発音と音節

閑話休題。それぞれの言語で発音のクセや傾向があるという記事を見つけた。

Don't call it like you see it （見たまんまのスペルで発音してはダメ）
http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2011/11/pronunciation

この記事では「Sauna」の発音を例として、英語圏の人はsaw-nahと2音節に分けるところを、フィンランド人はsa-oo-naと3音節に分ける、と紹介している。この音節区切りは、母音ごとに区切って発音する日本人の感覚に近い。

A long time ago I lived in Finland for two years and ever since then I’ve found myself unable to say the word sauna as saw-nah to rhyme with fauna. (I was going to say to “rhyme with corner” there, but my lovely Irish wife has helpfully pointed out that only lazy English people pronounce the word corner without the r’s like that.) 

In Finnish, where every syllable is pronounced separately, the word should correctly be said as three syllables, sa-oo-na, although even dedicated adherents to the Finnish pronunciation tend to shorten this to sow-na. Sadly, when I use this version back in England I’m most usually greeted with a wry smile and corrected with polite condescension.

この記事のTrack Backでもおもしろいものを見つけた。外国語からの借用語を発音するとき、ドイツ語は原語に忠実だが、日本語は原語の発音を完全にねじ曲げてしまう、という事らしい。

It's been my observation that some languages adapt the pronunciation of foreign borrowings more than others, with German being among the most faithful to the original language's pronunciation, Japanese tending to mangle it completely.

マクドナルド、ケンタッキー、コストコ。このへんを思い浮かべるだけでも原語発音とかなり違うし、概ねそのとおりなのかな、と思った話でした。