What is the proper pronunciation of the name "Zijad".

August 27, 2014 8:25 AM

What is the proper pronunciation of the name "Zijad".
posted by davebush to Writing & Language (5 answers total)

In this news report - which I think is Bosnian? - you can hear the name spoken within the first few seconds. It sounds to me like 'zee-YAD', although obviously this could itself be a mangled pronunciation (newsreaders are terrible for this sort of thing, like you and me).
posted by Ted Maul at 8:55 AM on August 27, 2014

Confirming this is Bosnian. Note that in the report the first instance of the name is declined ("Zijadu") so it might be confusing, but 'zee-YAD' is correct.
posted by Dragonness at 9:04 AM on August 27, 2014

Best answer: Well, stress is iffy in Serbo-Croatian (which Bosnian is a rebranded member of). Words with historically final stress generally sound like they have initial stress, although the pitch can be final in dialects that retain distinctive pitch. In that news clip it clearly has initial stress, and the nominative isn't going to differ in that respect. I'd go with ZEE-yad.
posted by languagehat at 9:08 AM on August 27, 2014 [1 favorite]

My sister-in-law's brother is named Zijad. I always thought is pronounced closer to 'zee-ODD' - but 'zee-YAD' might be closer to it.
posted by Flood at 9:25 AM on August 27, 2014

languagehat, I was unsure of how to present the stress myself and I'm Serbian. I went with final only because of the Bosnian dialect's pitch, like you mention. Really it feels to me like there's even stress on both syllables.

Flood, in American, you're right, ODD is probably closer to it than YAD.
posted by Dragonness at 10:31 AM on August 27, 2014 [1 favorite]