The White Council

Re: Accents and pronounciation...

Tolkien and Inklings Discussion

: : : : : One interesting thing I was struck by was the pronounciation of certain words. I'm not just talking about Michael's American accent here. : : : =) : : : I mean things like Isildur, and Numenoreans. : : : You don't pronounce it the same way I do, and I am now wondering about the different "acceptable" ways of pronouncing certain names.

: : : Wonder what Peter Jackson will do about the interpretations, because his interpretation will carry a LOT of weight. The general public will quote things from the movie, not the book...

: : : Gandalf

: : There is a basic difference of stressing between American and other English (inc Aus, NZ, S. African) which can be difficult on the ear of those not using the same system. Americans tend to stress the first syllable as in RAAB'nhood, rather than rob-in HUD (Robin Hood). Also middle consonants in three syllable words (and sometimes two syllable also) tend to dissappear, as in wah-yur rather than wor-i-er (warrior), or mihrr rather than mi-rer (mirror).

: : The U sound is also a divergence, Australians would definitely pronounce Numenor nyoomenor, as would most Brits, whereas Americans would go for noomenor. Isildur - well does the s sound as an S or a Z? Brits would tend stress the dur bit and the Yanks would stress the Is bit and tend to reduce the dur to d'r.

: : It is less a case of which is correct, but more a sad fact that whatever your perspective if the pronunciation is not as you would expect the result will grate every time the actor says the name.

: : What you are talking about is the accent, which most people will recognise, and will not affect other english nations too much. What I was referring to, was the pronounciation of certain names, and the fact that I personally have envisioned them pronounced differently to how Michael pronounced it. It's like the Vi-Li-Ya vs Vil-Ya debate. It's not the accent, it's the pronounciation.

: I wonder how the actors will pronounce stuff, because it will be the "correct" pronounciation for most of the public...

: Gandalf

All these things are interrelated. The names of LOTR are not spoken out loud by anyone on a regular basis, they are written - lying on the page. The response of anyone when asked to speak a word which they have read is conditional on their accent and native stressing. Unless they have strict speech coaching I imagine a variety of pronunciations of names will occur in the film. I saw a version of The Odyssey the other week, most of the actors were British or were speaking in a generally British-English way, with the exception of the god Aeolus who was speaking in a vaguely Brooklyn accent, this certainly extended to his pronunciation of Poseidon, Odysseus etc.

I can envisage that Moria might be spoken as Moh-ya by some. This would be due to the native speech patterns of many parts of America. This is going to have an effect unless speech coaching is rigorous.

If the producers are going to play it by the book then Tolkien left plenty of indications of how he wanted his own self-coined words to be spoken.