VanLUG Email Archive
Kaz Kylheku (kaz@cafe.net)
Tue, 22 Dec 1998 19:51:00 -0800 (PST)
On Sun, 20 Dec 1998, Greg Webster wrote:
> But most of the world pronounces the name "Linus" as LYNN-
> us; and in fact that's exactly how Linus Torvalds (the
> creator or Linux) pronounces his name.
There is a big difference between the [i] sound that Linus uses (to pronounce
the first syllable) and the American [i]. Linguists would use a different
symbol to denote these sounds. According to one popular system, the high sound
used in the Finnish pronounciation would be denoted [i]. The lower English
sound that we hear in bit would be denoted [i], without the dot over the i.
The closest thing we have in English is the long [i:] like in beer; shorten
that and you are close.
Linus would also use the [u] sound in the second vowel, whereas the ``lynnux''
pronounciation uses [i], in other words the same phoneme as in the first
syllable (therefore you could spell it ``lynnix'') just as well).
The [u] sound also isn't even available in American English, but it most
closely resembles that which we spell ``oo'', (except that it's lower and
shorter.)
So if you wanted to achieve the closest pronounciation, it would resemble
``leenooks'', (where the nooks is like spooks, not like books, and shortened).
:)
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