[meteorite-list] How do you pronounce Muonionalusta?

From: Richard Kowalski <damoclid_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2009 16:54:45 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <108798.94235.qm_at_web33902.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

Hi all,

I got some interesting responses to this question.
ten Two were posted to the list and those I'll repeat first.

Thomas ?sterberg wrote on the list:
Muonionalusta is pronounced quite close to it's spelling with some focus on
the first part "Muon".

Pekka Savolainen wrote on the list:
Mu- like Mu(lligan)
o- like (t)o(p)
ni- like (mo)ney
on = on
a- like (b)u(t)
lus- like (Tel)lus
ta like Ta(nya)



I also got two directly, but I didn't ask permission to say who sent them to me so they'll stay anonymous.

One pronounced it - Moo onion alusta

and the other - Moon-e-o-nah-loosta



Finally, I got this email from someone who asked to remain completely anonymous, but since they are a native Finnish speaker, I thought that this is probably the closest one to correct.



"I'm not an expert on linguistics and certainly not on the dialect spoken in the Muonionalusta area but as a native Finnish speaker I can offer this.

First, Muonionalusta comprises two words. Muonio and alusta. Muonio is a town a few km north-east on the Finnish side of the border. Alusta means 'below' or 'under'. Muonionalusta is downstream from Muonio, which is logical enough.

Second, the name has four syllables. Muo-nion-alus-ta. Stress is on the first with just a hint of stress on the third (it being the first syllable in alusta).

Lastly, Finnish is written exactly (to all practical intent) as it is spoken. This means that each phonem is represented by one letter in the alphabet, so Finnish has very few digraphs and no the need for the complicated rules and agreements on how each word should be pronounced that we see in many other languages.

I could try to describe to you how each letter and syllable should be pronounced, but to keep this as straightforward as possible, I prepared an audio file http://clayhole.com/muonionalusta.wav The technical quality of the recording isn't the best and I also have a slight head cold. But this should be close enough for a cigar."


Thanks to everyone who helped out!

--
Richard Kowalski
http://fullmoonphotography.net
IMCA #1081
      

Received on Fri 21 Aug 2009 07:54:45 PM PDT