Hi everyone,
Below, Jonny has brought up a good point, which I’ve chatted about individually with some of you but I think is worthy of wider discussion.
His assertion the Novak Djokovic’s surname should be pronounced Djock-o-vich and perhaps not Djoe-koh-vich (with my tweaked phonetics) is an example of something we see regularly.
I’d like to take the stance that both are right.
The reason I say this is because I believe all speakers employing either pronunciation, agree on method but differ on execution, purely because of accent.
Jonny and I are British. Although, as Jonny points out, Djock-o-vich is correct per origin (see my pronunciation email in the P-drive for my definition of origin, consensus and convention), I’m not sure, between us, we have sufficient gravitas to advise an entire nation on how to employ their vowel sounds. American, Australian and New Zealand vowel sounds all differ from British employment. British vowel sounds even differ widely by region (which is why sometimes, nobody can understand Jamie Carragher).
The first and middle syllables of our tennis player’s name is widely employed by some American-English accents as oh (as in slow, Joe and flow). A British-English accent would employ that syllable using the flatter, less-drawn-out sound heard in the words hot, stop and flock.
We hear the same variation in the words mocha (although the British-English preference for the shorter first-syllable vowel sound in this instance appears to be erroneous), holocaust (although even American pronunciation guides reject using the drawn-out first syllable hoh) and police (again, even American pronunciation guides tend to advise against the oft-heard American poh-leese, in favour of puh-leese, similar to the way a British-English speaker would employ the word.
On this subject it is worth noting that many pronunciation guides are written by Americans and need to be adjusted for accordingly, if you speak with an English (or dare I say neutral) accent. Excellent examples are those given on the ATP, WTA and NBA sites. These can cause confusion if you are unaware of how to differentiate between American and British vowel sounds.
An example of this, that I’ve heard debated in the newsroom more than once, is how to pronounce the surname of the New York Knicks basketball player Amar’e Stoudemire. Given the unusual spelling and the advice of many pronunciation guides it is easy for a British-English speaker to make a mistake. American-based sites advise STAH-duh-my-er. Anglicise it and you get Stod-uh-my-er. Crucially, the first syllable is never given the sound employed in cow, meow and allow.
Regards Steve
——————————————————————————– From: “Dawson, Steve” Mon, April 4, 2011 7:30:15 AM Subject: FW: Novak Djokovic ——————————————- From: Jonathan William Hesketh Sent: Monday, April 04, 2011 7:30:14 AM To: Dawson, Steve Subject: Novak Djokovic Auto forwarded by a Rule
Hi Steve,
Was wondering if you could clear something up for me about the Djokovic pronunciation. I’ve always thought that it was Djock-o-vich, and that is what it sounds like on Forvo, I am now hearing from certain people (both online and in the office) that the correct way to say it is closer to Djoe-ko-vich which to be honest doesn’t sound very Slavic to me, but I thought I would get your take on it.
Thanks Jonny
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