Pronouncing Pokémon

If you see weird stuff below, you may not be equipped to see all the letters/symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet, used for phonetic transcription.

Continuing the discussion on linguistic matters from the previous post on languages, I have mentioned that as a linguist I am demanded to know some of the principles that make language work. One of those involves how expressions of language are pronounced, included under the heading of phonology and phonetics. Any spoken expression can be put under phonological scrutiny, and that includes things from the world of Pokémon, even the word "Pokémon" itself. I find this important as I frequently have to talk and speak about Pokémon due to my attachment to it.

First up is the word "Pokémon". Though the derivation of the word is obvious (from "pocket monsters"), pronunciation may not be quite straightforward. I (and many English speakers) pronounce the word as [ˈpokemɑn] with stress on the first syllable and the "mon" portion somewhat like the word "monster". Due to the "é", however, sometimes my pronunciation tends to become [ˈpoke(ɪ)mɑn] in what could be seen as an overemphasis. However, I tend to cringe at (and therefore don't support) the pronunciation of *[ˈpokɪmɑn]; while it is true that the [ɪ] is directly taken from the pronunciation of "pocket", thereby also resulting in the logically derived pronunciation of *[ˈpɑkɪmɑn] from its word formation process, somehow these just do not sound pleasant or acceptable... except maybe for the former, and only in the case of Team Rocket's Meowth in the English dub, whose pronunciation is indeed as such. My Indonesian colleagues tend to pronounce it as [ˌpokeˈmon], close to the Japanese syllabic pronunciation. My pronunciation can then be said to be an "authentic hybrid" of the Japanese and English relationships of the word.

As for individual Pokémon names, they differ in different languages and therefore have different pronunciations, though some do remain the same, like Pikachu, the de facto series mascot. Taking this as an example, I take after Ash in the English dub of the anime and pronounce it as [ˈpɪkətʃu], though at times this may become [ˈpɪkɜtʃu] when I'm not feeling up to snuff. My Indonesian colleagues pronounce the Pokémon as [ˌpɪkaˈtʃu], close to the Japanese [ˌpɪkaˈtʃuː] by way of the name being rendered in Japanese as ピカチュウ (pikachuu) with an extended vowel. This is a fairly simple and universal example; others are beyond the scope of this post and would take too long to explain.

As Pokémon and its associated elements can be discussed in spoken language, pronunciation becomes somewhat of an important matter. Because of its transcendence across languages, the pronouncing of Pokémon and elements can and do accrue differences due to influences of the languages that accompany it, whether English, Japanese, or otherwise. I find that it becomes an important phonological phenomenon in that way and one that is useful to be fleshed out according to phonetics and phonology.