From: Joshua Cranmer on
On 03/13/2010 10:34 AM, Arved Sandstrom wrote:
> Come to think of it, "ln" is another good one - I've almost always heard
> it pronounced "lon" or "lawn". If someone says "el en" then they very
> likely have no idea what it means.

I've always pronounced it "lin" (as in "linen"), which frequently
results in me going back and having to say natural log.

--
Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not
tried it. -- Donald E. Knuth
From: BGB / cr88192 on

"Arved Sandstrom" <dcest61(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:MfOmn.70902$PH1.34922(a)edtnps82...
> BGB / cr88192 wrote:
>> "Arved Sandstrom" <dcest61(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:gwMmn.68043$Db2.64462(a)edtnps83...
>>> Stefan Ram wrote:
>>>> What is the neutral American English pronunciation used by
>>>> programmers, when they say �Math.sin�?
>>>>
>>>> I assume that I already know the sequence of consonants used
>>>> while saying this:
>>>>
>>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilabial_nasal
>>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_dental_fricative
>>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative
>>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alveolar_nasal
>>>>
>>>> But which are the vowels used for �a� and �i�?
>>>>
>>
>> /{/ as in "cat" and "ran".
>> /I/ as in "hit" and "city".
>>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-open_front_unrounded_vowel
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-close_near-front_unrounded_vowel
>>
>>
>>>> Is �sin� pronounced like �sine�?
>>>>
>>>> Is �sin�, when meaning �sine�, pronounced like �sin� (in the
>>>> sens of �A violation of a moral or religious law�)?
>>>>
>>>> Is �Math� pronounced like the start of �mathematics�?
>>>>
>>>> Is �Math� pronounced in the same way as �path� (except
>>>> for the initial consonant)?
>>>>
>>>> Is the �.� converted to a word and then also pronounced,
>>>> if so, to which word? TIA
>>>>
>>> I've never heard anyone - math-type, engineer, physicist, programmer -
>>> ever say anything other than "sine" for "sin".
>>>
>>
>> "sine" is the meaning, but "sin" is the way one says those letters, so it
>> depends on the reader.
>>
>> it is like seening "ln" and saying "natural log" or, effectively, "elen"
>> ("/ElEn/" or "/ElUn/").
>> or, "cos" as "cosine" or as "/kos/".
>>
>> usually, for saying stuff, it is not meaningful to map to semantics prior
>> to mapping to words.
> [ SNIP ]
>
> Come to think of it, "ln" is another good one - I've almost always heard
> it pronounced "lon" or "lawn". If someone says "el en" then they very
> likely have no idea what it means.
>

I don't think it follows.
it is common practice to say things like this as the letters that make them
up:
"ls" => "ElEs"
"rd" => "Ardi"
"mk" => "EmkeI"
....

"ln" would just follow in this line.


> For "cos" not many folks I know, including myself, have the patience to
> always say "cosine", but "koss" doesn't sound quite right either, so we
> end up with "kose". But I guess some folks say "koss"; I won't say it's
> odd.
>

I wrote /kos/, which would use the 'o' sound from "no" or "close" (so, more
like your "kose", although to me this word would be more like /koz/ or
/koUz/).

"koss" would have been more likely written as /kaz/, which, yes, would be an
odd way to say it.

I am going by SAMPA notation here (ASCII mapping of IPA).


> AHS


From: BGB / cr88192 on

"Joshua Cranmer" <Pidgeot18(a)verizon.invalid> wrote in message
news:hngbmn$qs3$1(a)news-int2.gatech.edu...
> On 03/13/2010 10:34 AM, Arved Sandstrom wrote:
>> Come to think of it, "ln" is another good one - I've almost always heard
>> it pronounced "lon" or "lawn". If someone says "el en" then they very
>> likely have no idea what it means.
>
> I've always pronounced it "lin" (as in "linen"), which frequently results
> in me going back and having to say natural log.
>

people have accused me for seeing the letter 'mu' and saying it as /mu/
(rather than /mjus/), but to me the letter is named mu so it is said mu (or
"moo").

likewise goes for quaternion as /kwAt3'niAn/, as opposed to the other
demanding that it was something like /kwVtIrniVn/ or similar...


but, as I see it, there is too much room for variation to worry about
specifics...

if someone is generally understandable, that is good enough, getting fussy
is more for trying to pull off a natural-sounding TTS engine or whatever...




From: Martin Gregorie on
On Sat, 13 Mar 2010 08:40:28 -0700, BGB / cr88192 wrote:

> "rossum" <rossum48(a)coldmail.com> wrote in message
>> For a look at the intricacies of English pronunciation google "ghoti",
>> pronounced 'fish'.
>>
>>
> except that an actual English speaker will see it and see it as
> "goaty"...
>
....with an Indian accent by analogy with "dhoti".

Its not really a fair example since it was concocted specifically to
highlight inconsistencies between the way English is written and spoken.


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |
From: Lew on
Arved Sandstrom wrote:
> Come to think of it, "ln" is another good one - I've almost always heard
> it pronounced "lon" or "lawn". If someone says "el en" then they very
> likely have no idea what it means.
>
> For "cos" not many folks I know, including myself, have the patience to
> always say "cosine", but "koss" doesn't sound quite right either, so we
> end up with "kose". But I guess some folks say "koss"; I won't say it's
> odd.

There is no standard. Just like some pronounce the type "char" as in the verb
"to char" and others as the first syllable in "character". (I'm in the latter
camp.)

FWIW, I say "math sin" to rhyme with "path pin", "lin", "koss". I don't
pronounce the punctuation; that's just silly.

--
Lew