Wednesday, August 26, 2009

How to pronounce nagios

Some claim to have pronounced as ˈnægɪoʊs (note the velar g or hard g).

Velars get softened or palatalized before front vowels, such as i and e as well as the glide y. Note the front vowel i after nag. This settles the issue whether g shud be hard or soft.

The end result is: ˈnædʒɪoʊs

Look at another example: clergy

There is y before g: hence, ˈklɝdʒi

What is the spelling pronunciation of nagios that conforms to English?
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Note this: presence of vowel digraphh -io-; in such cases, the syllable before that digraph tends to be tense, for instance, STU-dio, LE-gion, SAC-ri-LE-gious, etc.

tense variety for each vowel: a MAY; e BEE, i BIN, o OCEAN, u LUKE

In this case, it would be: NAY-jee-ohs

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