This sounds like the name of a quirky anime. (Is that tautology? I think that's tautology.)

I understand what you are saying.

My meaning (above) was that sometimes accents and such as incorrect pronunciation are DELIBERATELY used - better not shout it gives me an 'ed ache. Many productions in theatre, cinema and TV have deliberate 'mistakes' - for that matter, so do books.

Marrying up samples can be a nightmare true! In fact I have had a small amount of experience with this in the past as an amatuer video producer. Inserted voice edits can seem tiny at first then sound terrible later. This is not what I mean though.

I am writing about deliberate, scripted dialogue where the actor pronounces a word in a way that some may see as incorrect and others may not or where, in character, the actor uses a 'faked' accent or way of speaking and pronounces in the way the script or director demands.

An example would be an Australian actor speaking in a Scottish accent but trying to make the listener belief that the actor is really Scottish or maybe where a cokney accented person reads the news in RP or flip that round!

I'm sure you know 'Eastenders' or 'Coronation Street' and how the actors on those shows speak compared to say 'Jeeves and Wooster'. Imaging putting a 'Jeeves and Wooster' type accent in place of a cockney accent of 'Eastenders'! (Actually - that gives me a voice over idea - lol!)

I'm really not disagreeing with you - just looking at the issue from a different angle.

I here tell that 'archmage' is pronounced in game in different ways just as it is in life. This would probably not be a mistake, rather a reflection by the makers on / of real life.

Happy daze!

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Sorry guys, I have to go as I am being called and need to rest - may be back latter.

This has been a great thread so far.

I have not linked the TV shows as I have not the time - being called away and all. The shows are easily found online if ya look about.

Simply not true. This thread has thus far and for the most contained a lively and civil debate.

Name calling really does not help.

Thanks for the really well thought out input though.

Hm. He may be on to something, here.

http://weknowmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/welcome-to-the-english-language.png

You get Guiness flavored Heinz?!!?!? Lucky bastards...

Every time I hear somebody say a word wrong in real life I accuse them of being a robot sent from the future; obviously real-life people never pronounce anything wrong

While the ghoti=fish thing is clever, it's also wrong. GH is never pronounced F at the beginning of a word, only the middle or end. Likewise, TI is never pronounced SH at the end of one.

Edit: I wonder if there's a "language fascist" title to go with "grammar nazi"

ROFL and yes - no joke had some with my 'Shepherds Pie'¹* for tea.

¹ http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/516093
* The shepherd put up a real hard fight - I managed to get the pie off him though! And, no! The pie ingredients do not include real shepherds²!
² Shepherds - please do not tell me ya need a link!

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G'nite folks, its been a blast! I is orf ta ketchup on sum SciFi B4 tootlin' up da stairz 't bedlington.

Will try to catch up with this thread later if it is still raging against the dying of the light. (Yer .. edited it must of been tired to leave out 'the dying of'!)

As a matter of preference, I say 'arc-mage', in the same way I would say 'arc-angel.' It sounds better to me and rolls off the tongue easier. But then, I say 'arch-diocese' or 'arch-nemesis,' so I basically go with which one sounds better, or is easier to pronounce.

One thing I thought of while reading the discussion was the pronunciation of the 'ch' in various languages (because I'm a linguistics nerd, particularly with Old English and Insular Celtic). I found a link: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/arch that I found interesting; it implies that, while the prefix 'arch-' comes from Latin, in Old and Middle English it was pronounced as a hard 'c' (much like the Scots Gaelic 'loch', as someone mentioned earlier). Old English was a Germanic language, spoken in an area surrounded by Brythonic- and Goidelic Celtic-speaking people, so it is entirely possible that the hard ch comes from one of those directions.This obviously has no real bearing on the pronunciation of a Modern English word, since Old English is nearly unrecognizable to a modern speaker; it certainly has no bearing on regional dialects. But I found it an interesting idea nonetheless.


Edit: I also found the suffix examples in English interesting: monarch, patriarch, matriarch, etc.

OP, discoursers, great thread.

Tom-ate-o, tom-ah-to



Also, archenemy has the "arch" sound because "en" is a consenant sound (being similiar to just "n") despite "e" being a vowel.

The difference in how they pronounce archmage is probably how the voiceactors choose to pronounce it. I go with "arch-meyj" myself.

Arch-mayj. That's what I've said anytime I've ever had to pronounce it in any other game.

It's properly pronounced "ek-salt-ed lee-der".

I've never actually heard anyone say ta-mate-o

Thats all Ive ever heard. to-mah-to sounds like someone trying to sound highborn.

Everyone in my area says "Tom-art-oh

Bingo.

I always said Arch-mage, but I'll switch on over to Arkh-meyj just because it looks and sounds too cool.

I don't want to sound rude or anything but why does this even matter?

That's what I was thinking.

It doesn't, just interesting.

Archaic is pronounced ar-kayik not arch-aic...

It mattered enough for you to ask, apparently.


Damn, I think that concludes the debate. My only real argument was that if archenemy was an anomaly, then "arc-mage" could be too. However, now that you mention is, "enemy" doesn't start with a distinct vowel sound, so it would fit into "arch before consonant, arc before vowell." Between that and archimage actually being pronounced "ar-schee-mayzh," I think that it can be definitively concluded that Archmage is pronounced as spelled. Good debate everybody

PS: I will still pronounce it "arc-mage," because it sounds so much more badass. At least I now know I'm misspronouncing it on purpose.

Good post. Yes, the suffix has the same Greek origin as in the prefix, meaning either to rule or the basis of something, the origin, the beginning.

I've mentionned that double meaning before but I'll elaborate a bit more. It implies that someone who rules (in an absolute sense of the word) is just like something that is the "the origin", "the beginning", etc. There is no jurisprudence, in a "It doesn't matter what happened before, I'm the one who rules and this is what I've decided" kind of way. What happened before is irrelevant, so it's like the origin of things. Just thought I'd add that to the discussion, even though it doesn't solve the OP's question


Also, I notice you said arch came from Latin, which is true, but I just wanted to add it was brought to Latin from Greek originally. In fact, one of the most famous Roman translators, and arguably one of the most important ones in Western history, is a man who translated a lot of Greek literature (and mythology) to Latin. He created lots of words in the process. Rome stole a lot from Ancient Greece actually.

Anyway, this guy's name is...? CICERO! Yes, just like that lunatic lover of corpses character in the game. Maybe we could ask him how to pronounce Archmage in English

Well, I would pronounce it Arch-Meyj, because of the pronunciation of archbishop, archrival etc. While the arch- prefix is sometimes pronounced as ark-, it's never pronounced that way when giving a title. Well, except for archangel (I think), but I'm pretty sure that whole word comes from Hebrew (as does the word angel) rather than just the prefix being tacked on to the word angel.

tl;dr Arch-Meyj because of archbishop, archrival, etc.