Historically, however, the diphthongs we call long vowels were long vowels. They changed during the Great Vowel Shift, which was one of the key changes between Middle and Modern English. Linguistically a long vowel is exactly what it sounds like: a vowel that's pronounced longer than other vowels.
nzcamel
Nahtanoj the Magnificent
This - the a & the o are pronounced together, with the a being very lightly spoken and the o dominating.
Say moldy (as in moldy cheese) and you are close to the 'ao'.
Depending on your accent--some Americans vocalized their L and others don't. I have a very "dark" L, but I don't L-vocalize. If you L-vocalize, though, yes, that's fairly close.
WillowBrook
Lurker
Very interesting, thanks! So macrons have been used since before the great vowel shift? Wasn't that, like seven hundred years ago?
comatosedragon
Emperor
Have we seen any conformation that Sean Bean is returning?
I mean, he most likely is, but remember that Leonard Nimoy did not return to do the voice-overs for the second Civilization IV expansion (BtS); in fact Sid did them himself. It was only like two or three techs, iirc; but still. There were no (spoken) leader introductions back then though.
nzcamel
Nahtanoj the Magnificent
It would be a scandal if he didn't. With what happened with Nimoy in mind, I'm sure they tightened up their contracts since IV.
You mean with how Sean Bean always dies in films? Suddenly he's not doing the voicing anymore...would raise suspicion, lol.
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Did he get a word in in the GS trailer?
Will be be voicing for the new techs and civics?
In some languages, though probably not English, but there are certainly grammatical/phonetic descriptions of English predating the GVS. The terminology of those descriptions is why English dictionaries use macrons to indicate English "long vowels," i.e. diphthongs. (Fun aside: the acute used in languages such as French and Spanish historically derives from the macron, which in scribal hand became abbreviated and somewhat aslant.)
No, he promptly fell off a glacier.
I don't think he spoke in the R&F video, either, though, did he?One would assume. No one has fond memories of ditching Nimoy in Civ4 BTS.
Canterbury
Warlord
Actually, it's the other way around. Macronned vowels usually get emphasised in Māori words (probably because we have to put slightly more effort into saying them for longer). In the word "Māori", the emphasis lies more on the "ā" sound. But you're right in that the "ā" and "o" sounds are generally merged.
I pronounce the word "MAH-or-ree", with the "or" pronounced without the "r" and the "ree" pronounced like with a Spanish single "r" (or a Japanese/Korean "r"). "MOW-ree" (with "mow" rhyming with "cow") and "moldy" are fine approximations for people who aren't Māori or Pacific Islander.
Japanese R can be right but can also be wrong because Japanese R is non-specified for centrality: that is, it can also be L. But Spanish/Italian single R (or the TT in American English kitty) is the right sound.
nzcamel
Nahtanoj the Magnificent
I thought too much heavy emphasis on the "a" was a mistake Europeans make? Or is it because we don't pronounce the "o" at all? Like MAH-ree. That's the classic poor European pronunciation isn't it?
MooFreaky
Meatbag Destroyer
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Basically, most European backgrounders I know have too short an emphasis on the "ao" and don't roll their r enough.
Fortunately my family are Scots so the rolling the r is natural for us
EDIT: Grr I can't get the timestamp to work on the forum. But it's at 40 seconds
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nzcamel
Nahtanoj the Magnificent
This is a Maori guy who went to a full Maori school, so only learned to speak English after he went to high school. Here is him pronouncing Maori words, I've time stamped him saying "Maori"
Basically, most European backgrounders I know have too short an emphasis on the "ao" and don't roll their r enough.
Fortunately my family are Scots so the rolling the r is natural for us
EDIT: Grr I can't get the timestamp to work on the forum. But it's at 40 seconds
Lol, when he breaks it down it sounds like (Chairman) Mao-ree
