[net.nlang] "Apartheid" pronunciation

wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) (01/07/86)

Back before the recent prominence the news media have given the South
African situation, and when they first began to mention it, it was just
about universal that "apartheid" was pronounced "apart-hite";
interestingly, now it is just about universal that it is pronounced
"apart-hate". I first heard that pronunciation amongst black anti-SA
speakers, and thought of it as a form of editorializing the term
(a perfectly legitimate technique, I might add -- I see no reason not to
use every weapon you can against something you oppose). Now, it seems
that most of the network news people use the "apart-hate" form. 

Actually, it seems rather obvious to me -- to associate the english word
"hate" with this policy is to attach all the negative connotations
subliminally. My dictionary here (copyright dates from 1953 through 1968)
lists both these pronunciations, along with two others that drop the
"h". Anybody know what the actual Afrikaans pronunciation really is?
(The "correct" or formal one, that is; I suppose their are accents and
dialects that would equate to any of the four mentioned! :-)

Will Martin

UUCP/USENET: seismo!brl-bmd!wmartin   or   ARPA/MILNET: wmartin@almsa-1.ARPA

mrgofor@mmm.UUCP (Michael Ross) (01/14/86)

In article <1299@brl-tgr.ARPA> wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) writes:
>Back before the recent prominence the news media have given the South
>African situation, and when they first began to mention it, it was just
>about universal that "apartheid" was pronounced "apart-hite";
>interestingly, now it is just about universal that it is pronounced
>"apart-hate".
>    ...
>  ... Anybody know what the actual Afrikaans pronunciation really is?
>(The "correct" or formal one, that is; I suppose their are accents and
>dialects that would equate to any of the four mentioned! :-)
>
>Will Martin
>
>UUCP/USENET: seismo!brl-bmd!wmartin   or   ARPA/MILNET: wmartin@almsa-1.ARPA

I used to live in Holland, and Dutch is very similar to Afrikaans. In Holland
it is pronounced somewhere between "hite" and "hate", perhaps a little on the
"hate" side.

	--MKR

dave@cylixd.UUCP (Dave Kirby) (01/16/86)

In article <1299@brl-tgr.ARPA> wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) writes:
>...about universal that "apartheid" was pronounced "apart-hite";
>interestingly, now it is just about universal that it is pronounced
>"apart-hate". 
>Actually, it seems rather obvious to me -- to associate the english word
>"hate" with this policy is to attach all the negative connotations
>subliminally. 

Here in the South, I have actually heard the abomination "apart-heed."
Of course, some abominable people here in the South may wish to suggest
by this pronunciation that we should "heed" the doctrine.

Personally, I would rather "hide" from it. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Dave Kirby    ( ...!ihnp4!akgub!cylixd!dave)