Pronunciation

[dicentra63 <dicentra@xmission.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 52673

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, eloiseherisson at a... wrote:
 
On the animagus-i question, as one with a Latin background, I
pronounce with hard 'g's in both cases. But I would observe that the
word, 'magi' is commonly pronounced with a soft 'g'. I believe this is
perfectly acceptable English pronunciation (as is fungi, which I of
course, also pronounce with hard 'g', but never mind). In fact it's
the Oxford Dictionary pronunciation. 



Classical Latin didn't have the 'j' sound at all, but as the Romance
languages evolved, the 'j' sound replaced the hard 'g' in front of the
higher vowels -- i and e.  That's why we have /'mA-"jI/ and
/'f&n-"jI/. (These are the phonetic conventions used by Merriam
Webster Online; m-w.com)  However, when 'g' is followed by lower
vowels -- a, o, u -- it stays hard.  

Hence /"a-n&-'ma-g&s/ but /"a-n&-'ma-jI/.  

Going with the the 'animal' pronunciation of the second 'a', of course.

--Dicentra, who has fits and seizures over Dracaena being pronunced
/dra-SEE-na/ when everyone knows the 'ae' spelling was put there
specifically to keep the 'c' sound hard and is frustrated that the
dictionary lists it with the 's' sound.  Tuh!