Aonic pronunciation

[ShardlessVessel Forescout]

The word "Elantris" bugs me because I'm not sure if I misunderstood the rules for pronouncing Aonic words, if "Elantris" is an exception or if the name of the book is pronounced differently from the name of the city.

Here's my issue: Brandon pronounces it EH-LAHN-TREES. However, by my understanding of Aonic, it should be pronounced EE-LAYN-TRIES.

What am I missing?

[Firerust Gerontarch]

There are definitive in-world pronunciations, and then there are Brandon's pronunciation. And then of course, there are multiple other interpretations of how to pronounce it. If you want to be really technical about Aonic pronunciation, it's "EE-LAYN-TRISS" from Aon Ela being EE-LAY. But lots of people are annoyed by the technicalities of proper Aonic pronunciations, and "EH-LAHN-TRISS" or "EH-LAHN-TREES" are just the more generally accepted ones. But I would say the "correct" way to pronounce it... is the pronunciation you prefer to use. It's a matter of interpretation, so everyone will have their own answer and if it's valid for them, I think that's all the validity they need.

TL;DR: You decide. Everyone's got their own preferences.

[Oltux72 Gerontarch]

16 hours ago, ShardlessVessel said:

Here's my issue: Brandon pronounces it EH-LAHN-TREES. However, by my understanding of Aonic, it should be pronounced EE-LAYN-TRIES.

What am I missing?

Possibly just the passage of time. Elantris has stood long enough to reflect the pronounciation of a bygone era.

[ShardlessVessel Forescout]

15 hours ago, Firerust said:

If you want to be really technical about Aonic pronunciation, it's "EE-LAYN-TRISS" from Aon Ela being EE-LAY.

Thanks.

[Scadrian Truthwatcher Bridgeman]

The “correct” way to pronounce it is EE-LAYN-tris, and eh-LAHN-tris is technically wrong, but still acceptable (and, indeed, common). As it’s put in brandonsanderson.com:

Quote

Elantris = EE-Layn-tris (Though most people say el-lan-tris, which is fine.)