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Riglos Posted 21 years ago
Speech & Pronunciation
Nike
Hi people!
The topic of today's lesson was "Brands", so while my students and I were going over different expressions and vocabulary related to this, this question came up: Why is it that Americans pronounce "Nike" (the brand) as /naiki/, while here in Argentina we pronounce it just /naik/ (without the final /i/ sound)? Is there any reason for this being so? If there's not an agreed reason for this, could you just come up with some suggestions?
Thanks a lot!!
Mara.
PS: Sorry, but I don't have phonetic symbols on this computer!
The topic of today's lesson was "Brands", so while my students and I were going over different expressions and vocabulary related to this, this question came up: Why is it that Americans pronounce "Nike" (the brand) as /naiki/, while here in Argentina we pronounce it just /naik/ (without the final /i/ sound)? Is there any reason for this being so? If there's not an agreed reason for this, could you just come up with some suggestions?
Thanks a lot!!
Mara.
PS: Sorry, but I don't have phonetic symbols on this computer!
Top answer
Hi, Why is it that Americans pronounce "Nike" (the brand) as /naiki/, while here in Argentina we pronounce it just /naik/ (without the final /i/ sound)? I don't know, so let's guess. Perhaps Americans, with /naiki/, feel they should give it a 'foreign' pronunciation.
- Hi, Why is it that Americans pronounce "Nike" (the brand) as /naiki/, while here in Argentina we pronounce it just /naik/ (without the final /i/ sound)?
- I don't know, so let's guess.
- Perhaps Americans, with /naiki/, feel they should give it a 'foreign' pronunciation.
- Perhaps people who say /naik/ are just trying to anglicize the sound, guided by analogy to an English word like 'like'.
- Here in Canada, I hear people saying it both ways.
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23 Answers
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Hi,
Why is it that Americans pronounce "Nike" (the brand) as /naiki/, while here in Argentina we pronounce it just /naik/ (without the final /i/ sound)?
I don't know, so let's guess. Perhaps Americans, with /naiki/, feel they should give it a 'foreign' pronunciation. Perhaps people who say /naik/ are just trying to anglicize the sound, guided by ana
Why is it that Americans pronounce "Nike" (the brand) as /naiki/, while here in Argentina we pronounce it just /naik/ (without the final /i/ sound)?
I don't know, so let's guess. Perhaps Americans, with /naiki/, feel they should give it a 'foreign' pronunciation. Perhaps people who say /naik/ are just trying to anglicize the sound, guided by ana
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Thanks a lot for your insightful comments, Clive!
Now, I was wondering if the reason weren't one of closeness or affection, i.e., as "Nike" is an American (national) brand, and certainly, one of the brand leaders, I thought that Americans may want to show or express a certain liking or closeness through the addition of the sound /i/, as they do with other words to evince this type of feel
Now, I was wondering if the reason weren't one of closeness or affection, i.e., as "Nike" is an American (national) brand, and certainly, one of the brand leaders, I thought that Americans may want to show or express a certain liking or closeness through the addition of the sound /i/, as they do with other words to evince this type of feel
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CliveThen again, if you want to extend the discussion, there's the Nikkei, the Japanese stock exchange. Japanese readers, how do you pronounce that?
Ahaha… I have never imagined one might mention "Nikkei" in talking about "Nike". We Japanese pronounce "Nikkei" like "Nick quay [kèi]".
By the way, OED says the exactly same thing Clive said here. I
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Hi Riglos,
Now, I was wondering if the reason weren't one of closeness or affection, i.e., as "Nike" is an American (national) brand, and certainly, one of the brand leaders, I thought that Americans may want to show or express a certain liking or closeness through the addition of the sound /i/, as they do with other words to evince this type of feelings:
Now, I was wondering if the reason weren't one of closeness or affection, i.e., as "Nike" is an American (national) brand, and certainly, one of the brand leaders, I thought that Americans may want to show or express a certain liking or closeness through the addition of the sound /i/, as they do with other words to evince this type of feelings:
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We live in England, and some of us say naiki, but everyone says its naik. But the Nike coporation pronounce it naiki.
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i personally pronounce it NiKee, but im sorry to say the other way annoys me sometimes.
I am almost 100 percent sure that it is the correct pronunciation, since nike inc. got its name from Nike the greek goddess of victory, and that name is pronounced the same as the above mentioned. =)
I am almost 100 percent sure that it is the correct pronunciation, since nike inc. got its name from Nike the greek goddess of victory, and that name is pronounced the same as the above mentioned. =)
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Nike/Naik. I'm English, I don't understand why anyone would want to add the "e" sound to that word. Nike, Pike, Trike, Like. Pikey? Trikey? Likey? No! x
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There are some english loans to german language... So the pronunciation should be nyke (silent e) or nee-ka (German vowels)
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AnonymousWe live in England, and some of us say naiki, but everyone says its naik. But the Nike coporation pronounce it naiki.It's strange. People heard of new brand names from TV commercials. Why don't they just follow the pronunciation from the commercials?
How about Nikon. How is it pronounced in the UK and the US?
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