Sami again

[Michael Everson]

At 11:47 -0800 2002-02-19, A. Vine wrote:
>
>  > Sami would on the face of it rhyme with swami,
>
>Maybe if paired as such people might see it that way; but on its 
>own, in the US or among any of the British I have ever met (or live 
>with), it is much more
>likely to come out "Sammy".

The New Oxford Dictionary gives [sa:mi] and [swa:mi] as 
pronunciations of those two words "Sami" and "swami". [sa:mi] would 
be the same as Norwegian "samisk" [sa:mi(sk)] and Finnish "saami" 
[sa:mi]

>Whether or not "Sammy" is an acceptable pronunciation is another 
>matter.  But I don't want the non-native English folks on this list 
>to be mislead in to
>thinking that all English speakers will see "Sami" and pronounce it "Sah-me=
e".

In Northern Sami, "S=E1mi" is pronounced pretty much like "Sammy" 
[s=E6mi] so it's not that bad....
-- 
Michael Everson *** Everson Typography *** http://www.evertype.com