Pronounce Kamala

[HelenWheels]

apparently it is like Comma, as in a sentence and La

however we pronounce comma differently in UK
i guess it should be pronounced as they do in America rather than we would in UK?

So does the Comma-la pronunciation work for you then? Is this the long a sound you are referring to?

Yes, Comma-la works for me in my American accent. But as Dr. Geoff Lindsey points out in the video linked above, it can depend on how one pronounces the "o" in comma, and that differs among accents of English speakers.

By the way, I find that when Dr. Lindsey speaks about American accents, he is always spot on, so I assume that he is right when he talks about different British accents.

Yes, we just don’t have that sound in British English.

There are 2 completely different ways of pronouncing the “a” sound in the UK;

1. as in fat - generally referred to as the short a
2. as in father rhyming with farther - referred to as the long a.

In Britain those with rhotic accents don’t use this long a, because we voice our “r”. We use the short a for everything . Southern English , non rhotic speakers generally use both the long and the short “a” sounds.

There are social class and national sensitivities that go along with this particular vowel, and the difference is very distinctive and obvious, which adds a little extra charge to discussions about “correctness” over here.

And there is no third option for pronouncing “a” here. But Perhaps in The US there are also only 2 options, but the “long” one sounds like comma rather than karma? Or do you have 3 distinctly different sounds?

Me too

In Britain those with rhotic accents don’t use this long a, because we voice our “r”. We use the short a for everything . Southern English , non rhotic speakers generally use both the long and the short “a” sounds.

This just isn’t correct. Regardless of rhoticity, most U.K. British accents have a longer a in lava than in lack.

You may have one of the unusual accents that has only long a and no short a, but most rhotic U.K. accents use a shorter a for lack than for lava and a shorter a in bap than in bra.

I think the miscommunication here is just about what we are calling a “long” a. A rhotic speaker does not say lar-va for lava, which is what has always been referred to as long and short a when I’ve heard British people discussing the difference. I’m not sure where you are from?

My understanding is that these are 2 different phonemes represented by the following:
æ/-/ɑː/
Most Scottish accents make no distinction between these sounds. Trap and father are the same sound. ( and I’d say face and square were also the same for that matter). The way I speak is not unusual- see upthread with people confused by “r” insertions and below.

further info:
There are a variety of pronunciations in Modern English and in historical forms of the language for words spelled with the letter ⟨a⟩. Most of these go back to the low vowel(the "short A") of earlier Middle English, which later developed both long and short forms. The sound of the long vowel was altered in the Great Vowel Shift, but later a new long A (or "broad A") developed which was not subject to the shift. These processes have produced the main four pronunciations of ⟨a⟩ in present-day English: those found in the words trap, face, father and square (with the phonetic output depending on whether the dialect is rhotic or not, and, in rhotic dialects, whether or not the Mary–merry merger occurs).
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronunciation_of_English_⟨a⟩

That's interesting - I have a rhotic Irish accent and the vowel sound in trap and father are completely different. I'd just never use an R (pronounced oar not arr ) to indicate the difference.

I think comma-la works for me, but whether Kamala herself would agree with me is another thing!

It is really interesting! This may be due to the Mary-merry-marry merger? Do you say those words the same? I think most Americans do and after reading about it here I’m thinking that is what is producing a long “a” like “comma” for “Kama”in American English which can be produced regardless of rhoticity. Rather than the long “a” like “karma” of the RP accent.

In general terms before this discussion I would have said the American accent was closer to the Irish than RP English, so perhaps this is one of the technical similarities!

Mary, merry and marry are different for me.

Komolah

Ka-ma-LAAAAAAAHHHH!!! 🤣🤣🤣

mm81736
It means 'horrible' in Finnish

Ah well, trump means fart here in the UK.

Edited

TRUE! 💯

This may be due to the Mary-merry-marry merger? Do you say those words the same? I think most Americans do

My "Mary" and "merry" are very close, but my "marry" is not.

@Cine643 yes I’m British and I can pronounce her name how she does without putting in an American accent.

The true Sanskrit pronunciation is k- mala. The first an isn't pronounced.

What accent do you have?

Yes, apparently there are partial or full variants of the merger with a merger between Murray and merry another variant.

It must be a real challenge for English language learners. Along with our crazy spelling patterns, we also have such a diversity of pronunciation across the English speaking world . A problem for poets and rhyming picture book writers too! 😆

I got my laptop out so I can do proper IPA this time!

I don't do the Mary-marry-merry merger, my children (raised in USA) do. The no merger area is the Northeast coast, so Boston, NYC, Philly. Americans always distinguish /æ/ (trap) from /a:/ (father). The merger has to do with the vowel before R. So for many Americans the names Aaron and Erin sound the same (both become AIR-in). Also in NYC o before r becomes /a/ - see Florida becoming Flahrida. (Classic NYC English, which is fading, has a complex vowel system; cat and bad, for example, are not pronounced quite the same if you listen carefully.)

The relevant distinction is that American short a (//a/) replaces the British short o (/ɒ/) in most American accents, except in areas that don't have the cot/caught merger so /a:/ and /aʊ/ are distinct. Eg. NYC "cawfee tawk" which is an exaggerated version of the distinction. In most of the country, "coffee" sounds more like "cahfee" to a British speaker. But neither version is /ɒ/. It just doesn't exist in AmE, in any dialect I've heard.

Interestingly the closest British accents I've heard to American are from the southwest. They say "bath" like Americans (not "Barth" like the SE and not the same a as the North) and are rhotic.

I adored learning Spanish because it was so phonetic, I must say!! There are different accents but overall so much easier.

I'm betting the same posters getting their knickers in a twist about pronouncing Kamala the way she pronounces it - or the Hindi way - or with an American extended 'a' - or the way they would pronounce it in their regional British accent - etc, etc - are the VERY SAME posters who get all uppity about English 'wrong' pronunciations of Irish, Welsh and Scots names. Meh.

I think we should just call her Karen 😏

Comma la.

I can assure you I pronounce Kamala exactly the way Kamala does and without putting on a US accent. I am a USUK dual national and speak with an english accent. I do not come from the same part of the US as her so I would know if I was putting on her accent. The reason everyone is getting tied up in the stupidest knots on this thread is because they are reading words not listening. At the beginning of the thread there is a clip. Actual audio and still people are struggling. The mind boggles.

Thats not the question as thats not how Kamala H pronounces it.

@Cine643 mix of de England and east midlands

SE London

That all depends on how you pronounce comma.