Pronounciation of savant

[John Doe]

I hope you don't mind that I bring up a rather linguistic topic [img]smile.gif[/img]

Before playing the game I allways pronounced savant like save on the first syllable and like releVANT on the second. I was quite surprised about the pronounciation in the game as I don't know any english words pronounced like that on the second syllable. My dictionary (oxford English of course) says that savant should be pronounced with the first a like in 'flat', the second like in 'arrival' and that the first syllable should be emphasized.
The in game pronounciation sounds actually rather rather french to me allthough I'm quite certain that french French wouldn't emphasize the 't' that much but rather pronounce it more nasal. Could the in game pronounciation be canadian French?

I'm not sure if the word is English or not LOL...In the American Heritage Dictionary (Dictionary of the English Language), it uses the same pronunciation you hear in the game (with the exception of the Rats that pronounce both a's the same). It is said to be of Old French origin, from the word savoir "to know" and means "A learned person".

If that helps you at all. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[fable]

Standard English pronunciation (for what that's worth) is modelled on the French: sah-VANT. But as you write, the French probably weaken or drop the final T. The term is most used in English to refer to people who are literaly retarded in many areas, but remarkable in one: idiot savants.

[Goumindong]

ya, but its really cool how different peoples pornounce it differently, dialects and all. Now if only there were chars we could speak to unless we had a certian char in the group.

example... you cant speak to the t'rang, because you dont speak the language, but one of them speaks your language, so you would have to take up an npc t'rang to speak to do the t'rang stuff, this would have been great atmosphere