Llewellyn?

[SotiCoto]

I couldn't help but wonder if the name, such as it is, might be intended as some sort of joke?
Perhaps it was covered at some point in the archives but I don't remember...


Anyhow... the point is... Llywelyn is a Welsh name. Pay attention to the number of incidences of the letter "L". Afterall, in Welsh, "ll" is pronounced quite differently to "l", the former being soft and unvoiced (tongue-tip on roof of mouth and merely exhale across it) while the latter is as it is in English (voiced and with a harder sound).

So when the name "Llewellyn" was set in the comic... what I'm wondering is whether it was intended to be pronounced the Welsh way or not? Is it soft-LL or just an oddly spelt hard-L in each incident?

It is possible I'm just being needlessly picky, but my curiosity knows no bounds... and if I try to pronounce "Llewellynlland" in a North-Welsh (Gog) accent... it gives me a serious case of phlegm.


[Edit: Corrected to retroactively remove error.]

[Richard K Niner]

Um, it's spelt "Llewellyn", not "Llywellyn"

[SotiCoto]

The irony... My spelling has been corrected in a thread I myself made questioning spelling (and pronounciation)...

Point.

I'm sure it is still basically intended to be the same word though, or at least derived therefrom. To be honest I was paying so much attention to one particular letter that I wasn't observing the rest.

^_^

[Tom Flapwell]

DCS gave the pronunciation as "loo ELL in" (rhymes with Gone with the Wind character Sue Ellen). Maybe Llewellyn was raised with an orthodox Welsh pronunciation for his name, but he decided not to correct every unknowing American.

[SotiCoto]

DCS gave the pronunciation as "loo ELL in" (rhymes with Gone with the Wind character Sue Ellen). Maybe Llewellyn was raised with an orthodox Welsh pronunciation for his name, but he decided not to correct every unknowing American.

I've done a little investigating in various places and noticed that the version with the second double-L is actually used some places. I can only suspect that it is some sort of Saes* error.

But fair enough.
For the record... the first LL is most definitely supposed to be pronounced softly with no voice. Just inhale... put your tongue on the roof of your mouth (slightly further back than the tip, so not an Ssss), just back from your teeth.... and exhale over it to get the right sound. If not that then practice saying "Lha" and you'll probably get the same effect.


As a random aside... I'm sure if I pronounced your name (or screen-name, as given in posts) the Welsh way enough in your presence, you would end up slapping me for it eventually.

[CodeCat]

It still doesn't beat Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch though, with its two consecutive ll's.

[SotiCoto]

It still doesn't beat Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch though, with its two consecutive ll's.

What is perhaps even more ridiculous is that not only can I pronounce that perfectly... but I know the whole word without having to look it up anywhere...

.... and have been there...

.. twice.

[CodeCat]

I've been there and I can spell it as well. Haven't got the pronunciation right though. Not yet...

[osprey]

I was half-heartedly watching some drag racing a few months ago, and there was a competitor whose last name was Llewellyn...and the commentators pronounced it the same way DC does.

[SotiCoto]

I was half-heartedly watching some drag racing a few months ago, and there was a competitor whose last name was Llewellyn...and the commentators pronounced it the same way DC does.

And I'd bet some serious money they aren't Welsh, and thus weren't pronouncing it correctly.

To be fair... while Welsh has many sounds in common with French that English doesn't (nor american)... I have reason to believe this is a more distinct one.

[Dhokarena56]

In Welsh, Ll stands for a voiceless lateral fricative sound, which in X-Sampa is /K/.

[CodeCat]

Indeed.

[SotiCoto]

In Welsh, Ll stands for a voiceless lateral fricative sound, which in X-Sampa is /K/.

Is that what they call it these days?
Meh... I'm a Palaeobiologist by education; not a language expert, so I can only assume you're right there.

[klimt]

i am having difficulties imagining how it would sound in welsh.

please post some kind of recording with it being said properly.

[Hanging Tree]

To pronounce words like the Welsh you need to add a coal miners cough and the bitter twang of poverty.