Never seen a Fiordland Crested Penwing, but I've seen many other species, for example: Gentoo Pengwing, King Pinwin, Chinstrap Pangwig, Little Blue Pingwaa, African Pingwang, Macaroni Pingwong, and Humboldt Pigwig ~Thylo
These are all names for animals that are / were derived from the Tupi-Guarani indigenous tribes of the Atlantic and Amazon rainforests of Brazil. The way you have said you pronounce these words actually closely matches the way they are pronounced in these indigenous languages (though in some tribes the word tapir is pronounced as "Tapiira") so well done, I'm impressed. It is also the pronounciation for the words jaguar and tapir in the Spanish language too.
Sorry to correct you on this but the word "iguana" does not come from a Tupi-Guarani language but from the Taino peoples who inhabited the Caribbean. The Taino were historically an indigenous civilization who migrated from the Guianas and the Amazon to the Caribbean islands which they colonized and who quickly became extinct after the Spanish colonization of the region. However, the Taino were not ethnically Tupi-Guarani but rather an ethnically Arawak peoples therefore the word "iguana" linguistically is derived from an Arawak language (now as extinct as the peoples who spoke it).
I pronounce tapir the same as taper, but I’ve heard it pronounced as tay-peer and tah-peer as well. The real question is do you pronounce emu as ee-moo or eem-yoo?
This website, Forvo, can be very helpful: Forvo: the pronunciation dictionary. All the words in the world pronounced by native speakers You type in the word and it shows how to pronounce it, based on different dialects. It is user submitted, though. Adding tapir to the long, long list of animal names I pronounce incorrectly...
Well however you pronounce it or mispronounce it doesn't really matter as the important thing here is that you clearly do not mistake it for being an "anteater" as many zoo visitors invariably end up doing.
I say tay-pur....but this makes me remember a nice story. When I was younger, and had first learned of the animal, because of the language my family had with the English language, when me and my dad were reading one of the many animal books I had, we came across the Malayan Tapir...and here's how I went around pronouncing tapir until just a few years ago : "tap-i-lir" . I'm not sure where the L came from...
That's interesting - I have always thought it was from a Tupi word, but looking it up now shows that is indeed from Arawak.
I guess I've been pronouncing it wrong my whole life, because I always called them Tay-Purrs, Since that's what I heard other people calling it throughout my lifetime so far.
Me Too It seems to me that most British people pronounce it this way but I don't get the need for three vowel sounds considering how it's spelt.