[tlhIngan Hol] new words qepHom 2016 (geography)

[Lieven]

Am 08.11.2016 um 02:44 schrieb André Müller:
> Odd. Marc had given us the word for Burma/Myanmar before, when he wrote
> birthday greetings on my Facebook wall, 2 years or so ago. Then he used
> the spelling {mIyanma} though.

That was the first thing that came to my mind, so I have already asked 
him. Here is what he wrote: (archivists can note qepHom 2016 as the date 
and source)

---begin quote---
{mIyama} is correct.  I changed my mind.

"Myanmar" is partly a transliteration of the Burmese way of writing the 
word, and partly a trick to get the right pronunciation in English.  The 
final "r" is not there in Burmese writing.  The English version is based 
on British pronunciation, and for many/most British dialects, the final 
"r" is silent.  So the final syllable (spelled "mar"), pronounced as it 
would be in British English, is /ma/, not /mar/.  (Without the "r", many 
British speakers would pronounce the syllable so the vowel was the vowel 
in "cat," not the /a/ in "father.") Americans follow the spelling and 
pronounce this final "r" when saying "Myanmar."  The "n" is really there 
in Burmese writing (which is why it's in "Myanmar"), but it's pronounced 
as nasalization of the preceding vowel (in this case, /a/).  So it's 
something like /myãma/ (where /ã/ represents a nasalized /a/).

For "France," pronounced in French, the "n" also indicates nasalization 
— it's not pronounced as an individual sound — so, for Klingon, I just 
skipped it: vIraS (not vIranIs or something like that). I followed the 
same line of thinking for mIyama (rather than mIyanma).

In what I wrote to André, I was referring to the language of 
Burma/Myanmar.  "Burma" in Burmese is pronounced something like /bama/, 
so that would make bama Hol.  But you can also say "Myanmar language," 
so that would be (in my revised thinking), mIyama Hol.

Maltz told me he'd defer to André if I'm wrong about any of this.
---end quote---


-- 
Lieven L. Litaer
aka Quvar valer 'utlh
Grammarian of the KLI
http://www.facebook.com/Klingonteacher
http://www.klingonwiki.net