the BBC has spoken

[Paul B. Gallagher]

Michele A. Berdy wrote:

> I caught this on JRL:
> 
> BBC
> March 5, 2008
> How to say: Dmitry Medvedev
> An occasional guide to the words and names in the news from Martha
> Figueroa-Clark of the BBC Pronunciation Unit.
> ...
> 
> The surname Medvedev stems from the Russian word for 'bear' medved'
> (with stress on the second syllable), so that it is important to
> retain this stress in the surname, hence our recommendation
> muhd-VYED-uhff.

Well, the schwas in the unstressed syllables are disappointing (I'd have 
preferred [I]), but otherwise I find this tolerable.

As a sidebar I would note that American renditions of schwa fall into 
two broad classes: a backish variant as in "sofa," and a frontish 
variant close to [I] as in "vegan"; you can hear both in "Amerikin." The 
choice seems to be conditioned by the surrounding consonantal context, 
but I haven't had time to do a thorough investigation so I cannot offer 
a rule.

-- 
War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
--
Paul B. Gallagher
pbg translations, inc.
"Russian Translations That Read Like Originals"
http://pbg-translations.com

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