Re: French phonetics

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Francesco Brighenti" <frabrig@...>
wrote:

>
> That is what most irritates me. All other languages are made
> subservient to the "rules" of French phonetics inasmuch as the
> latter must be evidently the "correct" ones, no matter if the rest
> of the world don't speak that way!
>
> Now the French have also turned their new First Lady, the Italian
> top-model Carla Bruni (Italian pronunciation: <'carla 'bruni>) into
> <caR'la bRy'ni>: wrong stress again, both in her first name and
> surname! I would like to suggest the French government to officially
> spell this name as "C�rla Br�ni" to avoid its mispronunciation in
> France (let's pass over the inevitable use of the French R to
> pronounce it, although that type of R is certainly not found in the
> original...). But this, of course, would never be possible because
> it would go against the "scientific rules" of French phonetics!
>
> Happy weekend!
>
> Francesco
>

One more thing: English speakers also mangle Italian names: I would
say that 90% of North Americans pronounce <Giovanni> as [dZi-ov'ani],
with secondary stress on [dZi], instead of [dZov'ani]. A famous
musician of the 70's, Chuck Mangiani, was always [mandZi-'ani], never
[mandZ'ani]. But I think this English phenomenon arises purely out of
ignorance, not because English pronunciation is believed to be always
the true "correct" one.

Andrew