Here's an interesting post on the etymology of Eyjafjallajökull.

But I don't like his description of how to pronounce it. The ll is definitely not pronounced like the tl in bottle. Language Log has some sound files and spectrographs. I'd transcribe it [ˈejaˌfjatlaˌjœkətɬ].

This message has been edited. Last edited by: goofy,

I heard them stumbling all over this on NPR today.

stumbling all over this

Yes, a couple of announcers on BBC World were having some good natured fun ribbing one another and other media-heads on this. There are only about 350K speakers of Icelandic; that's smaller than most of the populations of cities around where I live.

I was wondering now that I've heard native speakers pronouncing it and others trying what was up with the sounds that are represented by consonant clusters in Icelandic phonology (link).

ll : [tl]; [tl̥]
nn : [tn]; [tn̥]
rl : [rtl, rtl̥, tl]
rn : [rtn, rtn̥, t]

It looks like dissimilation (link) to me, because I assume that at some point these geminate consonants represented lengthened pronunciation. Do you have any other information on this, goofy?

[Fixed typo.]

This message has been edited. Last edited by: zmježd,

Icelandic has preaspirated stops, which are thought to have arisen from a sequence of consonants. Perhaps it has something to do with that. With /l n r/ instead of preaspiration, we get /t/.

quote:

Yes, a couple of announcer on BBC World were having some good natured fun ribbing one another and other media-heads on this.

A couple of days ago I watched a couple of BBC breakfast presenters having fun in this way. The man stumbled almost every time he tried to say the name, and his female partner said in mock exasperation that it was an easy word, and proceeded to pronounce it half a dozen times with what sounded to me like an identical accent to an Icelander who was being interviewed at the time.

quote:

Originally posted by zmježd:
I assume that at some point these geminate consonants represented lengthened pronunciation. Do you have any other information on this, goofy?

In his comment on Languagehat, Liberman says yes they were geminates, and the change happened around the 16th century.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: goofy,

quote:

I heard them stumbling all over this on NPR today.

Speaking of BBC stumbling over pronunciations, Shu heard them talking about the death of Dorothy Height, and they said "desecration" instead of "desegregation!"

Talking about bloopers, on my flight back to Portland from Indianapolis, the airplane driver advised the passengers who were continuing on that same plane to remain in their seats until the others got off, then , said he, "You folks going to Los Angeles can then get up and spread your legs."

That is one blooper, Geoff. Did everyone laugh?

Geoff, do you call them airplane drivers in Portland?

I call them airplane drivers; the rest of the world calls them pilots.

Only two people realized the mistake, so there were just a couple of guffaws. People just don't pay attention to announcements. Even I tend to nod off when the attendants drone on about how to fasten a seat belt or to retrieve a flotation device. Do you all pay rapt attention to their every word?

I saw a letter to a newspaper a while back which told of when someone was catching an internal flight (London to Manchester, IIRC) and the plane developed a fault. The company put on a replacement using a plane hired from an Icelandic airline.

The captain welcomed the passengers with the words "Welcome aboard your flight to Reykjavík ..."

airplane drivers

I figured the plane was still on the ground taxiing.

quote:

Originally posted by Geoff:
People just don't pay attention to announcements. Even I tend to nod off when the attendants drone on about how to fasten a seat belt or to retrieve a flotation device. Do you all pay rapt attention to their every word?

Air NZ has a way of getting people to listen to the safety spiel. The airline personnel who feature in the video clip, hostesses, pilots, ground crew etc, are all naked - well, they have body paint uniforms. Most people watch that.

I've noticed too that on the smaller flights without a video screen the attendant who gives the instructions cracks a lot of jokes - eg. I'm watching all of you who aren't paying attention so don't expect any help from me in an emergency, kind of thing. It does seem to work in engaging the passengers.

After a lot of flights, though, don't you know it all? It isn't like each time it's drastically different.

quote:

It isn't like each time it's drastically different.

How do you know they don't lie sometimes just to break the monotony?