How do you pronounce "Asperger's?"

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To my understanding there is no correct pronunciation outside of the German language. Take your pick.

I prefer ASP-URGES

.. ASS BURGERS is americanised and sounds demeaning

I tend to pronounce it with a very short, barely-there "A" (almost more like "uh" than "a") and a hard "G". Also, I stress the second syllable (so basically, "asPERger"). I don't know if it's meant to be pronounced that way, but it's what I grew up with and whenever I pronounce it like that people seem to know what I mean, so I'm quite happy pronouncing it like that.

I pronounce it primarily as 'autistic psychopathy'.

Not only is it more correct, but it seems to keep people away from me.

Asperger: (difficult to describe for english ears).
As like "Aspen".
per like "bear" with a soft p.
ger like "gir" in girl, but short. (That is the closest, I can come).

As pear gir
As per ger

take "ass-burgers"
replace the initial a with the first sound in "I"/the spanish sound for "a"
replace "b" in burgers with a soft, non-aspirated p.

as-prgrs.

I like the oxford way of saying it.

a-sper-gers

short vowel "a" and a hard "g" sound.

The Webster version sounds like "ass burgers" as if you can s**t hamburger out of your ass and if you could? you might be working for McDonnalds.




[img][800:688]http://static.fjcdn.com/large/pictures/99/ca/99ca62_176376.jpg[/img]

ARSE BURGERS, as I'm British...



No, I pronounce it 'asperjers' because the other way sounds like hemorrhoids or something.

It annoys the hell out of me when I watch YouTube videos by English speakers and they say it with a soft "g". There is no soft g in the German language, except in loanwords (= words that were borrowed from other languages), mainly words of French origin. But this is a German name. It's pronounced with a hard g.

Asperger's Syndrome is named after the guy who discovered it. The German speaking Austrian Dr. Hans Asperger. But what was HE named after? Or what was his family line named after?

The question has relevance to how English speakers pronounce the name of the condition named after him.

In Britain both the hard G and the soft G pronunciations are common and are considered acceptable, as far as I know. But here in the US only the Guden Tag, or hard G, pronunciation is accepted, and you rarely hear the J pronunciation. And to me, an American, that J sound in the word sounds wrong as heck.

But here is the thing. Most surnames are either the name of your ancestor's profession, or are the word for some geographic place your ancestor came from.

There is a town called "asperg" in southern Germany. So if Hans Asperger's ancestors came from that place, or somewhere with a name like that, then the hard G (good) pronunciation is the only possible right one.

However...there is an actual word in the English language as "Asperger". It exists in both English and in German, with the same spelling. To "asperg" means "to sprinkle holy water during Catholic church rituals". In German the word is pronounced with a hard G, but in English its pronounced with the soft J sound.

Someone who does that task, of sprinkling holy water, is an "asperjer" in England, and an "Asperger" in the German speaking world, even though the spelling is the same both languages (with a "g").

So if the doctor's got his name from an ancestor who was given the name because he had the job of being a sprinkler of holy water then it would make sense to accept either pronunciation. If his ancestor was an "Asperger" in a church then the English soft G pronunciation would be an acceptable alternate pronunciation, even if the German speaking Austrian Dr. Hans Asperger himself pronounced his name with a German hard G because his name is the same word as the English word of the same meaning and spelling ergo you could be allowed to pronounce that word in the English way.

All of this is making me laugh whilst at the some time confusing me.

Thank goodness it says ASD on my diagnosis.

I guess the easiest way to try to explain in writing how I say it is that I pretty much say "ass-burgers," except with a very distinct "p" instead of a "b" and kind of an "eh" sound after it. I can't think of any way to write out my pronunciation other than just separating it into syllables because to me, that's how it looks like it should be pronounced.