Grammar/Phonology question - How to write pronunciation

Magnus

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I have a character named Mika, but I don't want readers to read it as 'Mike-ah', but rather 'Meek-ah'. I'm guessing most people would read it the first way. I'd prefer not to change the spelling.

One solution I came up with is to use an acute accent on the i (Mìka), as (by my understanding) it can be used in English to indicate that a letter in a name (or foreign word) uses the short vowel sound (ee) not the long one (eye).

I've thought of the approach where it's somehow explained within the narrative but found that heavy-handed and particularly unsuitable for this story.

Any advice on whether my understanding of the acute accent is correct would be much appreciated. Any alternative solutions would also be very welcome. Thanks for your help!
 

be frank

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A question for you: does it matter how your readers pronounce the character's name in their own heads? Is it any different to them picturing someone as a brunette when you'd seen a blonde?

Genuinely curious.

FTR, I'd read it as "Meeka" because I know two Mikas who both pronounce it that way (one male [the singer], and one female).

A commonly cited example of how to deal with it is Hermione from Harry Potter. JK Rowling had another character mispronounce her name, only for her to correct him.
 
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mccardey

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I'd pronounce it Meekah because if it was meant to be pronounced mike-ah it would be spelled Mica. (And if it was, I wouldn't read the book because really who names their kid after a silicate?)

ETA: For the rest of it I agree with the stripey kid in post #2
 
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Albedo

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I'd pronounce it Meekah because if it was meant to be pronounced mike-ah it would be spelled Mica. (And if it was, I wouldn't read the book because really who names their kid after a silicate?)

ETA: For the rest of it I agree with the stripey kid in post #2
Hey now. My budgie's named Mica.

You could change the spelling to something less ambiguous, e.g. 'Meekah', but like Be Frank asked, does it really matter if the reader imagines it differently?
 

Albedo

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I named an (off screen) character after her, if that counts. (Her name was going to be Micah, cos young girl budgies look a lot like boys.) (Don't tell Lyle Shelton.)
 

GregFH

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I have a character named Mika, but I don't want readers to read it as 'Mike-ah', but rather 'Meek-ah'. I'm guessing most people would read it the first way. I'd prefer not to change the spelling.

One solution I came up with is to use an acute accent on the i (Mìka), as (by my understanding) it can be used in English to indicate that a letter in a name (or foreign word) uses the short vowel sound (ee) not the long one (eye).

I've thought of the approach where it's somehow explained within the narrative but found that heavy-handed and particularly unsuitable for this story.

Any advice on whether my understanding of the acute accent is correct would be much appreciated. Any alternative solutions would also be very welcome. Thanks for your help!

English makes no use of the acute accent. If you use it on a word, it is understood to have the same effect as in the language from which the word is borrowed, so you would look to that language for how to pronounce the word. Also, the short "i" in English is not pronounced ee but more like ih, as in the word "it".
 

Felix

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I wonder if you could put it in the dialog somewhere.

Giant networking party and someone mispronounces the name after reading a name tag. A mispronounced introduction or some such thing. The character could correct them and set the reader straight?

Maybe there's an authority figure who puts the emphasis somewhere when they're pissed. "He slammed his fist on the table, drawing ire from his father. 'Mike-AH!' When his father put the emphasis on the last syllable of his name, he knew he was in trouble." -- Lots of cheesy there but just an illustration.
 
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Maryn

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I'm with the does-it-matter camp. I've read entire books with characters named Penelope and Aloysius thinking it was PEN-eh-lope and ah-LOY-shus, and it didn't render them any less enjoyable.

But if it's important to you that the reader hear it the way you intend, you've got several options.
  • Have a character say it wrong and let Mika correct them
  • Have exposition tell the reader how it's said, the way Ed McBain told the reader how Meyer Meyer's name came to be
  • Have someone tease her with a rhyme or near-rhyme, "Mika-Mika gives you zika!" "Mika wears one sneak-a!"
  • Have internal monologue in which Mika thinks about her own name, i.e., dreading the first day of something because people will mispronounce it, and wishing she'd been named Jane instead


Maryn, whose user name is pronounces MARE-in
 

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I like how JK. Rowling had solved this problem when Hermione's name was pronounced wrong by another character.
 

Anna Iguana

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Another example from JK Rowling is that nobody pronounces Voldemort the way she did, when writing the character's name, and she's rolled with that reception.
 
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Magnus

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Yep. Leaving it is probably the best solution. Thank you for your input, everyone!
 

blacbird

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I'm with Be Frank: What difference does it make? Once a book is out there, it is no longer under control of the writer, but is there for the participation of the reader.

caw
 

benbenberi

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If it really matters to you how readers pronounce names in your work, you may want to think about why it matters to you -- because you are NEVER, no matter how hard you try, going to be able to control your readers.

You don't know what their native language is, or their default pronunciations of written words.

You don't know how they will pronounce something that you try to spell in a phonetic way, because their interpretation of your creative spelling may be completely different from what you intend.

You can go so far as to put a pronunciation guide before or after or in a footnote -- many readers won't look at it, or will ignore it, or will interpret your guidance differently from what you intend.

Even if you were to provide a phonetic spelling IN THE OFFICIAL PHONETIC SCRIPT so there could be no ambiguity or misinterpretation -- very few readers know phonetic script, so they would either ignore it altogether or misinterpret it in an even more garbled way than they would have without it.

Just save yourself the grief of knowing that People Are Reading It Wrong. Write what you want to write as best you can, and accept that the story and the names your readers hear may not be the same as the ones you write. Unless they're gathering with pitchforks and torches outside your door, it doesn't matter.
 
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blacbird

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If it really matters to you how readers pronounce names in your work, you may want to think about why it matters to you -- because you are NEVER, no matter how hard you try, going to be able to control your readers.

Yeah. This is like a grocery store trying to insist you cook your eggs a particular way.

caw