Please pronounce "Guernica" for me
 

Is it just as it appears? Which syllables are accented? Thanks in advance.

ger nee ka

I thought it was, goo urn ick uh

gwear-nicka

gwhere-nick-uh. Americans tend to pronounce it in 3 equal syllables. In Spanish, I believe there is more emphasis on the first syllable, and I have heard it pronounced with a rolled "r", and without.

If you are going to the Prado to see it, get a local guide or a museum guide to really talk about the painting --its own history as well as the complexity and symbolism are fascinating. I grew up with the painting when it was housed in NYC...at MOMA? Enjoy.

If you want the pronunciation in English, Check this out:

http://www.bartleby.com/61/9/G0300900.html

Click on the little speaker symbol to hear the pronunciation.

It appears that there is more than one accepted pronunciation in English.

My husband speaks spanish and said, in spanish, not prnounced with the W .

yes, in Spanish there is no "gwear" sound. It's GER nee ka.

That's true, cigalechanta, but is it really a Spanish name?

Guernica is a Basque town, and I have no idea how Guernica shoud be pronounced in the Basque language ( Euskara).

It is so difficult to say how some words should be pronounced, because the pronunciation differs in different languages.

Pardon the typo: it should be "should."

I know only a thimbleful of Spanish. However, I'm pretty sure that in Spanish the letter "u" after the "g" and before an "e" or "i" serves the same purpose that the letter "h" after the "g" and before "e" or "i" serves in Italian. That is, it simply serves to make the "g" a hard one, rather than a soft one. So gue- or gui- in Spanish would sound more or less like the ge- in get and the go- in goat in English. I think the "u" after a "g" is not pronounced in Spanish unless it's followed by an "a" or "o," in which case gua-/guo- would be hard "g" followed by a "u" and then the next vowel and would sound like gwa/gwo (in English), respectively. But I think the "gue-" in Guernica is pronounced like the "ge-" in "get" in English or like the "ghe-" in "ghetto" in Italian.

I've always put the stress on the first syllable of Guernica, but I can't claim to be sure that's correct.

I work in the world of art and antiques. We pronounce Picasso's painting as GWHERE KNEE KA. However, as someone who has many Spanish-speaking friends all over the world, Spanish can be spoken differently depending on where you live. For example, my friend, Alexandra, from Madrid, pronounces her "s" and "z" as "th," as in "Velathqeth" (Velasquez). My friend, Christina, from Ecuador, does not. It is funny because we all work together, and even though Christina and Alexandra both speak speak Spanish, sometimes they can't understand each other.

Besides, Picasso was Catalan, so "Guernica" should be pronounced in the Catalan dialect.

I can't imagine anyone who knows Spanish even a little bit pronouncing that with a "w" in it. I suppose they would pronounc guerrilla as "gwirila" or the word for war "guerra" as "gweara".

I just saw it a few months ago -- it's not in the Prado. It's in the Reina Sofia museum.

John Gorjus: Picasso was not Catalan. He was born in Malaga but lived in Barcelona prior to his move to Paris. Just to set the record straight...

Bravo, Mimi!!!! Actually, the Catalans also want "Guernica" to return to Barcelona. They think that since Picasso was a Catalan, not a Spaniard, the painting belongs to them, not the Spanish gov't in Madrid.

As someone who has studied English dialects at Dartmouth, I know that there are many ways to pronounce any given word in a language.

Just ask any American how they pronounce "New Orleans," and you will see what I mean.

NARLINS
NEW ARLINS
NU ORLEEEENS

There is no "GWA" sound in Spanish?? What about Iguana??????? What about Guadaloupe?????

By the way, my sister-in-law, Carin, was born in Lima, and I have heard her say "Guadaloupe" a million times and she says, "GWAD A LOOP AY." So there!! :)

Mimi,
Wow! Thanks for all the information!

Christina,
You say "I can't imagine anyone who knows Spanish even a little bit pronouncing that with a "w" in it."

I do speak some Spanish, and when speaking Spanish I would pronounce it one way, and when speaking English I would pronounce it another way.

Lots of us speak some French, too, but when we're speaking English we don't say Pah-ree for Paris. When speaking French we would use the proper French pronunciation (to the best of our ability) :)

So for Guernica, the answer for how to pronounce it depends on what language you're using.

Actually, in Spanish, there is a "gwair" sound, but it would be spelled "güer "

Thingor: No one said there's no "gwa" sound in Spanish. I think someone said there's no "gwe" sound. That's a whole different thing! The U before an E or I makes the G hard without adding a real U sound. But G is already hard before an a or o, so if there's a U between the G and an A or O, the U is actually pronounced. Someone who actually knows Spanish can explain this better.

