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Path: utzoo!utcsrgv!dave
From: dave@utcsrgv.UUCP (Dave Sherman)
Newsgroups: net.misc,net.nlang
Subject: Re: Pronunciation of 'Honda'
Message-ID: <2193@utcsrgv.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 5-Sep-83 23:28:11 EDT
Article-I.D.: utcsrgv.2193
Posted: Mon Sep  5 23:28:11 1983
Date-Received: Tue, 6-Sep-83 01:13:06 EDT
References: <851@sdchema.UUCP>
Organization: The Law Society of Upper Canada, Toronto
Lines: 18

Yes, Donn, piranha in Portuguese is, roughly, peeRANya. The "nh"
in Portuguese has basically the same sound as the Spanish ~
							  n.
But so what? Once a word enters another language, as piranha has
into English, it gets changed. Unless you're referring to a name
as it is CURRENTLY used in another language, you're not wrong.

I get annoyed if I hear Sao Paulo (tilde over the a) pronounce
"say-oh pow-lo". (It's, roughly, saung [nasal 'ng', all one syllable]
pow-lo.) But I don't get annoyed if someone refers to, say,
"reconnaissance" with a decidedly un-French pronunciation. Once
the word's in the language, whatever people use is, by definition,
correct. Linguistics and the study and discussion of language
should aim to be descriptive, not prescriptive.

Dave Sherman
-- 
 {allegra,cornell,floyd,ihnp4,linus,utzoo,uw-beaver,watmath}!utcsrgv!lsuc!dave