I happened upon this by chance, I really like this thread.
I'm glad I'm not the only one that was bothered by the logic of Andalite naming and telepathy in the book.
One name I can think of off the top of my head. Coaldwin, that doctor guy that was all *ZOMG THEY HAVE NO TAIL*. The name looks aesthetically pleasing. I may even consider naming my kid that if that didn't make me feel ridiculously insane.
The problem is, there is no logical reason for an Andalite name to contain a "C." Hard C sounds can be described with the letter "K." Soft C sounds can be described with the letter "S."
My logic could be off, I'm not sure. I'm going to go back through this thread later and re-read it because I'm just happy I'm not the only one that thinks about this stuff, lol.
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As for Ax's name, when I was young reading the books (they were a BIG thing in my group of friends) we always pronounced it Axe-ih-mill-EYE.
A single one of our friends pronounced it "Ax-ih-MILL-ee." The rest of us were like "ew, why would you pronounce it that way? It sounds ugly obviously it was meant to be the other way."
Then the TV show came out. (Even though technically it was Ax-IH-mill-ee, he was still the closest.)
....
Well color me surprised and wrong. Kudos to the kid that stood his ground when we all called him silly, lol.
For the longest time hearing Ax say his full name on the show still really bothered me, it was like nails on a chalkboard.
Though, had I thought it through...according to the logic at the top of my post, Ax-ih-mill-ee, is the only way it could be pronounced, because we could only reason that all the i's in his name have to sound exactly the same. Andalite script would have to differentiate between sounds, and that would translate into English as different phonetic symbols, because we have the correct phonetic symbols to differentiate different sounds in his name.
Wait...but then his name would be "Ax-ih-mill-ih"...
I'm just going to stop while I'm ahead. (Technically I'm behind but maybe they won't notice...)
(I have to point out something...I think this makes me a little nostalgic for my own generation. In our youth, we debated phonetics and linguistics.
Now, they debate between Team Creepy Stalker Dude and Team Just Wont Give Up Already.
I really am getting old. I never though I'd be one of those "These dern' kids" types)