| HL is one of the oddest consonant clusters to start any name or word with; hlots of us hlive with it. |
Hlocution
There's always someone needing to hlearn with the HL
thing.
It's called Hlocution. So, how exactly does one
pronounce HL? Carefully. Very, very carefully. This section
will deal with a little pronunciation, in general, of HL
Names, Words and Places. And I'll try to give specific
examples.
European Hlangauges
The "H" is, most times, 'quiet' or unaspirated, as the
linguists like to say. So say Hla, Hle, Hli, Hlo, Hlu, and of
course, sometimes Hly -- as one syllable. It's sort of one of
those things that you have to hear it a few times to get it.
In Slavic Languages, at least, and probably the Asian and
African too, the "HL" is one sound. That is, there are
analogous to "SL" in Sleep." We glide the two consonants
together. So the problem becomes what does the "HL"
glide sound like?
The "H" isn't really voiced like in English, (and think of
the "H" sound in front of a word and you'll see that it is a
pretty intensely voiced sound.) Happy, Help, Hope -- say
them out loud to get my drift.
And in English, and in America -- the "H" and the "L"
can NEVER go together at the beginning of the word.
There are few letter combinations repugnant to the English
Language. And the pronunciation of those letters is
virtually psychotic (and is this word a perfect example of
willy-nilly letters and do-as-you-please pronunciations, or
what? But ..
HL
... Are you nuts? Why that might mean the end of
civilization and the world as we know it. Horrors.
Asian and African Hlanguages
Apparently in other Hlanguages there are slight
differences. Like, I believe, in Zulu there is a slight Shl...
sound instead of the pure HL I'm still trying to figure that
out. If you can help me on this email me right away --
thanks:
Say, Hlavac, I can tell you about that.In America
But that's in the original tongue. In American there seem to
be two commonly accepted ways to pronounce HL. Either
with a strung H ...
Like a separate syllable. as in .... Ha! - Lav - Vick.
Or as a Silent Letter as in ....
the letter that dare not speak its name.
Hlast Names
Pronunciation of one's family name is, of course, a
deeply held, personal, time-honored tradition. No one
should quibble with you about it. Every immigrant family
has to deal with this issue no matter what their name or
where they're from. America is a great equalizer -- and
Anglicizer of last names. Somehow, the first members of
our families across these shores convinced the
immigration authorities to keep the "H" in the name. I know
my grandfather went so far as to correct all the Bohemian
names in the passenger list of the RMS Lapland -- which
is the ship he came over on. And he saved that list for
prosperity.
He corrected every Czech name and he wrote, in
English, clearly, "I have corrected all the Bohemian names,
including my own!" -- do you think he was trying to tell us
future generations anything?
I'll start with mine. My family pronounces Hlavac as
"Lah-vick" -- no stressed syllables.
But the Hlavac's of the Bronx, NY told me that they
pronounce their name "lah-VACK." The second syllable
stressed. In neither case is the "H" sounded at all.
But in the Czech language the name is actually
pronounced "HLA-vatch," with the stress being on the first
syllable, just like all Czech words and a "CH" (like in
Church) at the end.
We have three different pronunciations right there. And
while the Czech could be argued to be the "correct" one --
in America, well, that's not going to cut it. An elderly Cajun
friend of mind just couldn't stop saying 'lay-vack' no matter
how I tried to change his tune.
Now, I have heard from two different Hladun's. One
says "lad-un" and the other says "huh-la-done" both of
which are correct if that's your family's traditional
pronunciation.
So now I'm pretty convinced that there are probably
many variant pronunciations for each of the names. This
section will ultimately list these various ones in more detail.
It'll be one of the more scholarly parts of this site.
HLocations
The pronunciation of Hlocations should follow the very
strict, yet simple rule .... Say it like the natives. Which ever
HL Hlocation you find yourself in you should learn the
Hlocal pronunciation and stick to that.
But it's going to stick to the general pronunciation rules
of the Hlanguage spoken where the place is Hlocated.
Hlanguage
All the words in a Hlanguage that start with HL are
going to be pronounced just like they are pronounced in
that Hlanguage.
It's safe to say that no word spelled Hlanything is ever
going to make it into the American English Hlanguage. So
give that idea up right now. What were you thinking?
If you aren't patient enough to go through all the pages
in the sequence which I, ye olde webmaster,
has decreed, you can always go to
Hlongitude and Hlattitude
to find what you're hlooking for.
