What's the English name of the oi sound written as "eu" and commonly found in Germanic words like Deutschland, and names like Euler and von Neumann?
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7English speakers use the same sound in Deutschland, Euler, and von Neumann as in toy, oiler, and choice. People who know about lexical sets might refer to it as the "choice vowel".– Peter ShorNov 22, 2012 at 12:28
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@Peter Shor: I'm sure you have more reason than me to pronounce von Neumann's name "correctly" - but I've always said "new-man", and no-one has ever corrected me. In my youth I used to read Mad magazine, so lots of people would have mentioned Alfred E. Neuman. Have we all been getting it wrong, or does the doubling of the "n" make a difference there?– FumbleFingersNov 22, 2012 at 18:23
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1@FumbleFingers: I've always heard von Neumann pronounced to rhyme with toy man (a slightly anglicized pronunciation), and Alfred E. Neuman pronounced new man (a more anglicized pronunciation). I don't believe the extra 'n' makes the difference; it's just how much the name has been anglicized. I know Americans named Dougherty can pronounce their name in at least three different ways (with a 'k', a 'g', and an 'h'), so the spelling doesn't tell you the pronunciation. Compare Houston, TX, and Houston St., NYC. And the title character of Young Frankenstein, if you've seen it.– Peter ShorNov 22, 2012 at 18:53
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@Peter Shor: oic - so even your version isn't exactly what von Neumann would call himself. As with Porsche, I think my gut instinct would be to use fully-anglicised forms wherever these are at least "credible". For example, I always say Dockertee regardless of spelling or how others pronounce it (unless I'm speaking to the person thus named, in which case I usually make at least some effort to reproduce his own pronunciation).– FumbleFingersNov 22, 2012 at 19:29
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2 Answers
There's no single word for it. It’s the diphthong /ɔɪ/, a glide which ‘begins between back half-open and open positions, moves upwards and forwards towards [ɪ]; lips open rounded changing to neutral’ (‘Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language’).
answered Nov 22, 2012 at 15:49
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3It's rare that a sound in English has a special name that is other than its sound or its spelling, with schwa being the most common exception.– tchrist ♦Nov 22, 2012 at 15:59
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3There are technical names for individual symbols, like ash or digraph for [æ], caret for [ʌ], barred I for [ɨ], or U umlaut for [ü]. But diphthongs normally don't have special names, just because there are so many possible combinations, and most languages only use a few phonemic diphthongs; English only has /oy/, /ay/, and /aw/. Borrowed English words with the German <EU> spelling (or the German <ÄU> spelling, which is pronounced identically) are automatically pronounced with the English /oy/ phoneme. Nov 22, 2012 at 18:50
The oi sound is a phonemic diphthong, one of the three main German diphthongs.
It is a combination of the "open mid-back rounded vowel", like in "dog" in American English, and the "near-close near-front rounded vowel", which doesn't exist in American English.
The referenced links below have audio clips to hear the vowels.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_phonology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-close_near-front_rounded_vowel
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1That's not how most English speakers pronounce book. And there are a lot of English speakers who don't pronounce dog like that, either. Nov 22, 2012 at 14:31
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good point on book, I removed that comment. And I clarified that the vowel for dog is specific to American English.– joulesmNov 22, 2012 at 14:41
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I'm only guessing but think it should be the three main German diphthongs. (It's unrelated to the question, agreed.)– KrisNov 22, 2012 at 15:44
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No problem Kris, always happy to make grammar corrections! Especially when I'm posting in a grammar forum :P– joulesmNov 22, 2012 at 15:48