# Samper (pronunciation)



## EternoBGV

Hello,

I'd like to know if the letter _r_ in the name _Sampe*r*_ (as in _Sergi Samper_, a footballer from FC Barcelona) is pronounced or not. I've learned that the final _-r_ of infinitives is silent in standard Catalan, but does this rule also apply to the proper names?


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## Dymn

_Samper_ is a variation of the surname _Santpere_ ('Saint Peter'), so I guess that the _r_ is pronounced, as it is in _Pere_. However, let's wait for another user to see if he or she knows anyone with this surname and how he or she pronounces it. As in standard Catalan final _r _can be either silent or not (normally it is) maybe I'm wrong.


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## ernest_

EternoBGV said:


> I'd like to know if the letter _r_ in the name _Sampe*r*_ (as in _Sergi Samper_, a footballer from FC Barcelona) is pronounced or not. I've learned that the final _-r_ of infinitives is silent in standard Catalan, but does this rule also apply to the proper names?


Hi, as you say proper names sometimes don't follow normal pronunciation rules. However, in this case it seems that the name Samper has the alternative spelling Sampé, which indicates that the final _r_ is indeed silent. Phonetically, in standard Catalan: /səm'pe/.


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## jmx

The pronunciation is probably linked to the geographical origin of the surname. I see in the INE Database that it is most common in Alicante province, where the local Catalan pronounces final r's, I think, and in addition the surname is more common in Aragon than in Catalonia. The remote origin must be Aragonese as I've found 3 towns called Samper, and all 3 are in Aragon.

Anyway, the only sure way to know the pronunciation is asking the footballer or someone in his family.


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## EternoBGV

OK. Thank you very much for your answers.


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## LoveVanPersie

ernest_ said:


> Hi, as you say proper names sometimes don't follow normal pronunciation rules. However, in this case it seems that the name Samper has the alternative spelling Sampé, which indicates that the final _r_ is indeed silent. Phonetically, in standard Catalan: /səm'pe/.


Is the _a_ reduced to a schwa /ə/ if the surname is spelled _Santper_?


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## ernest_

Yes. In unstressed positions /a/, /e/, /ɛ/ are reduced to [ə], and /o/, /ɔ/ to [u]. This applies to Eastern Catalan, which is the dialect spoken in Barcelona and Girona.


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## LoveVanPersie

But DCVB only mentions that there are reduced forms in Balearic dialect and Valencian. And Wiktionary transcribes _Santpedor _as /ˌsam.pəˈðɔ/, with _a_ unreduced.


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## ernest_

Yes, you're right. In place names, such as Santpedor, the stress in the first syllable is retained and so there is no reduction. Notice that the phonetic transcription provided by the Cartographic Institute of Catalonia (pdf) indicates a primary stress in the first syllable [ˈsampəˈðɔ], which means it is pronounced as two words. I'm not sure the same thing applies to Samper because unlike Santpedor it is not perceived as two distinct words, although etymologically it could be that Samper is a compound word. At any rate, it doesn't make much of a difference whether you pronounce Samper with a reduced vowel or not because the reduced vowel is an allophone for /a/ anyway, and so there is no chance of confusion.


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## LoveVanPersie

So you mean if the spelling is _Santper_, it would be perceived as two words so that people pronounce it with /a/, right?
And does your mispronunciation of /a/ as /ə/ mean that, when _sant_ and the following proper name are written together, it is common for people (including newscasters) to reduce the _a_?
I think you're not sure with the the theoretically correct pronunciation of _Samper_, but do you know how most people (including newscasters) actually pronounce it in this spelling, as in _Sergi Samper_ mentioned above?

By the way, thank you for letting me know another website to look up IPA of Catalan proper names haha.


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## ernest_

To put it another way, the vowel /a/ in _sant_ is stressed, therefore not reduced. When _sant_ acts as proclitic, as is common in place names, it also stressed and also not reduced. What does that mean? If you pronounce Samper with a full vowel /ˈsamˈpe/ people will tend to think Samper means Saint Per. On the other hand, if you use a reduced vowel /səmˈpe/ people will tend to think Samper is just a name that doesn't mean anything in particular. This is assuming they notice the difference in pronunciation at all, because as I said it's a rather subtle difference. Unfortunately I don't know how people pronounce it because I don't follow football much these days, but hopefully the explanation makes sense to you.


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## LoveVanPersie

Thanks a lot!


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## Doraemon-

LoveVanPersie said:


> But DCVB only mentions that there are reduced forms in Balearic dialect and Valencian. And Wiktionary transcribes _Santpedor _as /ˌsam.pəˈðɔ/, with _a_ unreduced.



Not exactly. It says:
_Fon.: sán, sántə (pir-or., or.); sán, sántɛ o sánta (occ.); sánt, sánta (val.); sánt, sántə (mall., men.). En l'ús proclític de sant com a títol aplicat a un nom propi, existeix la pronúncia sənt, səntə (bal.) i sent, senta (val.) _

But this is explained below:
_Var. form.: la variant sent, efecte de la relaxació de la a, és molt freqüent en posició proclítica davant un nom propi, i presenta les variants ortogràfiques senct i sen en el català antic. Lo dia de sen march, doc. a. 1242 (Pujol Docs.); Paròchia de Senta Maria, Capbr. Ribes 1283; En la festa de Sent Aloy, doc. a. 1298, ap. Col. Bof. xi, 23; Anaren-se'n a Senct Climent, Muntaner Cròn., c. 23; La bandera de sent Francesch, Turmeda Diuis. 15. _

It is an archaic form of this word exclusively, not a reduction of the vowel, and that was even written with an -e- (and pronounced accordingly). It's a different thing.

In the eastern dialects (balearic, central, rossellonese, alguerese), where reduction is the norm, unstressed /a/ becomes /ə/.  So, in this case (sant+whatever), it depends on whether the syllable is stressed or not. It is unstressed in Samper, which is pronounced as a single word, so it's pronounced /səm'pe/, but it's stressed (at least with a secondary stress) in Santpedor, so it's /,sam.pəˈðɔ/
Please note the initial comma in the phonetic transcription, that's the key (it's still pronounced as two words, as ernest_ explains perfectly).


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## LoveVanPersie

Is _Santper_ with a secondary stress on the _a_?


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## Doraemon-

Probably, but I've never seen this word, only in Aragonese; it's Samper in Spanish and Catalan.


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## LoveVanPersie

Gràcies!


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## LoveVanPersie

I'm wondering if the word ending _-er_ is more often pronounced with /ˈe/ rather than /ˈɛ/?  The surname _Piquer_ also has a variant spelling _Piqué_.


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## Doraemon-

The words ending in -er are pronounced with /e/, not /ɛ/.
I don't know any exception (if there's any, I'm not sure now).

_Piquer _is pronounced /pi'ke/ [/pi'ker/ in Valencian dialects].
_Piqué _is also pronounced /pi'ke/
It's a transliteration to Spanish ortography again.


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