Pronouncing "Sjonna"

[Douglas G. Wilson]

ronbutters at AOL.COM wrote:
> My niece "Sjonna" asks me why her mother insists that "Sjonna" must be pronounced "shawn" (or, as they render it, "shaan") rather than "shown-nuh" or "shawn-nuh". This seems to be a common conception in the US. I have wondered myself about this, assuming it was rooted in some kind of 20th-century linguistic folk legend.
>
-

A "common conception" about this specific name with this specific
orthography (I think vanishingly rare in the US, never before heard of
by me)? Or about something more general, such as elision of terminal "a"?
> My knowledge of the Scandinavian languages is sparse, but I'm fairly certain that the normal pronunciation  of "Sjonna" would be "shown-nuh" or "shawn-nuh" (where "shawn" rhymes with "lawn").
>
-

Seems right to me. But I guess in the US -- in principle -- you can use
any group of letters as your name and pronounce it any way you like.

It seems from quick Google that "Sjonna" is usually an Icelandic name
... I think maybe a version of "Johanna"? I don't know of a silent "a"
in Icelandic, but my ignorance of the language is extremely profound ...
and I don't routinely meet any Icelander whom I could ask ....
> It occurs to me (in response to my niece's query) that some Scandinavians may shorten "Sjonna" to "Sjon" as a nickname (the way "Thomas" gets shortened to "Tom" in English), so maybe the way she pronounces her name just comes from the Scandinavian nick-name pronunciation?
>
-

Could be. Similarly I could name my son "Samuel" (so written) and just
assert that it must always be pronounced plain "Sam" ... or I could name
my daughter "Roberta" but pronounce it "Robert" ... but either would
surely be an unusual approach, right?

I think one would want to make inquiry of that person who promulgates
the non-intuitive pronunciation.

-- Doug Wilson

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org