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Duna... or Duna?


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The name very likely derives either from nickname of Arrakis, Dune, or the literal sand dunes. Either way, the pronunciation of "dune" as "d(y)oon" strongly implies that it is pronounced closer to "D(y)oo-nuh" than whatever the standard rules of English spelling would suggest.

Edit: Actually, it's an open syllable either way, isn't it? It'd have to be "Dunna" to be pronounced differently.

Edited by K^2
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That sounds to me like an accent thing.  Juna is probably the person mishearing dyuna, which is softening the u.  There are certain British and NZ accents that will do that. You hear it when someone says tuna as tyuna or tune as tyune . North Americans will say toona and toon instead.  North Americans will sometimes say that sound when we speak quickly, for example, "Did you eat?" when said rapidly can become "Joo-eet?"

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9 hours ago, The Flying Kerbal said:

A Youtube video I watched recently raised this question, how do you say Duna?

Does it sound like "Juna", or - as I say it - more like "Doona"

I'm really curious and interested in this and will be eagerly awaiting any responses you guys post.

Thanks all.

So I'm confused and an uncultured american... Why would Duna possibly have a "J" sound?

 

Also, Doo-nuh

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1 hour ago, mcwaffles2003 said:

So I'm confused and an uncultured american... Why would Duna possibly have a "J" sound?

The open 'u' by itself is pronounced as "you", which is actually two sounds, the vowel "oo" and a voiced palatal approximant (I did have to look up the name, yes). That has tendency to merge with a preceding consonant in ways that vary heavily on language and dialect. (Because it's a tiny variation in tongue position and the exact timing on voice.) In at least some variations, the way the "dy" merge together, they start making a "dj" sound (as that includes a palatal fricative), and so it gets quite close to "Junah" in the way it sounds. Another option is for palatalization of the consonant itself, which would make it sound like "D'unah", which is the way pretty much any Eastern European will pronounce it (e.g. Russian). But in US English it does seem far more common for that voiced palatal approximant to either stay separate ("Dyoonah") or disappear entirely ("Doonah").

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