How would you pronounce Zana ?

[RoseApp]

My friend assumed people would pronounce her child’s name Zana like Zah-nah as in Suzanna but several people have pronounced it as Zar-na

What about the whole of the UK?

Zar - na

Like Zara

Definitely a chippy pro-independence Scot. (I’m Scottish too by the way)

I'm repeating myself because I'm repeatedly being told that ar is appropriate.

The issue is not rhotic versus non rhotic.
The vowel sound changes in every rhotic accent I can think of between cat and cart. The pronunciation of the r is separate to the lengthening of the vowel sound!

Google says yes, in the UK.

Your pronunciation of Bath presumably adds some sort of r sound?

Maybe so, all I know is their version of Old English was very different to other parts of England so much so that it is often referred to as having its own language when discussing local history. It was retained until fairly recently I believe too, centuries later than the rest of England switched to modern English.

I’m not an expert though, clearly.

I dunno. I do think there are occasional genuine Irish or Scottish posters who are new and confused by it - I was utterly baffled at first, although that was a long time ago now. Then there's the well-established MN trend of some regional usages being accepted (needs washing) but others not (needs washed), and some accents being regional and unsuitable for a newsreader but others not being accents at all.

But it's late and I'm seemingly incapable of expressing myself so I doubt this makes sense at all.

Yes, the r in a word which actually contains an r!

I will post the link I posted earlier as a demonstration of how I pronounce bath. It doesn’t have an aa or an ah sound to me.

m.youtube.com/shorts/NvcAExVYmLc

If it does and yours doesn't, that's fine. That doesn't make your way right and other people wrong. Why can't you see that?

Did that sound cleverer in your head?

I meant globally, this being the internet and all.

And the question I asked?

Still not denying your political motivation I see.

Good night.

Okay, I assumed we were discussing English-speaking countries as we are discussing English pronunciation.

Although thinking about it, my French friend says bath in the same way I do when she is speaking English.

English speaking countries globally. Non-rhotic accents aren't the norm at all.

Bath.
Short a.
No r.
It's fairly simple for me.
If you choose to make another sound so be it, don't assume that's automatic correct though.

English as a first language?

Fair enough, I’ll take your word for it.

This is a site used predominantly by people from the UK though. It stands to reason we might use letters to describe sounds that we think most people will be familiar with.

When did this become a thread about 'political motivation' exactly, other when you thought it might make a sly insult? 🤢🤢🤢🤢

Eh? He described two ways of saying bath. I speak the southern version and to me, I’d write that as ar because ah and aa are different sounds.

That is correct for other people who speak the same way I do. It may not be correct for you, but again, accents and dialects exist other than yours.

@NoUseForAN4me , I'm not an expert but I was visualising a colony of Welsh people in Scotland speaking some strange language.

Bath has no r in it. The a is like the a in cat.

Zah nah