Sami again
Michael Everson
everson@evertype.com
Tue, 19 Feb 2002 23:13:37 +0000
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