I've been distressed by advertising dialogue that makes this
well-know name rhyme with "Sunday".

I finally had the opportunity to ask a Korean-born professor at a
local college (Bentley) about this, and after a brief bit of
thought, he said what could be spelled "Shoon-deh". I was both
happy, to learn, and surprised, at the discrepancy between the
transliterated form and the correct sound. Vowel-rhyming with
"moon-deck" is fairly close.

I haven't seen the corresponding Hangul, but wouldn't be
surprised if some of the jamo(?) are doubled in the first
syllable.
Something about the first syllable is notably emphatic, or
possibly has a specific distinct formant frequency (I'm getting
into acoustics...).

Nevertheless, considering what I've learned so far about
transliteration into the roman alphabet, this fairly-extreme
example doesn't really surprise me. (For instance, two different
systems transliterate the name of a famous mountain as "Huzi"
and "Fuji", something hardly needing emphasis.) One is Wade-
Giles, the other, Hepburn, iirc, but I'm no longer sure which
without looking it up.

Corrections to my terminology are welcome.

Nicholas Bodley |@| Waltham, Mass.
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