# pronunciation of sk-, st- etc.



## Gavril

How are the initial consonant clusters _sk- / st- _etc. (as seen in foreign-derived words/names like _Skandinavia_ and _Stadi_) generally pronounced in Finnish?

I've heard the pronunciation "Eskandinavia" / "Estadi", with a vowel inserted at the beginning, but I believe I've also heard "Skandinavia" etc., without any initial vowel. Are there regional or generational differences as far as which pronunciation is used?


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## Grumpy Old Man

I have never heard an initial vowel before _stadi_ and _Skandinavia_ or any other similar word. Any such vowel would be just as wrong as saying _Escandinavia_ in English.


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## hui

Gavril said:


> I've heard the pronunciation "Eskandinavia" / "Estadi", with a vowel inserted at the beginning



I would guess you've heard someone talking while still searching the right word:_ "ee...skandinavia." _(The break is very short, and the e's could also be other vowels, or m's or n's.)


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## Gavril

Grumpy Old Man said:


> I have never heard an initial vowel before _stadi_ and _Skandinavia_ or any other similar word. Any such vowel would be just as wrong as saying _Escandinavia_ in English.



Maybe the spelling "Eskandinavia" is misleading -- what I heard at the beginning of _Skandinavia _etc. was not a full, stressed vowel like the one you hear in _Espanja_, but an unstressed schwa. ("schwa" = the vowel written as [ǝ] in the phonetic alphabet, similar to the vowel you hear in some Finns' pronunciation of the word _helppo, _between _hel- _and _-ppo._)

One of my sources for this pronunciation is a Finnish learning tape I listened to several years ago. As far as I could tell from their accents, the speakers on the tape sounded like native Finnish speakers. But, I don't remember if this pronunciation was dominant in the speech of these speakers -- it may only have been a sporadic phenomenon.


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## Grumpy Old Man

Gavril said:


> But, I don't remember if this pronunciation was dominant in the speech of these speakers -- it may only have been a sporadic phenomenon.


I find adding the slightest vowel sound before any such Finnish word extremely odd and completely wrong.

GOM


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