Pronunciation advice - Mullaperiyar and Kolaveri

The controversy around the Mullaperiyar dam has been around for a while. The correct pronunciation of the word is Muller-peri-yahr. In Hindi this would read as मुल्लअप्पेरियार. The 'e' sound is short like in pen, not long like in pain. In Malayalam, this would read as മുല്ലപ്പെരിയാര്‍. Interestingly, Tamil Nadu writes the name of the place as முல்லைபெரியார் which would be pronounced as mull (rhyme with bull)-eye-peri-yahr. But since the place is located in KeraLa, I would recommend going with the earlier pronunciation.

The other word doing the rounds right now is Dhanush's new loser anthem - Why this Kolaveri Di. The correct pronunciation of the word is cull-uh-very. The actual sound is between coal and cull. So a better way of saying this would be to say coal and shorten the vowel sound (closer to cull). Otherwise go with cull-uh-very. In Hindi this would read as कोलअवेरि. Of course both the vowels will be short. In Tamil, this would read as கொலவெறி. The word literally means bloodthirst or murderous rage. 

Pronunciation advice - Soumya murder case

There was this gruesome rape and murder in a train in Kerala last year. The accused has been sentenced to death by the court. The accused is called Govindachamy and pronounced as go-win-the-saw-me (ideally sah-me). In Hindi this would read as गोविन्दअसामी. The other names associated with this case

Shoranur - shore-noor (to rhyme with poor) शोरणूर 

Vallathol Nagar - वळ्ळतोळ नगर 

Thrissoor - three-shoo(r) त्रिशूर 

Vridhachalam - वृद्धाचलम 

Commonly Mispronounced Words 28 - Quotient

I was watching Kaun Banega Crorepati. A spoken English trainer landed up as a contestant. The question was 

"In IQ, what does Q stand for?"

The correct answer of course was 'quotient'. The lady got it right immediately. But she pronounced the word as co-shunt. Amitabh Bachchan also pronounced it like that. And she got the answer right. However, that is the wrong way to pronounce the word. The correct way is 

kwo-shunt or क्वोशंट. The vowel sound in shunt is that of a schwa i.e. a short unaccented syllable.