Milli mála - 01.01.2010, Page 290

Table 1.b Choice of pronunciation for names that end with /-ik/ (individual
names).
3.2 Treatment of Icelandic diphthong [au]
6 tokens: Álfrún, Ásta, Ágúst, Ásgeir, Stefán, Kristán
4 choices each: [a], [au], [a u], [a:]
Long vowels such as [a:] /ar/, and diphthongs such as [au] are
sounds which in Japanese will form an extra mora, where there is
one syllable. This is again represented orthographically in the
Japanese writing system. However, [au] can be pronounced in one
beat, as in English and Icelandic, or as [a u] in two beats. The lat-
ter is a more traditional Japanese sound, and the former is closer to
the Icelandic pronunciation. These options can be represented
orthographically: [au] =アゥ, [a u] =アウ. However, when Japan -
ese speakers read these katakana writings, they tend to pronounce
both in the same way. In this experiment, both pronunciations were
tested. They were intentionally read in a slightly different way: [au]
in one mora beat, with the latter part of the diphthong pronounced
with less emphasis than the former, and [a u] in two mora beats,
with the latter part of the diphthong pronounced clearly. This was
done to see whether the second part of the diphthong [au] in
Icelandic names would be clearly perceived and transferred into
Japanese pronunciation, as well as to determine how important the
presence of that sound is for both Icelandic and Japanese speakers
when the word is transliterated into Japanese.
TranSLITEraTIng ICELanDIC naMES InTO JaPanESE …
290
!
1st year 2nd year 1st & 2nd year Japanese
Di!rik
ディズリック [di zu ri k ku] (5) 3 0 (5) 3 8
ディズリーク [di zu ri i ku] 1 2 3 0
ディズリク [di zu ri ku] (9) 7 6 (15) 13 1
Fri!rik
フリズリック [ u ri zu ri k ku] 8 0 8 6
フリズリーク [ u ri zu ri i ku] 1 0 1 0
フリズリク [ u ri zu ri ku] 4 8 12 3
!
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!
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