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Pronunciation of "E" vs. "EJ"

by disgustus, November 15, 2014

Messages: 6

Language: English

disgustus (User's profile) November 15, 2014, 7:28:00 PM

Hi, folks; I've got a pronunciation question for you. I've been reviewing my Esperanto pronunciation and something I've hit on in listening to podcasts and videos is that with the letter "E" speakers switch between "eh" (bEd) and "ej" (hAY.)

I hear speakers saying "EJ" more often at the end of a word and it seems like the purpose is to differentiate the "E" from an "A" adjective ending.

Is this just a stylistic difference? Should I stick to pronouncing my E's as bEd, or is there a good reason to change the pronunciation for clarity?

Fenris_kcf (User's profile) November 15, 2014, 8:11:35 PM

You should pronounce it as [e].

BoriQa (User's profile) November 15, 2014, 8:57:50 PM

disgustus:Should I stick to pronouncing my E's as bEd...
Yes, stick to it.

disgustus (User's profile) November 15, 2014, 9:48:37 PM

Cool, thanks for the help.

sergejm (User's profile) November 15, 2014, 10:33:42 PM

You can prononce ‘e’ example as French ‘é’, ‘è’, ,‘ê’, but not as ‘ej’ - this is an error, I think this can make misunderstanding.

sudanglo (User's profile) November 16, 2014, 10:15:07 AM

melo - badger, mejlo - mile

The e ej contrast is rare Esperanto, but you should try to make the contrast clearly audible.

Tray bonay, instead of tre bone, not a good idea, unless you want to put on an English accent in Esperanto.

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