How would Augustus John have pronounced 'Vincent van Gogh'?

Question

Over the last 5 years I have been touring a one man show about Augustus John ( to cover the gaps when I haven't got other paid work ).

I'm very happy with the script and the production, but every time I take the show out of mothballs I wonder about this one line. How would someone born and brought up in South Wales to a severely English father have pronounced 'van Gogh' in 1912?

'Vann Goff' seems wrong for someone who had travelled a lot in Europe and spoke fluent German, Italian and Romany, 'Vann Go' seems just wrong, and the Dutch 'Fin Hocch' (apologies - no easy way to do phonetic symbols) is so unusual nowadays that the audience don't know who I'm talking about.

Remember I have to do this whilst maintaining a South Wales accent. (When I was researching the show in Tenby, where John was raised I got talking to two local women on the beach. One of them said "for God's sake, don't make him sound Swansea!" That's about 30 miles away.)

Answer 1

By 1912 even Peasants weren't all still using Gaelic, in a dialect sense,  OR if the most educated, spoke that name as they could in dialect, related to their environment, and in a slurring/slang sense "Van GAWWW" might have been common. Certainly not VON, or GOG....Not so very different from the clipped, guttural dialect of a German, but with slight smoother edges.

  Obviously in the UK, as "small" as the Island is, all of your "Countries" have varied accents and inflection in speaking, but more to the point might be that the easier,

way, or perhaps should have been, to be relatively familiar with some commonalities IF used in an English language sense, while still retaining NATURALLY, your own cultural dialect.

   No political inferences implied here, by the way.

  The articulation, of even the ENGLISH language so much depends on where one was born, a family one grows up in, IE: An INDIAN or AFRICAN who speak the English language, even eloquently, can be differentiated, even by the blind. A similar example might be for ME to become a resident of Mexico, even passing in some way, but having to learn to speak as they do, on so many levels, I have to believe I'd be BUSTED.

  Van GO, or Van GOOOOgh, accent on the "gh", may actually be very much, spot on.

Answer 2

Sounds like you are having fun. I personally would keep doing what you have been doing for the past 5 years up,

I sure wish I could go see the show, would you be willing to put it on you tube or something for us not able?

Van Gogh  (van gah ;)) the artist is my favorite.

Answer 3

I'm from South Wales. And I say Van Goff

Answer 4

There are two other options, a gutteral sound as in 'loch', or the French pronunciation if you can find that out as Augustus John spent some time in France I think and studied in Paris for a while.

If you just search for 'Van Gogh pronunciation' you'll find a lot of discussion which might give you some more ideas as to which could sound better.  I don't think you are going to find out much about the historic pronunciations unless you try things like sound archives.

Answer 5

like this

"insent an guf!"