Pronunciation of hoisin

[Benjamin Barrett]

On Jan 22, 2009, at 6:36 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:

> At 1:07 AM -0800 1/22/09, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
>> On "Throwdown! with Bobby Flay" season 4, episode 8, he challenges
>> Sohui Kim to a contest in making dumplings. He and she both used
>> hoisin sauce.
>>
>> American Heritage gives "hoi sin" as the pronunciation of hoisin,
>> with
>> the accent on either syllable. I've also heard "hoi seen", but only
>> from Cantonese speakers.
>>
>> Bobby Flay distinctly pronounced this as "hoi sehn". BB
>>
> Well, if you start out with "hoi sin" (as I do, with equal stress on
> both parts) and you have the pin/pen merger, "hoi sin" and "hoi sehn"
> will be indistinguishable.

That makes sense. thank you. With a low-frequency word like hoisin and
the large audience that Bobby Flay draws, this could result in non-
mergerers to merge in this case. BB

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