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

Apologies, I also thought Cornish was a version of Gaelic, didn’t realise that was descended from Breton too, but I guess it makes sense now, bringing back very rusty history lessons…in my head it went Celtic=Gaelic, but of course that’s not correct at all!

Yes, you pronounce the vowel differently in words that actually contain an r. So it is perfectly reasonable to use that same convention of using the ar digraph to indicate a long a in threads such as this!

Whether or not you also pronounce the rhotic element doesn't alter the fact that seeing the ar spelling even you use a longer vowel sound.

I wish people wouldn't put r in when they don't actually pronounce it.

Drives us rhotic speakers nuts.

My favourite second language is German - pronunciation rules, once learnt, are much simpler than English. I love how pure the a can sound too.

No it doesn't. See banana. You don't say bananna.

I don't see this logic at all. For me it just adds confusion.

I love and hate these threads in equal measures. It’s like pressing a bruise to see if it still hurts.

zan ah

I do! Or much closer to that than banahna (or banarna ).

Lol, that's it.

@Undisclosedlocation

rosesareredvioletsareblueaimverytiredandsoareyou
Why are you adding an r?

Err, to show how I’d expect it to sound phonically. I’m not sure I understand your question?

Rhotic speakers pronounce all R s so if you put one it we think you are actual pronouncing the r.

Its Zana, no r.
Its banana, no r.

But it doesn't have an r sound.

<pssst> She's agreeing with you. She just fucked up the quotes.

But you haven't provided a more practical alternative.
How would you represent the long a sound to have a greater consensus or understanding

I'm repeatedly being told that ar is right for an a sound when it simply isn't.

Zay nur rhymes with Gaynor?

I don't actually think Zana is a long a sound, and it's definitely not an ar sound.

@rosesareredvioletsareblueaimverytiredandsoareyou

But it doesn't have an r sound.

That's my point. Stop putting an r in it unless you are actually going to pronounce it. There's no r

To be quite honest, I don't give a shiny shit what alternative they want to offer. I will use whichever letters I like and if somebody doesn't understand I'll try and explain myself further. Have no idea why this poster thinks it's their way or the highway 🤷‍♀️

Aa, ah or simply "a long A" will all be more universally understood, even if they're not perfect. It's very hard to write a pronunciation perfectly anyway unless you can write the phonetic alphabet - and even then no one can understand what you've written.

Actually, MNHQ need to start allowing very short voice notes in this topic only. I utterly hate voice notes in all other cases but it would be useful here.

But for those of us who understand it, we ARE pronouncing it. The same as we'd pronounce it in cart.

Are you missing the several posts where I've explained why adding a non-existent r sound brings confusion and possibly changes the pronunciation? The r isn't necessary.
Za na - not hard to say.

No because as a few of us have said, aa and ah are completely different sounds, they don’t sound the same as ar and I don’t say bath with an aa or ah sound.

You're pronouncing at least one of them incorrectly if a word with an r and one without an r sound the same.