How do you pronounce Joseph?

[fairybeagle]

Joe-sef or Joes-ef?

I’ve always pronounced it Jo-seff. But friends from Yorkshire pronounce it “our Jaw-zeff” so I have to remember to put a “z” in it for them. Luckily, almost every Joseph I’ve known has gone by Joe.

Joe-Fish.

It's what I called my big brother when I was little, and I have to work really hard not to use it even now.

Joe-ziff

I've never heard it pronounced as anything other than joe-siff but all the Joseph's I know in real life go by Joe/Jo, and I probably know 12-15 of them.

I'm from the NW for context

Joe Sieve :)

Not joking, that’s how I say it. V not F

Joez-if

Another vote for Joe sif here. It was my dad's name and is my son's middle name.

Jo-Z-ef

With the S sound, not the Z.

And the final vowel is a schwa.

Joe-ziff (my son’s name)

Joez-if for me too, never heard anyone pronounce it any other way tbh!

I'm surprised it would be anything else than
Jo seph (Jo Seff)

There's no Z in there and there is no i either....

There's no Z in there and there is no i either

You do realise how daft that sounds given the vast complexity and diversity of written english / pronounciation plus accent variations.

How do you prounce choose? There's no z so do you say chooss?

Exactly @Gert

Actually hose would have been a better example.

Ghyss
Using phonic sounds, this could sound out FISH. Try being a 4/5 year old!

Or rather, exceptions to phonic rules. See, it’s complicated.

Interesting about an S becoming an Z sound. I'm not a native English speaker so am still learning. When does an S get pronounced Z? Is there a rule?

Lavenderblues there are many rules and at times conflicting rules, often vecsuse of the different origins of words.

Rose
Muse
Rise
All have z sound
Base on the other hand has the s sound!!

There will be some complex reason based on which vowel and the origin of the word but I couldn't tell you sorry.

It’s usually after a vowel such as in; blouse, those, these, chose, choose, lose. But then there are exceptions such as in; house, mouse, loose.

And the vowel sound is a result of the split digraph.

Ross has short 'o' vowell and 's' sound at the end.
Rose has a long 'o' because the vowel is represented by the 2 letters o and e but are split by the letter s.

I'm assuming the e also influences the pronounciation of the s making it z
But I still don't know why base has the ss sound not z ...
I have no idea hiw people learn to spell english as a second language . It's hard enough as a first!!

Redspider1
It's fascinating and infuriating isnt it?

House has s sound but rouse has z sound ...

Random fact picked up as a result of volunteering to be a guinea pig in a psychology/linguistics experiment as a student: English doesn't have any hard and fast rules about whether the consonant between two syllables gets attached to the first or second syllable. It's not even a regional thing; a single speaker will do it one way on some occasions and the other way on others. (French in contrast does have tacit rules that everyone unthinkingly follows).

FWIW I'd go with Joe-Zeff if you asked me to stop and think about it (but that could be quite different from what I'd actually say if you recorded me).

Yes it is complex and I have a new admiration for anyone learning English since I started teaching phonics to 5/6 year olds. Often I’m learning too!