Pronunciation - How do you (yourself, personally) say... ?

[Erinys]

Poll for everyone: When you see a name with Y (as a vowel) how do you say it? How do these names sound in your head?


gods: Lytek, Nysela, Ryzala, Sylvi, Tethys, Tylokan, Yesryk, Ystara
demons: chrysogona, erymanthus, gilmyne, Calymdos, Euthychia, Ipithymia, Lypothymie
Primordials: Cecelyne, Cytherea, Lykkennan
behemoths: Elysande, Scathra yn Thera
the elemental dragon Dyballe
the Solar Exalt Tyraeth
Gens Vagyn


I'm finalizing sounds for my Old Realm name generator and since Old Realm is written with 5 vowels, I won't include Y as a vowel... so I have to decide what vowel or dipthong it stands for. I have my own idea but I'd like to know what players say around the gaming table.

Thank you to everyone who answers.

[Erinys]

Yep, the pattern I see with apparent first-language English-speakers more-or-less matches what Wikipedia says about pronouncing "y" in English. It's usually /ai/ in light syllables (consonant+vowel), especially the first syllable of a word or a stressed syllable, and usually /i/ or /ɪ/ in heavy syllables (C+V+C, C+C+V, or C+C+V+C) and in the final syllable of a word.

Except several of you say /i/ in the Greek and Greek-looking names: Ipithymia, Euthychia, Cytherea, Lypothymie, erymanthus.

I may be the only person who says VAG-ine, YES-rike.



Thank you all for participating!

[ElfSpeaker]

Here's my take on all of them and pronunciation notes:

i is pronounced quick
ai is pronounced die or spire
ee is pronounced sweet


gods: Lytek [Laitek], Nysela, Ryzala [Rizala], Sylvi [Silvee], Tethys [Tethis], Tylokan [Tailokan], Yesryk [Yesrik], Ystara [Eestara]
demons: chrysogona [Chrisogona], erymanthus [ereemanthus], gilmyne [Gilmeen], Calymdos [Calimdos], Euthychia [Eutheechia], Ipithymia [Ipitheemia], Lypothymie [Laipotheemie]
Primordials: Cecelyne [Ceceleen], Cytherea [Caitherea], Lykkennan [laikennan]
behemoths: Elysande [Elisande], Scathra yn Thera [in]
the elemental dragon Dyballe [daiball]
the Solar Exalt Tyraeth [Tairaeth]
Gens Vagyn [Vageen]

Huh, I'm both more an less consistent than I thought. Leading consonant + y is usually ai, most cases are i, and I'm using the silent e rule for ee.

[Walker-of-Ebony-Clouds]

Eh my group is a bunch of southerners so we probably butcher the pronunciation of everything... Everything is either slow & drawn out or so fast that the words literally roll together so much that a entire sentence can sound like a single untranslatable word... I have literally ran into a language barrier in some states because my English is so different sounding.

[Erinys]

Man, you Germanic language speakers with your front rounded vowels and your mid-centralized unstressed vowels. *shakes head*

*is a monolingual English speaker*
*has no real idea what languages half of you speak*

How would you pronounce Tya? (as in the women from the west who tatoo and dress like men to be allowed to become sailors)

I pronounce the Y as a consonant in that word.

[Broken Masque]

Fun fact, it wasn't until the 3e core that I realized I've been pronouncing Sidereals wrong since their 1e splatbook came out.

Always said the first part like Sydney, rather than Cider.

So I hope they keep putting phonetic translations in the lexicons of future books.

[Beans]

gods: Lytek, Nysela, Ryzala, Sylvi, Tethys, Tylokan, Yesryk, Ystara
demons: chrysogona, erymanthus, gilmyne, Calymdos, Euthychia, Ipithymia, Lypothymie
Primordials: Cecelyne, Cytherea, Lykkennan
behemoths: Elysande, Scathra yn Thera
the elemental dragon Dyballe
the Solar Exalt Tyraeth
Gens Vagyn

Gods: LIE-tek, Nih-SAY-la, Rih-ZA-la, SILL-vee, TE-this, TILL-oh-kahn, YEZ-rick, IH-sta-ra
Demons: Cri-SOG-o-na, er-ih-MAN-thus, GILL-meen, ca-LIM-doss, you-THICK-i-a, ip-ih-THIM-i-a, lip-o-THIM-i-ay
Primordials: KECK-eh-line, KITH-er-ey-a, LICK-en-an
Behemoths: el-ih-SAN-de, SCATH-ra een THER-a
di-BALL-eh
tih-RAY-eth
VAH-gin

I may be weird, especially with the hard K sounds I put into the first two listed Primordials, but eh!

[Erinys]

My pronunciation varies depending on the word. So [yesrik], [sesaleen], and [laitek]. And unfortunately, I don't see an easily derived rule in my pronunciation.

I am seeing patterns both in individual answers, and overall for the names that have had several answers. (Even aside from players who use the same vowel in all these words.) But if I said what patterns I see then it might influence peoples' responses

Is anyone else willing to answer? I finally managed to edit the OP to include all the names I wanted to ask about.

[Colognian]

Well: Ü

- I am from Köln

[Gonzo]

Since most of those are made up words or inspired by languages other than English, I pronounce the "y" as "ee", which is how it is read in Spanish in the very rare words that use it. In fact I pronounce all those words with Spanish phonetics, I don't omit any sound so I think theey should sound very strange to most people.

[ElfSpeaker]

My pronunciation varies depending on the word. So [yesrik], [sesaleen], and [laitek]. And unfortunately, I don't see an easily derived rule in my pronunciation.

[Blaque]

TIE-ah. /taɪ-ə/ is how I do it.

And stuff.

[BadassOverlord]

How would you pronounce Tya? (as in the women from the west who tatoo and dress like men to be allowed to become sailors)

[Verzio]

gods: Lytek, Nysela, Ryzala, Sylvi, Tethy, Tylokan, Yesryk, Ystara

Lie-tek. Nie-sell-a. Rie-zal-la. Sill-vee. Teth-ee. Yes-rick. Is-tar-a

demons: chrysogona, erymanthus, gilmyne, Calymdos, Euthychia, Ipithymia, Lypothymie

Chriss-oh-goe-na, air-ee-man-thus, gill-mine, Call-eem-dose, Youth-ee-chee-a, Ip-ith-ee-mee-a, Lie-poth-ee-mee

Primordials: Cecelyne, Cytherea, Lykkennan

Sek-el-lee-nee, Sigh-thee-ree-a, Like-kenn-ann

behemoths: Elysande, Scathra yn Thera

El-lie-sand-ee, Scath-ra in Ther-a

the elemental dragon Dyballe

Die-ball

the Solar Exalt Tyraeth

Tie-rae-eth

Gens Vagyn

Vag-inn

[Lundgren]

I'm Swedish so I'm not even going to try to tell you how I pronounce certain things.

Pretty much this for me as well.