# Pronunciation of "Kaposi"



## Tagarela

Hi,

I would like to know what is the pronunciation of *Kaposi* (the one of the sarcoma). I've heard that in Hungarian the stress is always on the first syllable, but I'm in doubt with the 's', if it's /z/ or /s/ and if there is any other nuance.

Good bye.:


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## Zsuzsu

Hi Tagarela,

Yes, you are right, the stress is on the first syllable. As for the 's', we always pronounce it like English 'sh' as in 'sheep', for example. ('S' is only pronounced 's' - as in 'sing' - if it is followed by a 'z': sz)


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## Tagarela

Hello,

Thank you, Zsuzsu,
so it is like /*Ka*poshi/, right? And is there any long or short vowels?

Good bye.:


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## Zsuzsu

Hi Tagarela,

Yes, it is pronounced like Kaposhi. There's no long vowel in it.


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## muguete

Cannot stop wondering, though.... I wouldn't say there is stress on the first syllable... maybe it's just me and it's too late at this hour, or maybe it is just the fact that if one refers to stressing a syllable then automatically languages as Italian etc come up where that really counts. Don't know. Kaposi (pronounced Kaposhi)... you just say it nice and short without stress


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## effeundici

muguete said:


> Cannot stop wondering, though.... I wouldn't say there is stress on the first syllable... maybe it's just me and it's too late at this hour, or maybe it is just the fact that if one refers to stressing a syllable then automatically languages as Italian etc come up where that really counts. Don't know. Kaposi (pronounced Kaposhi)... you just say it nice and short without stress


 
We can say that among language freaks! Your perception of _nice and short _is perceived as _flabby _when eastern people speak Italian.


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## Zsuzsu

Hi muguete,

In Hungarian, stress is on the first syllable - you might not feel it but it is really there... You might want to check this page (especially "hangtan").


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## Zsanna

Muguete,
Don't worry. "Normal" native speakers (not linguists) can never judge things like that.  
It is just the same as a native speaker is not necessarily a good teacher of his own language. Just being a native speaker doesn't give you the entire knowledge _about_ your language.



effeundici said:


> ...Your perception of _nice and short _is perceived as _flabby _when eastern people speak Italian.


 
Well, "eastern people" is not really an exact linguistic category.  Especially when - unlike in Slav languages - in Hungarian (just like in Italian) double consonants are pronounced (the lack of which I suspect to be one of the reasons for that "flabby" impression).

I know it is not enough to make us sound not flabby in Italian (if it is really the case - nobody ever said that to me yet when I'm in your country) but it may just be enough to make us sound a bit different... (At least at closer linguistic investigation.)


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## Brioche

The Merriam-Webster dictionary gives the Hungarian pronunciation for the man's name, but an Anglicised pronunciation for the medical condition.

So Moritz \ˈko-pō-shē\
But \kap-ə-sēz\ sarcoma


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## Zsanna

Thanks, Brioche, it was a good idea. 
(I find it impossible to explain in a written language to an English native speaker how to pronounce Hungarian words. Little surprise, our sounds are totally different!)

In the pronunciation of the medical condition of Kaposi's name is totally Anglicized, however, in the following (when followed by Moritz) it's almost good!


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## Tagarela

Hi,

Well, this stress thing is a little bit complicated indeed. I study Czech, and in general, every word is stressed on the first syllable. Sometimes it's hard to me to put the stress on the first syllable or I have the feeling that the stress is somewhere else, the best thing, of course, is try to hear and immitate. 

As for the medical pronunciation, here in Brazil, I've heard it of many ways, "KaPOsi", "KApozi", "KAposi", "KaPOzi". First, probably only a few doctors know that Kapozi was Hungarian (actuall,y once I've a doctor saying that he was Czech) and if even people knew that he was Hungarian, it wouldn't help a lot without some Hungarian knowledge. 
But I have never heard anyone saying the s as /sh/. And I'm not sure if I'm going to pronounce it this way from now on, since it could sound  as I'm showing off. 


Thank you again for the explanations!

Good bye.:


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## Zsanna

Tagarela, it is no surprising that people in general - and you in particular - don't want to pronounce the Hungarian "s" [sh] as such... 
Good news: it is only "obligatory" for Hungarians (and for some professionals who want to pronounce names as they are in their original, like some newsreaders)! 

The same way as a lot of people cannot pronounce the English "th" and come up with [z /s/f] etc. and nobody forces them to do otherwise. 
Eppur si muove!


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## Encolpius

If we take into considertaion that he was alive in the 19th century in Monarchy and worked in Vienna, I bet all pronounced his name as Austrians would.


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## bibax

In Bohemia we pronounce /*ka*poši/ with š (= sh).

Also we call the French president /*šer*kezi/ (not officially, of course) as Šerkezy is a surname in Bohemia.


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