Oh, you grammar mavens are cringing over the possibility of an ‘ukulele, I just know it. But while you’ve probably known this tiny four-stringed instrument as a you-ka-lay-lee, that’s an anglified version of a Hawaiian word. The Hawaiian pronunciation is oo-koo-ley-ley. Pronounce it Hawaiian style, and “an oo-koo-ley-ley” sounds just fine. It’s a problem for someone like me, who writes frequently about Hawaii. If I write it so that it feels comfortable to me, my editor will likely think I’ve skipped Grammar 101. When I do write about ukuleles* I present the issue of pronunciation to my editor. Invariably, ‘an ‘ukulele’ is trashed for the more common ‘a ‘ukulele.’ Editorial license trumps my comfort zone.
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Kris Bordessa,
on 9/23/2010
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10 Comments on AN Ukulele or A Ukulele?, last added: 9/24/2010
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I love that your son has an “editorial style”!
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I guess each region has their own *proper* pronunciation of words specific to their area. From now on whenever I see the word ukulele I’m going to remember reading this post!
oh, the things I learn reading your blog! I had no idea about these pronunciation issues with the word “ukulele” but being multilingual, I well know how common it is for the pronunciation of a word to diverge from its native origin.
Christine @ Origami Mommy recently posted..End-of-summer sewing
This is great. I’m forwarding this to my nephew who handcrafts–ukulele’s. He’s even trying to teach his mom how to play:)
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Quite an interesting conundrum! I think it’s great that you’re using the traditional Hawaiian pronunciation. I think Hawaiian is a beautiful language.
Oh, the many ways we butcher our own language and the languages of others. Who would have known something like this would be so hotly debated?
Hadn’t given this much thought, but that’s an interesting conundrum. Here in Massachusetts, we have several towns with multiple spellings. “Plymouth” is the town and “Plimoth” is the historic site, because that’s the old spelling. There’s also “Attleboro” and “Attleborough” and “Westboro” and “Westborough.” (same place, just different spellings, which makes it tricky for newspaper copyeditors!). I think it’s because many of the old New England settlers couldn’t read or write so it was tough to standardize language back then.
Very interesting – I didn’t know about the Hawaiian origin and pronunciation.
Generally though I think it’s fine to Anglicise/Americanise pronunciation of words. Otherwise there are tons of words that we are saying incorrectly. Do you roll your Rs every time you say “croissant”?
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I had no idea that this was such a hot topic. The Hawaiian language is so beautiful that it’s hard to think of the oo-koo-ley-ley pronunciation as snobbish. And applause to your son for having an editorial style. Sometimes the key is just being consistent.
Wow, this is fascinating. The grammar nazi and language nerd in me is captivated!
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