# Levi's: international pronunciation(s)



## Linnets

How do you pronounce Levi's in your language?

English: [ˈliːvaɪs]
Italian: [ˈlɛːvis]


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## Yendred

French: [ˈlevis]


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## Stoggler

Linnets said:


> How do you pronounce Levi's in your language?
> 
> English: [ˈliːvaɪs]
> Italian: [ˈlɛːvis]


English: [ˈliːvaɪz]


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## Linnets

Yendred said:


> French: [ˈlevis]


Really stressed on the first syllable?



Stoggler said:


> English: [ˈliːvaɪz]


So [ˈliːvaɪs] is just wrong? Or is an alternative pronunciation?


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## apmoy70

Greek:

*«Λιβάις»* [liˈvaɪs̠] and (by older people mostly) *«Λέβις»* [ˈle̞vis̠]


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## JNavBar

In Spanish; /'le βis/


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## Awwal12

Linnets said:


> How do you pronounce Levi's in your language?


Never heard of the brand, to be frank, but it seems it's [lʲɪ'vaɪ̯s] in Russian. Attempting to stress the first syllable would make the word really difficult to pronounce properly anyway.


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## Frank78

Awwal12 said:


> Never heard of the brand, to be frank,



 THE most famous jeans brand!

German: [ˈle:vis]


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## Olaszinhok

Linnets said:


> Really stressed on the first syllable?
> 
> 
> So [ˈliːvaɪs] is just wrong? Or is an alternative pronunciation?


Apparently, both variants are possible:


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## Abaye

Hebrew: usually like in English [ˈliːvaɪs] but I've heard also [ˈlɛːvis].

(borrowed the IPA from @Linnets )

Added: which is funny, because the name Levi is actually Hebrew where it's formally pronounced with stress on the latter vowel. But we're accustomed to Hebrew names used by American Jews and Gentiles and pronounced as in America.


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## Olaszinhok

Abaye said:


> Hebrew: usually like in English [ˈliːvaɪs] but I've heard also [ˈlɛːvis].


Hello Abaye.
Does Hebrew have an open-mid ɛ?


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## Abaye

Olaszinhok said:


> Hello Abaye.
> Does Hebrew have an open-mid ɛ?


Modern Hebrew is a 5-vowel language. I don't know how exactly our "e" is defined in terms of open/mid and alike (lack of knowledge on my behalf, maybe @amikama or @Drink can help). Apparently the Hebrew ear won't be able to tell the difference between /e/, /ɛ/ etc.


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## apmoy70

Abaye said:


> Modern Hebrew is a 5-vowel language. I don't know how exactly our "e" is defined in terms of open/mid and alike (lack of knowledge on my behalf, maybe @amikama or @Drink can help). Apparently the Hebrew ear won't be able to tell the difference between /e/, /ɛ/ etc.


It's a mid front unrounded one, similar to the Greek, Finnish, Icelandic, Castillian Spanish [e̞]


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## Drink

Over-specification is not very productive. I believe this vowel phoneme has a range of realizations that are between [e] and [ɛ]. For this reason, many assign it the symbol [e̞], but that doesn't mean that's what it actually is all the time, since as I said it _ranges_ (it's possible there is a pattern to the ranging, but I haven't seen any study that looked into it, it could be free variation). Therefore, I don't believe it productive to use fancy symbols and distinctions here, I consider it over-specification. Pick a simple symbol and stick with it. You can use /ɛ/ if you want, but I think /e/ is a simpler choice.


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## Olaszinhok

Drink said:


> You can use /ɛ/ if you want, but I think /e/ is a simpler choice.


As an Italian, I have to say that e and ɛ are definitely two distinct phonemes.


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## Yendred

Olaszinhok said:


> As an Italian, I have to say that e and ɛ are definitely two distinct phonemes.


As a French too


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## Yendred

Linnets said:


> Really stressed on the first syllable?


Well, stress isn't that emphasized in French, so let's just say [levis].

@Olaszinhok's video gives a pronunciation for Québec which is stressed on the first syllable, but I wouldn't find strange a stress on the last syllable either.


