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Help[Facts] Re: Correct pronunciation of Layla
in reply to a message by Lily
The correct pronunciation is ['lajla], which corresponds with your figurated spelling LY-lah. The pronunciation ['lejla] (LAY-la) correspond to the Persian form.
Lumia
http://onomastica.mailcatala.com
Lumia
http://onomastica.mailcatala.com
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You are mixing spelling of the name (transcription or transliteration) with figurated pronunciation. When transcripted to Western languages, the Arabic name is usually transcripted as Layla or Laila pronounced ['lajla] (for your information, that is IPA, which is the only scientific way to represent pronunciations); the pronunciation ['lajla], when intended to be read in English is commonly represented LY-la or LY-lah. The Persian form is usually transcripted Leyla or Leila, pronounced ['lejla], commonly represented in English figurated pronunciation as LY-la or LY-lah.
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but layla prononciation is LAY-la
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Impossible
since in Arabic the only three vocalic sounds are [a], [i], [u] (there is not [e] or [o], wich only appears in dialectal variants).
since in Arabic the only three vocalic sounds are [a], [i], [u] (there is not [e] or [o], wich only appears in dialectal variants).
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Do you have any proof, links or anything? I have talked to someone who grew up there until he was 10 and he said the correct pronunciation was LAY-la. Of course it could be that he remembers it wrong but he is still fluent.
Looking online I only found Leyla, being a variant of Leila which then is a variant of Layla (at least according to this site) and it said everywhere that Leyla is LAY-la.
Looking online I only found Leyla, being a variant of Leila which then is a variant of Layla (at least according to this site) and it said everywhere that Leyla is LAY-la.
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Sorry, I didn't see your post until today...
About the only three vocalic sounds for the standard Arabic pronunciation, you can check any reliable source for Arabic language. I have here the Gramática árabe, by Corriente (pp. 10-39), but the same information is ofered at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_phonology#Vowels
And about the apparition of the non-standard vowels [e] and [o] in some Arabic dialects, as Moroccan:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moroccan_Arabic#Vowels
As তন্ময় ভ said, when someone ask for *the* Arabic pronunciation (as it was the case of the OP), the pronunciation asked is the standard classical pronunciation (conserved in the Quran); specially when asking for "the correct pronunciation". Other dialectal pronunciations are possible, but in those cases it is necessary to put the gentilice before "Arabic": Moroccan Arabic, Lebanese Arabic, Egyptian Arabic, Syrian Arabic...
Leyla/Leila represents the Persian pronunciation ['lejla] (LAY-la, where LAY rhymes with "day" or "may"), adaptation from the Arabic Laila. This form of the name (and the Arabic original form) are known since the Middle Ages, known by Persian tales.
The Arabic pronunciation ['lajla] (LY-la, where LY rhymes with "my" o "by") was rendered mainly as Layla/Laila. In English, however, and due to the pronunciation of the group AY like [ej] (day, may), Layla/Laila is also usually read ['lejla]; that is why it is not unusual find that both spellings (with A and with E) are variants. In fact, they are cognates but not variants in the same origin language.
You can check Diccionario de nombres propios, by Roberto Faure, and manuals of European medieval litterature about the transmission of the Leila and Majnun story and One Thousand and One Nights tales in Europe.
About the only three vocalic sounds for the standard Arabic pronunciation, you can check any reliable source for Arabic language. I have here the Gramática árabe, by Corriente (pp. 10-39), but the same information is ofered at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_phonology#Vowels
And about the apparition of the non-standard vowels [e] and [o] in some Arabic dialects, as Moroccan:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moroccan_Arabic#Vowels
As তন্ময় ভ said, when someone ask for *the* Arabic pronunciation (as it was the case of the OP), the pronunciation asked is the standard classical pronunciation (conserved in the Quran); specially when asking for "the correct pronunciation". Other dialectal pronunciations are possible, but in those cases it is necessary to put the gentilice before "Arabic": Moroccan Arabic, Lebanese Arabic, Egyptian Arabic, Syrian Arabic...
Leyla/Leila represents the Persian pronunciation ['lejla] (LAY-la, where LAY rhymes with "day" or "may"), adaptation from the Arabic Laila. This form of the name (and the Arabic original form) are known since the Middle Ages, known by Persian tales.
The Arabic pronunciation ['lajla] (LY-la, where LY rhymes with "my" o "by") was rendered mainly as Layla/Laila. In English, however, and due to the pronunciation of the group AY like [ej] (day, may), Layla/Laila is also usually read ['lejla]; that is why it is not unusual find that both spellings (with A and with E) are variants. In fact, they are cognates but not variants in the same origin language.
You can check Diccionario de nombres propios, by Roberto Faure, and manuals of European medieval litterature about the transmission of the Leila and Majnun story and One Thousand and One Nights tales in Europe.
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I know no Arabic, but I have heard different dialects from my friends who do speak Arabic. Often when people ask for *the* Arabic pronunciation, they ask about the Arabic that is preserved in the standard recitation of the Quran. This is a cultured pronunciation which often differs from the rapid speech dialects in that it pronounces the endings carefully; but more important to this discussion, it uses an `older' vowel repository than in modern dialects like, to take a random example, in Egyptian Arabic.
If you are interested in layla, the word for night, in this classical arabic, listen to the recitation of the 97th Sura `Al Qadr' from the Quran. You can find it in many places the web, May be http://www.searchtruth.com/chapter_display.php?chapter=97&translator=6 will help. The sura uses the word for night in sentences, so it has case markings -tu etc. at the end, but this discussion is more about the internal vowel which, in this case, is uninflected to my ear.
If you are interested in layla, the word for night, in this classical arabic, listen to the recitation of the 97th Sura `Al Qadr' from the Quran. You can find it in many places the web, May be http://www.searchtruth.com/chapter_display.php?chapter=97&translator=6 will help. The sura uses the word for night in sentences, so it has case markings -tu etc. at the end, but this discussion is more about the internal vowel which, in this case, is uninflected to my ear.
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Yes, that.
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