How to pronounce Libera.

[john45]

The boys themselves all seem to pronounce "Libera" with a short "i" as in Liberty which I have always assumed to be correct. On the Leiden DVD extras, Tom Cully confirmed this to be the preferred pronunciation. I have often wondered if Aled Jones, who favours the Italian sounding "Leebera", would ever get it right. Imagine my surprise on hearing RPs introduction to the PBS broadcasts where he too clearly pronounces the group's name as "Leebera".

[Hyphenacinth]

I think the  "Libera" with a short "i" is the right one I remember that they once made clear it in a radio interview.

[chris17]

I wonder if it started out with the long "e" but ended up being reduced to the short "i"; "i" generally takes less effort to say, and if you start saying a word with "e" fast enough it can sound like an "i" even if it was meant to be an "e". (In my college program, I took a phonetics class last semester and am currently in another phonetics-related class, and "e" vs. "i" is a topic that has seen a lot of debate - apparently the difference between the two has to do partly with duration and partly with the stress of the vowel, in addition to the position of the tongue.) I know some of the boys have said that it's pronounced with an "i" but, as far as I know, none of the boys from the beginning of Libera have specifically said it was, so I wonder if over time the boys just adopted that pronunciation.

[TullyBascombe]

It seems to me that it should be pronounced the way Mr Prizeman prefers.

[Lauren]

They sing the word "Libera" with a short "i".

[Hyphenacinth]

It seems to me that it should be pronounced the way Mr Priseman prefers.

LOL,yeah,Prizeman is the BOSS

[Yorkie]

RP is consistent in using the long 'EE' pronunciation and I assume it is due to his knowledge of church Latin. Most of the boys (but not all) are like us ordinary folks and don't really have much knowledge of speaking Latin and therefore use the modern English way of saying it.

Suits my Northern brogue to use the short 'I' way of saying it. Have to leave you now, I'm off for my bath

[john45]

.Suits my Northern brogue to use the short 'I' way of saying it

Well, with my home counties accent and classical education, from now on it's "Leebera" for me. Vive la difference!

[Yorkie]

.Suits my Northern brogue to use the short 'I' way of saying it

Well, with my home counties accent and classical education, from now on it's "Leebera" for me. Vive la difference!

Classical education? Does that mean you went to school in Victorian times then?

[john45]

.Suits my Northern brogue to use the short 'I' way of saying it

Well, with my home counties accent and classical education, from now on it's "Leebera" for me. Vive la difference!

Classical education? Does that mean you went to school in Victorian times then?

No, only that it was before the rot, when Latin was still on the curriculum.

[TullyBascombe]

When the "i" liber is pronounced with a short "i" it means "book", when the "i" is pronounced "ee" it means free.

[Amie_Hill]

I've listened to four interviews with Robert Prizeman in the last hour:

(Japan 2006)
(Japan 2008)
(Salt & Light, Canada, 2011)
and the Songs of Praise special

In all of these, and in other interviews, he and all others in the group are clearly saying LIB-er-ah, and not LEE-ber-ah. Aled Jones may have a slow learning curve.