The eruption of the Grímsvötn volcano (for more on how to pronounce it, click here), which has for some days now been causing disruption throughout northern Europe, got me thinking about the pronunciation of the Icelandic capital Reykjavík. In Icelandic this is ˈɾeːicaviːk (listen to the pronunciations on Forvo); in English it can be variably pronounced ˈreɪkjəvɪk (that’s the pronunciation I use), ˈrekjə(ˌ)vɪk, ˈraɪkjə(ˌ)vɪk, -(ˌ)viːk. But what about in Italian? Well, The DOP (=Dizionario Italiano Multimediale e Multilingue d’Ortografia e di Pronunzia) (2010) keeps schtum whereas Canepàri’s DiPI (=Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana) (2008) has the following entry:Reykjavík ˈrɛikjavik, ↓-ˈvik, ↓-ˈkja-
The arrows pointing downwards, according to the typographical conventions used in the dictionary, indicate that those variants are to be regarded as “trascurate” (“slovenly”) and “da evitare” (“to be avoided”), and are more “frequenti” (“frequent”) after the comma (,). This means, then, that both native and non-native speakers of Italian should eschew the variants with penultimate and last-syllable stress as they are generally considered incorrect in Italy. (I take the symbol ↓ to have the same value as the warning triangle used in LPD to mark pronunciations considered not correct.)
I have to say, though, that I totally disagree with Mr Canepàri: pronunciations like (ˌ)rɛiˈkjavik and (ˌ)rɛikjaˈvik are, I suppose, almost as widespread as the one he considers correct – especially (ˌ)rɛiˈkjavik. As far as (ˌ)rɛikjaˈvik goes, many Italians think that as Reykjavík is spelt with an “accented i”, they should put the stress on the last syllable – but í in Icelandic is just a letter which is used to represent the sound i, different from i which represents ɪ.
Also, lots of Italians use e rather than ɛ in the first syllable, and some go so far as to ‘delete’ the i completely. I say, for instance, reˈkjavik and only rarely (usually in careful speech) do I say ˌreiˈkjavik. Why aren’t these pronunciations recorded in the DiPI?
Prescription dies hard in Italy!
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Ciao, Loretta. Rest in peace.
Dount ju þinc it s ə niusns, ðət iik taim ju lωrn ə lanɡuiж ju həv t lωrn ecsounimz? Wudnt bi betr if wi rispectid evri neim in its əriжənl tφŋ, n wi wr simpli tolrənt əbaut aləfounz?
ReplyDeleteWen wi, ð priscriptəvists, faind aut ə wωrd in ə dicxnri, wi r not intrəstid in ði ordinri prənφnsieixn (wik wi cn lisn tu directli if wi wontid) bət in ð rait wφn (əcordiŋ ðə cann wi folou).
dəʊnt ju θɪŋk ɪt s ə njuːsns, ðət iːtʃ taɪm ju lɜːn ə læŋɡwɪdʒ ju həv tə lɜːn eksəunɪmz wʊdnt bi betər ɪf wi rɪspektɪd evri neɪm ɪn ɪts ərɪdʒənl̩ tʌŋ, ənd sɪmpli wi wə tɒlərənt əbaʊt æləfəʊnz?
ReplyDeletewen wi, ðə prɪscrɪptəvɪsts, faɪnd aʊt ə wɜːd ɪn ə dɪkʃənri, wi ə nɒt ɪntrəstɪd ɪn ði ɔːdɪnri prənʌnsɪeɪʃn̩ wɪtʃ wi kən lɪsn̩ tuː, ɪf wi wɒntɪd bət ɪn ðə raɪt wʌn əkɔːdɪŋ ðə kænən wi fɒləʊ
Hlnodovic, ɪf aɪ wə ɡɪvn̩ ðə tɑːsk əv raɪtɪŋ ən ɪtæljən prənaʊnsɪŋ dɪkʃənri, aɪ wʊd ɪŋkluːd bəʊθ ði ərɪdʒənl̩ prənʌnsieɪʃn̩ əv ə fɒrən wɜːd ən ðə rɪəl prənʌnsieɪʃn̩(z) juːzd baɪ ɪtæljənz. ɪts nəʊ juːs tu ɪŋkluːd əʊnni ðə prənʌnsieɪʃn̩z wɪtʃ ə nevə ɡənə bi juːzd baɪ neɪtɪv spiːkəz.
ReplyDelete