Aitches in the Miqo'te Name

[Kamome]

Hello RPC forum,

 

I have a simple question while I finalize my character name. I see the placement of 'h' everywhere in miqo'te names. I am stuck between three names: M'isha, M'hisa or M'ihsa. Which do you think looks most miqo'te? I see the "h" placed all over the place in relation to "I".

 

I like M'isha because I think it's easiest for non-RPer to pronounce. What do you think?

[Lekka Meyren]

A lot of Mi'qote Roleplayers I've interacted with play off the whole "Letter is your tribe" thing.

 

Meaning if the name was M'isha you are Isha of the M tribe. - So maybe make the decision based on that?

[Sounsyy]

I like M'isha because I think it's easiest for non-RPer to pronounce. What do you think?

 

You are correct in that the Seeker "aitch" seems to appear almost at random throughout the name, depending on the name. The interesting bit though about the aitches is that non-Miqo'te are unable to correctly pronounce the hissing noise it creates. So, the placement of the extra aitch really depends on how you would like RPers or characters to pronounce your name.

 

If you go with "M'isha", it would likely be pronounced: Meh-E-sha.

Because the hissing aitch would be silent, pronunciation rules make us combine the 's' and the 'h' to make the 'shh' sound instead.

 

If you go with "M'hisa", "M'ihsa", or "M'isah" this eliminates that 'shh' and turns it into:

Meh-hhhhEE-sa

Meh-EEhhhh-sa

Meh-EE-sahhhh

 

'hhhh' = that unpronounceable hissing noise that cats do.

 

So, if you want your name to be pronounced with the 'shh' sound go M'isha. If you want that hard 's' sound, try placing the aitch in a different location in the name.

 

Hope this helps! ^^

 

EDIT: Throwing in the Official Miqo'te Naming Conventions thread just in case. That first paragraph explains a little more about the aitches and how most go silent, which can really screw with the pronunciation of tribal names and such.

[Kamome]

Helps a ton! It's like you actually speak miqo'te! :surprise:

 

Thank you again!

[FreelanceWizard]

A couple of interesting points from the naming conventions are "(t)hough followed by an apostrophe, the tribe sound is usually flows into the name" (sic) and "(t)he extra aitches we see in names such as “Bhee,” “Kuzh,” and “Pahsh” represent a slight hissing/spitting sound that is made when the name is pronounced by the cat-like Miqo’te. Many of the other races in Eorzea cannot accurately reproduce this sound, so the aitches end up going silent when read (Bee, Kooz, Pash)."

 

So, while you can definitely place the aitches and have your name pronounced however you like, "M'isha" would typically be pronounced "MEE-sa", perhaps with a soft hiss between the s and the a when pronounced by miqo'te.

 

The complexities of all of this are why L'yhta has a "hyurified" name she uses with non-miqo'te.

[C'kayah Polaali]

That's an interesting point, Freelance. The 'H' is supposed to be a hissing sound, but there is normally a sibilant "SH" in whatever the common Eorzean tongue is. I'd guess then that you could either have M'isha pronounced "Miss-Ha" or "Misha" depending on your desire.

[Kamome]

So interesting. The forum developers really love the details of this world and it makes me happy. I think will go with M'isha after all, too. Thank you all for giving me an idea how everyone will pronounce the name. I think every option is pretty easy and nice. My hope is that non-RPer will be able to get the name too. 

Last poster--let me just see if I have it right--your name is said like "Kah-kai-yah"? And before that it's "Lee-hee-tah"?

 

If I will be playing a miqo'te I will say the names right!! :cry:

[C'kayah Polaali]

Last poster--let me just see if I have it right--your name is said like "Kah-kai-yah"?

 

You got it!

[FreelanceWizard]

L'yhta is pronounced "LEE(h)-tah", per the convention that the tribal letter flows into the name and pronunciation follows usual English phonology. The (h) presents the soft hiss that a miqo'te would produce. Without the tribal letter, it's EE(h)-tah. (The canonical example is Y'shtola -- YASH-toe-lah, but there's a couple of other examples in the naming conventions thread, too.)

 

EDIT: The trick to the tribal letter flowing in is that it really only works if it would work in normal English phonology. If it wouldn't, then there's nothing wrong with making another syllable out of it, IMO. It is your character, after all!

[Melkire]

I misread the naming convention a long time ago and mistook the apostrophe for the location of the hissing sound rather than the aitches. This thread has been very informative. Thanks, folks. :love:

[Aduu Avagnar]

With Nako, the aitches in the first name are not present in the spelling, though they are for the surname.

 

its pronounced Nah-Koh-lee, rather than Na-Koh-Lee.

[Chris Ganale]

I feel like I probably pronounce Tahz's name wrong.

[Kamome]

The sign of an awesome reference is one I keep going back to and check whenever I have trouble with a name in game! This remains so helpful Sounsyy!! : )

[K'nahli]

I had to google what this "aitch" thing was, haha ;

 

I actually didn't know this though. Am I to understand that every tribal name is supposed to have a 'h' and a hissing sound to it?'

 

 

Edit:

Just read the conventions post and see a nunh example without a 'h', never mind ^^