How do you pronounce 'melee?'

[Umbran]

There is no word stress in French, only sentence stress.

Technically, it is "prosody" - and it applies to a word when said alone. You'd not put the stress on the end of an English sentence due to it containing one French word, so typically you put that stress on the French word as if it were alone. Or at least, so I was taught in French class.

The reference to French is really only for guidance. This is something that English has mugged French for, and made off with it. As I noted earlier, in English the stress may be on either syllable.

 

[Desdichado]

People keep saying this - without being explicit about which pronunciation they mean and why they think it is correct. Wikipedia gives two, as I've mentioned above, and American and British English seem to disagree on the primary appropriate pronunciation.

My dictionary only gives one.

As I've gone into at length, I can't see how may-lay is a 'valid' pronunciation, but I'm not going to say it's wrong seeing it is how Webster lists the pronunciation. It's certainly not the way I'd think it should be pronounced!

Why would you go on about that at length? There's no lengthy discussion to be had. When asking how to pronounce a real word (as opposed to some made-up term like ixitxachitl or something) all you do is look it up in the dictionary.

Problem solved, question resolved.

 

[Nifft]

Doesn't have anything to do with English spelling really; it's a French word.

without being explicit about which pronunciation they mean and why they think it is correct.

One can infer he's talking about the French pronunciation (MAY•LAY).
One can infer he's saying it is correct based on the word's derivation.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Umbran]

Doesn't have anything to do with English spelling really; it's a French word.

Yes and no. It is a word in French. It is also, at this point, a word in English, taken from the French. In English it has been subject to English-style drift in pronunciation and usage.

 

[jgbrowning]

Also, everyone I know pronounces "drow" as in "row", with a "D" at the beggining (I know this is "officially" wrong, but bear with me)

Row can be pronounced two ways. Row as in "row the boat" (rhymes with toe) and row as in "there was a big row last night" (rhymes with cow). There's nothing that English doesn't endeavor to make harder.

joe b.

 

[rogueattorney]

Row can be pronounced two ways. Row as in "row the boat" (rhymes with toe) and row as in "there was a big row last night" (rhymes with cow). There's nothing that English doesn't endeavor to make harder.

joe b.

And row (rhymes with "cow") is the same thing as a melee (pronounced "may-lay"). Thus bringing this whole conversation full circle.

 

[lejanius]

According to dictionary.com this is the correct way to go.

Mey-ley or Mel-ey

Melee Definition | Definition of Melee at Dictionary.com

 

[Aus_Snow]

Mel-ay for the English language, Mel-ay for the French. And the latter, for those who primarily speak English but prefer to pronounce borrowed French words as the French might.

Or close enough that it oughtn't matter, anyway.

 

[Desdichado]

Yes and no. It is a word in French. It is also, at this point, a word in English, taken from the French. In English it has been subject to English-style drift in pronunciation and usage.

Well, if you want to be that pedantic, I'd argue that it's still mostly a french word, and it's still mostly italicized as a foreign word would be when you see it in print.

It's becoming increasingly naturalized over time, though, yeah.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

I pronounce it maladaladingdong because who cares how it's supposed to be pronounced? Screw the French, it's our word now and we'll mutilate it along with all the other English words!