PRONOUNCEMENTS ON HEZBOLLAH

posted by James Reel

    Burning issue of the day for radio people: How, exactly, do you pronounce “Hezbollah”? On NPR and PRI programs I’ve heard HEZ-bo-lah, hez-BOH-lah (from a Lebanese-American) and hez-bo-LAH, which covers all the bases. Here’s the official position of the BBC: hez-buul-AA. (Note not just the final-syllable stress, but also the vowel quality in the middle syllable.)
    One observer, though, insists that’s wrong: “It is certainly not the anglicized Hez-buul-AA but hezb-ULLL-ah with the stress on the double consonant L. Lebanese dont speak Farsi, and they pronounce Arabic words pretty much like modern standard Arabic.” So much for appealing to authority. In any case, remember that the Brits are responsible for such pronunciation abominations as the five-syllable “aluminium” and the Cervantes title “don quicks-oat.”