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How do I pronounce "Kamala"? (aussie.zone)

submitted 4 months ago by DirigibleProtein@aussie.zone to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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Is it “Camel-uh” or “Cam-ahl-uh”?

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[–] emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works 16 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The Indian (Sanskrit) name is pronounced ka-ma-laa (meaning lotus), with no stress, and no gap in between the syllables. The first two 'a's are pronounced like the 'u' in rum, while the last is the same sound but longer (so like the 'a' in calm).

The US Presidential candidate's name is pronounced the way she likes, which in this case is closer to ko-ma-laa.

[–] funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works -1 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Every word has stress. You probably mean the first phoneme is stressed. And the "rum" sound you're looking for is called the "schwa"

[–] Paraneoptera@sopuli.xyz 6 points 4 months ago

Not in classical Sanskrit. Vedic Sanskrit had pitch accent, which had been lost by the classical Sanskrit era. English has stress accent. But many languages do not have stress accent, and either have pitch accent or syllables are not accented at all.

[–] emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Every word has stress.

In most Indian languages, most words are unstressed. There is a distinction between long and short syllables, but that comes from vowel length, not stress. A few words (like him-AA-la-ya) do have stress, but this is the exception and usually happens due to conjugation.

You probably mean the first phoneme is stressed.

No, kamala is unstressed.

And the "rum" sound you're looking for is called the "schwa"

Yes.