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For this category, there was a clear tendency for both Japanese and
Icelandic speakers to choose the diphthong [au]. The second most
popular choice was the sequence of two single vowels [a u]. If it is
assumed that the subjects did not differentiate between the two
sounds [au] and [a u], the general tendency is further strengthened,
and suggests that the second element of the diphthong [au] cannot
be omitted in the process of transliteration. a comparatively small
number chose [a] without [u], and very few chose lengthened /ar/
([a:]).
Table 2.a Choice of pronunciation for names that contain diphthong /au/.
Table 2.b shows the results with individual names. The overall ten-
dency, as well as exceptions occurring with some names, may be
seen clearly. For example, with Álfrún, the majority of Icelandic
speakers chose a single vowel [a]. In the case of Ágúst, more of the
Icelandic subjects chose the vowel sequence [a] and [u], rather than
diphthong [au]. This may be because of the fact that the Ice landic
diphthong [au] has phonetic variables and is pronounced as a long
diphthong in Ágúst, but short in Álfrún.13 For Stefán and Kristján,
Japanese speakers chose [a], i.e. [su te fa n], and [ku ri su tɕa n], as
well as [au]. This might be due to an association with the English
names Stephan and Christian. another reason for this could be that
[au] in these two names is in an unstressed syllable, and therefore
the sound is weak. although there are individual differences, the
general tendency is consistent in this category.
KaOru uMEZaWa
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13 In Icelandic, vowels or diphthongs are pronounced shorter when they are followed by two
or more consonants than when no consonant or only one consonant follows. See Kristján
Árnason, “atkvæðagerð, hljóðskipun og lengd”, Íslensk tunga, 1. bindi. Hljóð. Handbók um
hljóðfræði og hljóðkerfisfræði, meðhöfundur Jörgen Pind, reykjavík: almenna bókafélagið,
2005, pp. 180–222, here p. 185.
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1st year 2nd year 1st & 2nd year Japanese
/a/ (8) 6 9 17 12
/au/ (47) 46 (25) 22 (72) 68 26
/a u/ 21 (17) 14 (38) 35 14
/aR/ (4) 3 0 (4) 3 1
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