There's always someone needing to hlearn with the HL
thing.
It's called Hlocution. So, how exactly does one
pronounce HL? Carefully. Very, very carefully. This section
will deal with a little pronunciation, in general, of HL
Names, Words and Places. And I'll try to give specific
examples.
European Hlangauges
The "H" is, most times, 'quiet' or unaspirated, as the
linguists like to say. So say Hla, Hle, Hli, Hlo, Hlu, and of
course, sometimes Hly -- as one syllable. It's sort of one of
those things that you have to hear it a few times to get it.
In Slavic Languages, at least, and probably the Asian and
African too, the "HL" is one sound. That is, there are
analogous to "SL" in Sleep." We glide the two consonants
together. So the problem becomes what does the "HL"
glide sound like?
The "H" isn't really voiced like in English, (and think of
the "H" sound in front of a word and you'll see that it is a
pretty intensely voiced sound.) Happy, Help, Hope -- say
them out loud to get my drift.
And in English, and in America -- the "H" and the "L"
can NEVER go together at the beginning of the word.
There are few letter combinations repugnant to the English
Language. And the pronunciation of those letters is
virtually psychotic (and is this word a perfect example of
willy-nilly letters and do-as-you-please pronunciations, or
what? But ..
HL
... Are you nuts? Why that might mean the end of
civilization and the world as we know it. Horrors.
Asian and African Hlanguages
Apparently in other Hlanguages there are slight
differences. Like, I believe, in Zulu there is a slight Shl...
sound instead of the pure HL I'm still trying to figure that
out. If you can help me on this email me right away --
thanks:
Say, Hlavac, I can tell you about that.In America
But that's in the original tongue. In American there seem to
be two commonly accepted ways to pronounce HL. Either
with a strung H ...
Like a separate syllable. as in .... Ha! - Lav - Vick.
Or as a Silent Letter as in ....
the letter that dare not speak its name.
Hlast Names
Pronunciation of one's family name is, of course, a
deeply held, personal, time-honored tradition. No one
should quibble with you about it. Every immigrant family
has to deal with this issue no matter what their name or
where they're from. America is a great equalizer -- and
Anglicizer of last names. Somehow, the first members of
our families across these shores convinced the
immigration authorities to keep the "H" in the name. I know
my grandfather went so far as to correct all the Bohemian
names in the passenger list of the RMS Lapland -- which
is the ship he came over on. And he saved that list for
prosperity.
He corrected every Czech name and he wrote, in
English, clearly, "I have corrected all the Bohemian names,
including my own!" -- do you think he was trying to tell us
future generations anything?
I'll start with mine. My family pronounces Hlavac as
"Lah-vick" -- no stressed syllables.
But the Hlavac's of the Bronx, NY told me that they
pronounce their name "lah-VACK." The second syllable
stressed. In neither case is the "H" sounded at all.
But in the Czech language the name is actually
pronounced "HLA-vatch," with the stress being on the first
syllable, just like all Czech words and a "CH" (like in
Church) at the end.
We have three different pronunciations right there. And
while the Czech could be argued to be the "correct" one --
in America, well, that's not going to cut it. An elderly Cajun
friend of mind just couldn't stop saying 'lay-vack' no matter
how I tried to change his tune.
Now, I have heard from two different Hladun's. One
says "lad-un" and the other says "huh-la-done" both of
which are correct if that's your family's traditional
pronunciation.
So now I'm pretty convinced that there are probably
many variant pronunciations for each of the names. This
section will ultimately list these various ones in more detail.
It'll be one of the more scholarly parts of this site.
HLocations
The pronunciation of Hlocations should follow the very
strict, yet simple rule .... Say it like the natives. Which ever
HL Hlocation you find yourself in you should learn the
Hlocal pronunciation and stick to that.
But it's going to stick to the general pronunciation rules
of the Hlanguage spoken where the place is Hlocated.
Hlanguage
All the words in a Hlanguage that start with HL are
going to be pronounced just like they are pronounced in
that Hlanguage.
It's safe to say that no word spelled Hlanything is ever
going to make it into the American English Hlanguage. So
give that idea up right now. What were you thinking?
If you aren't patient enough to go through all the pages
in the sequence which I, ye olde webmaster,
has decreed, you can always go to
Hlongitude and Hlattitude
to find what you're hlooking for.
