# Pronunciation of Gilad Shalit



## Tjahzi

Hello

The name _Gilad Shalit _has been in the news lately, but I'm curious of its native pronunciation. How would you transcribe it using IPA?

Thanks in advance.


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## arbelyoni

In Modern Hebrew it is pronounced: gi'läd ʃä'lit


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## tFighterPilot

The correct pronunciation would be /gilʕád ʃalít/, however most Israelis pronounce it /gilʔád ʃalít/

edit: damnit, too slow!


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## Tjahzi

Thanks for the answers. However, some issues remain: What's the exact quality of the /a/? [a], [ä]? Is there a glottal stop?

Also, what's the difference between that "correct" and the "most common" version?


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## origumi

Take an example. It's not allowed to bring here multimedia files, so I can recommend looking in Google for "אייל גולן מזמור לגלעד". First result is a youtube song by Eyal Golan. At 0:15 and 1:30 he says le-Gilad (to Gilad). This is the correct, Yemenite pronounciation.


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## tFighterPilot

Tjahzi said:


> Thanks for the answers. However, some issues remain: What's the exact quality of the /a/? [a], [ä]? Is there a glottal stop?
> 
> Also, what's the difference between that "correct" and the "most common" version?


Most Israelis pronounce ע as a glottal stop instead of a voiced pharyngeal fricative as it should be.


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## Flaminius

I have the impression that those "glottalised" Ajns often get further reduced to something almost inaudible.  What if I say [gilad] or [giləad]?  Do native Hebrew speakers notice something wrong with my pronunciation or does it pass for a very casual/careless style?


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## NotNow

This link will help:

http://www.forvo.com/word/gilad_shalit/


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## arbelyoni

Flaminius said:


> I have the impression that those "glottalised" Ajns often get further reduced to something almost inaudible


I agree, Israelis tend to ignore both Ayin and Aleph completely.



> What if I say [gilad] or [giləad]?  Do native Hebrew speakers notice  something wrong with my pronunciation or does it pass for a very  casual/careless style?


[gilʔad] and [gilad] are used alternatively, the first is more proper while the latter is more common. [giləad] does not pass as casual Hebrew: Ayin and Aleph are never rendered to schwa.


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## tFighterPilot

I added audio pronunciation to the Wikipedia article. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilad_Shalit


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## ks20495

I would DEFINITELY say that the most common pronunciations in colloquial speech are /gilad/ and /gil?ad/, the /?/ being often elided in everyday usage. 

I strongly disagree with designating /ʕ/ as the 'correct' pronunciation of the letter ע. It is only correct insofar as you prescribe to a specific program of linguistic purism that takes that view. But, in the reality of the language, pronouncing ע as /?/ is completely grammatical. And, moreover, its complete elision, as I state above, is very common -- although not phonemic.


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