P.S. Guernica may be the Spanish phonetic spelling of a Basque place name, written that way so Spanish speakers could approximate the pronunciation of the Basque name. In that case it is not necessary to attempt to pronounce "Guernica" in a Basque way, because that would just be ccircular....

What a curious debate!!!!!

Actually, Treesa, Picasso was raised in Barcelona (his family moved there when he was very young). He spoke Catalan and was a member of the Barcelona Modernists (school of painting). You are correct that he was born in Malaga, but the Catalans believe he was one of them. Picasso was very much against Franco, whom the Catalans hated, as he forbade the speaking of Catalan. Picasso considered himself to be Catalan.

Next, we will be arguing over dipthongs.

ThinG,
So true!
A simple question, and all of the frustrated linguists come out of nowhere! ;;)

"gue" and "gui" are pronounced with a hard g.

"gua" and "guo" are pronounced with a gw sound.

I think most people know this instinctively because they usually pronounce both guerrilla and guava correctly.

Hi Marty,

Guernica is the spanish name, and Gernika is the basque name. You would be more likely to find the second name than the first one when looking for directions, tourist info ... (this time you are lucky because both names are similar, but there are some cases that even we are not sure about the place ...).

The only difference that I can think right now would be a sibilant sound with "z" ( Gasteiz, the name for Vitoria, it would be pronounced with a sibilant "s" at the end), or the "tx" and "tz", a bit similar to the spanish "ch".

And now, the pronunciation. The first post by Cigalechanta was right, both for the spanish and the basque name.

I think cmt explained quite well why there is an "u" between the "g" and the "e". G has a soft sound before "a", "o" and "u", but it is pronounced more strong before "e" and "i". When we want to pronounce it softly, we put an "u" in the middle.

There are certain words where you would pronounce the "u", but in these cases it is marked with a dieresis over the "u". Example : cigüeña, stork.

You might find people pronouncing words like "guapo" as "juapo" ( "j" in this case is a bit like the english "h", but stronger). But we are talking southern slang, and I wouldn't try it unless you know that you are pronouncing it wrong :))

John, you might like to have a look to this web : http://www.museopicassomalaga.org/ , the new Picasso Museum in Malaga, inaugurated a few months ago by the glamorous Infanta Elena ...

Rgds, Covadonga

I spent only a few days in New Orleans, but that was enough to tell me that it's pronounced N'awlins. By a lot of people, anyway, not including Fats Domino though.

There shouldn't be too much confusion about Spanish pronunciation because, like Italian, the spelling and pronuciation is an almost complete phonetic match. If you hear it correctly you should be able to spell it, and vice versa. I believe that in parts of South America there are a couple of differences from Castilian Spanish which lead to "llama" being pronounced as "zhama", and the soft "c" not being lisped, but can't speak from experience on that - maybe the Spanish speakers here can elaborate.

Bottom line, it seems to me, is that it's gair-nee-ka, but I don't know which syllable is stressed. Normally it's the penultimate, unless an accent indicates otherwise, but I guess that (as in Italian) there are exceptions.

Ok, I forgot, the accent. Gernika or Guernica is a flat word ( palabra llana ), and that means that the accent is located in the penultimate syllable.

If a word in spanish is not marked with an accent over the vocal where the accent is located, you can safely assume that it is a flat word (there are a few exceptions, specially regarding the words accentuated in the last syllable, but it would take way too long to explain it).

Covadonga

and if someone wants to know more about accents ...

http://academic.bowdoin.edu/courses/...x.shtml#vowels

Thanks, but if I need to say the word, I think I will just write on a piece of paper! I will study the museum map in my guide book and try to find it on my own. I guess the summation of this thread, and any other concerning pronunciations, should be "according to whom"! Being a life-long Southerner, I have certainly had my pronunciations "corrected" enough times by others.

I also grew up seeing the Guernica at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and this has been a thoroughly educational thread for me. What great information about art and language! Only 8:00 AM and I've already learned at least triple my allotment of new things for the day. I love Fodor's.

>>If you are going to the Prado to see it,<<

Actually, it's in the Reina Sofia, no?

amyb- when I was in Madrid in 2000, I think it was at the Prado...I also saw my favorite Velasquez. I don't think I made it to the Reina Sofia, but maybe I am misremembering.

On pronunication, how about the word for handsome? guapo is said "gwappo". But you're right, when I thought about it, I have hear it pronounced "gerrnicka".

There's a new thread from yesterday that seems to be reacting tomsome things said in this thread, so if anyone's interested....

"garnish"