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Post by Sniffles on Nov 15, 2015 12:04:44 GMT
A Dane, a Belgian, a pseudo Swede and a Russian happened to meet in an Italian restaurant - true, and we discussed how to pronounce Vilja.
I realize that with any name pronunciation is entirely arbitrary. The way the person chooses to pronounce it is the correct one for that person.
Anyway, we came up with: roughly Englishized, Weel Ya, (As in wheel) Vil Ya, as in Villa, Vwil Ya, (Half way between V and W), and Will Ya. And the Russian suggesting it could also be Fiel Ya, (similar to field). We also digressed as to whether the accent goes on the first or last syllable. And also, is the last syllable Ya as in yup, cup, or Ya as in mom, or yeh as pEt?
So what is the real pronunciation?
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Post by Seyheb on Nov 15, 2015 12:51:05 GMT
Why don't you ask her? ( "Let's just talk for a little while..." > "Let's talk about..." > "How do you pronounce your name?" )   |
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Post by Sniffles on Nov 15, 2015 13:06:17 GMT
Why don't you ask her? ( "Let's just talk for a little while..." > "Let's talk about..." > "How do you pronounce your name?" ) I'm sorry. I'm just not getting it. Veel ya? That V is pure v or with vw? |
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Ken
Not A Stranger Anymore
Mesmerized - loving the way you look at me...
Posts: 33 
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Post by Ken on Nov 15, 2015 14:46:49 GMT
A Dane, a Belgian, a pseudo Swede and a Russian happened to meet in an Italian restaurant - true, and we discussed how to pronounce Vilja. I realize that with any name pronunciation is entirely arbitrary. The way the person chooses to pronounce it is the correct one for that person. Anyway, we came up with: roughly Englishized, Weel Ya, (As in wheel) Vil Ya, as in Villa, Vwil Ya, (Half way between V and W), and Will Ya. And the Russian suggesting it could also be Fiel Ya, (similar to field). We also digressed as to whether the accent goes on the first or last syllable. And also, is the last syllable Ya as in yup, cup, or Ya as in mom, or yeh as pEt? So what is the real pronunciation? LOL, Sniffles, this is great! Not everyday does this happen. I always thought Vilja's appearance and accent is more like Russian. FIEL-ya, doesn't sound too off. Now hearing it again, VEEL-ya sounds right to me. |
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Post by Sniffles on Nov 15, 2015 15:12:14 GMT
We have a very eclectic group of friends from around the world. The restaurant owner is of course Italian but didn't get in on the discussion.
eel ya sounds about right though it sounds to me like the VW cross. As example, my grandpa's name is Wilhelm pronounced Vielhelm. The way the Russian guy pronounced Fiel was an interesting take on the name and somewhat close.
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Post by wotan on Nov 15, 2015 15:50:37 GMT
It's pronounced V (or W depending on how you sound it in your country), short I (as in bill, till etc), L, J, short A (as in happy)
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Ken
Not A Stranger Anymore
Mesmerized - loving the way you look at me...
Posts: 33
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Post by Ken on Nov 15, 2015 17:25:55 GMT
It's pronounced V (or W depending on how you sound it in your country), short I (as in bill, till etc), L, J, short A (as in happy) JA is pronounced YA, btw. Did Emma voice acted Vilja? In that case, she should be Swedish? Danish? |
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Post by wotan on Nov 15, 2015 17:31:00 GMT
Emma is Swedish, yes.
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Ken
Not A Stranger Anymore
Mesmerized - loving the way you look at me...
Posts: 33
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Post by Ken on Nov 15, 2015 17:35:36 GMT
Good to know! And upon hearing it again, I think you're right, I is short so that makes it: VIL-ya But that L is very distinct. It's like... art. Love the voice. |
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Post by CollinMacleod on Nov 15, 2015 20:29:02 GMT
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Post by Sniffles on Nov 15, 2015 22:49:36 GMT
From our linguist friend:
"There are very few soft shaded consonants in middle European-Latin derived languages as the letter V in Vilja. I also suspect, from reading the Lakota lexicon, that your ear is untrained or anti trained to hear how the V is pronounced. Note Lakota has no V sound at all and W is always substituted. The Nordic languages oftem put emphasis upon the first syllable, and they combine this with those soft consonants: Ysmer, Yggdrasil, Tjalfe. You could say words starting with that shaded soft sound, the sound is neither consonant nor vowel."
As Emma pronounces it that accent is definitely on the YA. Compare to Lakota witkotkoke. Weet, very fast and hard, tkO, long O, tkO kay. But WittkotkoKAY means crazy while wiTKOtkokay means wicked and in both cases the wi is very similar to how Emma pronounces VI-lja.
My other points out the closest Lakota comes to how Emma pronouces Vilja is Wiya but we normally put a soft n on the end, Wee YAHn. This incidentally means woman, female, and we have about 15 subtle ways of shading and smooshing it about.
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