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## Stoggler

Linnets said:


> So [ˈliːvaɪs] is just wrong? Or is an alternative pronunciation?


I’ve only ever heard it with a /z/ on the end, but I don’t want to say categorically that it’s the one and only way.  I can’t help thinking however that it’s like any plural or possessive ending in English that follows a vowel: with a /z/ sound.


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## Welsh_Sion

I guess for Welsh we'd approximate the English and write it in italics as there is no <v> in our alphabet: /'li:vaIz/. (There is no <z> either, so a Northern Welsh NORM isolated from English may well pronounce it as /'lɛvIs/.)

The Hebrew first name (cf. Matthew the tax collector) is always 'Lefi' (/'lɛvI) in Welsh.


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## jekoh

Yendred said:


> As a French too


As a French, [e] and [ɛ] are two realisations of one phoneme.

Even amongst French speakers that do have two different phonemes, the distinction is neutralized anyway in non final position, so [lɛvis] with [ɛ] would go unnoticed. I'm guessing that how it's pronounced in Switzerland by the same people who say _vélo _ and _été _with [ɛ].


Edit : I misread Drink's post which I think is only about Hebrew.


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## Welsh_Sion

Diversion for 'the French' here. 

You are not 'a French' . (As you probably know, but ...  )


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## AndrasBP

Frank78 said:


> German: [ˈle:vis]


It's pronounced *exactly *the same in Hungarian. 



Olaszinhok said:


> As an Italian, I have to say that e and ɛ are definitely two distinct phonemes.


You mean they're distinct phonemes *in Italian*.


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## Olaszinhok

AndrasBP said:


> It's pronounced *exactly *the same in Hungarian.
> 
> 
> You mean they're distinct phonemes *in Italian*.


They're actually distinct phonemes in plenty of languages, including French.


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## elroy

Palestinian Arabic: /liˈva:is/


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## Linnets

elroy said:


> Palestinian Arabic: /liˈva:is/


A long diphthong?


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## elroy

Linnets said:


> A long diphthong?


Yeah.  That's how I say it at least, and how I think I've always heard it.

Is it unusual for one of the vowels of a diphthong to be long?


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## Penyafort

Linnets said:


> How do you pronounce Levi's in your language?
> 
> English: [ˈliːvaɪs]
> Italian: [ˈlɛːvis]


In Catalan, the same as in Italian, but the vowel wouldn't be long.

uns Levis [ˈlɛvis]​


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## Linnets

elroy said:


> Is it unusual for one of the vowels of a diphthong to be long?


Well, in Italian and in general in major Romance languages, there are no phonological diphthongs (true diphthongs), so they're only a juxtapositition of a vowel (usually short or half-long) and /j, w/ (transcribed also [i̯, u̯]). For example, in Italian we have theoretically a difference between [eu̯.roˈpɛː.o] ('European', four syllables) and [eu̯.roˈpɛi̯] ('Europeans', three syllables); in practice they're pronounced [eu̯.roˈpɛˑo̯] and [eu̯.roˈpɛˑi̯] (both three syllables and a half-long vowel).
English and Standard German have no long (phonological) diphthongs as well.



Penyafort said:


> Levis [ˈlɛvis]


Really [v] in standard Catalan? I thought [v] was Valencian, whereas central Catalan had [b/β].


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## Welsh_Sion

Of course, for some people, Levi's are pronounced /[blu:] ʤi:nz/ ...


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## Yendred

Welsh_Sion said:


> Of course, for some people, Levi's are pronounced /[blu:] ʤi:nz/ ...


Do they call this famous painting by Veronese _The Feast in the House of Blue Jeans_?


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## סייבר־שד

In Mexico I've always heard it pronounced [liˈβajs].


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## Penyafort

Linnets said:


> Really [v] in standard Catalan? I thought [v] was Valencian, whereas central Catalan had [b/β].


I was paying attention to the vowel and forgot about the v. You're right, most people probably said a [β]. I haven't heard it in a while. 

I personally said it with a [v], though.


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## Armas

Finnish: ['leʋis]
We use the plural _levikset_ for Levi's jeans, because the word jeans (_farkut_) is plural in Finnish.


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