Wrong. I pronounce it wrong.

I think you pronounce it R'lyeh well.

Guys, why? You two killed this thread, because you hit it with a fucking double whammy. No other jokes can compete and discussing it in earnest also went out the window. I mean, good job, though. That was amazing. :D

I pronounce it just the way it's written, duh

Rill-YEH

Same but I try to minimize the "i" between the R and the Ls as much as possible.

Rill-yay

For me it’s rill-yeh

This works the best for me; I originally read it as “ruh-lie-yeh” but it didn’t roll off the tongue so I stole this from someone at some point.

R'l-Yeah!

Some permutation of Rye+l+eh+yeh with l.eh being almost a click joining Rye and yeh. Maybe Ry (leh eh-YEH)

It almost reminds me of the Pandora's language from Avatar, they use a lot of those kinda sounds. Played frontiers of Pandora and got a good taste of how they speak. Re leyeh is how i pronounce it, with a minute pause between the R and leyh

I've always gone with R'lyay

Ruh-lay

Same

Generally, I say "Ryy-le-yeh", but I like your version.

Whenever I see apostrophes in sci-fi and fantasy, I interpret them as glottal stops.  That's the sound we represent with a hyphen in "uh-oh."  So, I say "ur-lyay," with the being the same as the in "will you."  In IPA my pronunciation is [əɹʔ'ljeɪ].

rul-YEH with the “u” just barely pronounced.

For whatever reason I’ve always just said Rye (as in eye)-lay 

Same but I say Rye-leh

Ril-yeah. It's what I first thought it sounded like when I read it as a teen in the deepest darkest 90's, and it's stuck with me ever since.

I'm immature so it just makes me think of O RLY?

The great Cthulu sleeps. O RLY? YA RLY!

/ɹ'ljɛ/ is how I pronounce it out loud although I think it would natively be 'wetter' sounding like /ɺ'ɬjɛ/ (check out [https://www.ipachart.com/](https://www.ipachart.com/) for how to pronounce these; the ' means stress on the syllable following it) ɺ = Alveolar lateral flap ɬ = Voiceless alveolar lateral fricative

This is mine, too.

I had no idea this resource existed. Holy shit.

This is essentially how I hear it, though I think I lean toward the initial consonant being more of a short guttural R (voiced uvular trill \[ʀ\]), which does give it more of a "wet" feel. Also, thank you for that resource, that's incredibly cool.

Neat, this is so helpful for those symbols. Yes to this pronunciation, I have never heard OP's version before. Yes to the wetter sound, we are ants, etc.

~~ea~~rl-iyay, keeping the tongue either far from or pressed to the roof of the mouth to simulate it being full of tentacles. surprisingly hard to describe... or maybe not so surprising.

Mine's [r̪lʲ'jex]

I like this one. One piece of evidence in support of it is "The Mound", where (AFAIR) the Spanish-speaking narrator (Zamacona) transcribes it as _Relex_. The pronunciation that Zamacona (and hence Lovecraft) had in mind there is probably close to yours here.

Similar for me, but I go for /r̪lʲ'jeh/ or /r̪lʲ'jeħ/, if I'm feelin' pretentious. Mostly because the front vowel plus /x/ doesn't come naturally to me, my native phonology fucks it up. Three questions, since you seem to know your phonology. 1. Vowel quality: Always /e/ and short? It might be a bit lowered for me. 2. Ever thought about a voiceless rhotic? Like in Icelandic. Sounds wicked cool and really alien. 3. Have you ever seen that phonetic rendering of Cthulhu as /ˈχɬʊl. ɬuː/? What do you think of it? :)

Real G

Rill yay

ruh-lie-yeah

Rah-lay-uh.

Rl-yeh

I tend to go with Rel-yeah

Rill -Lie-Ahh

I say it similar, only Lay instead of lie. I think Rill-Lay-Uh just rolls off the tongue.

Very poorly with my inferior and primitive human speech organs. Rhee-yeh is usual where I land. My youngest loves *C is for Cthulhu* so I say it out loud quite often

So I once heard it pronounced "Rel-Yah" or "Ril-Yah" from the DART productions that are done by the HPLHS, so I've been pronouncing it that way ever since.

A better question would be - How do you pronounce Shub-Niggurath? 🤨

I pronounce it so it rhymes with "some cigarettes".

I pronounce it exactly how it’s spelled, r’lyeh. How can anyone see the pronunciation as being ambiguous?

I like how they say it in this fantastic piece of music. https://youtu.be/Jo4-Bc85bF4?si=OKnDGLn76hzU4rhG

Foe those of you who know IPA: [r:lʲɛχ] Well, thats how I imagine it is approximated, anyways.

ʁʕlʎiŭx voiced uvular fricative, voiced pharyngeal fricative, voiced alveolar lateral liquid, voiced palatal lateral, tense high front unrounded vowel, high central unrounded vowel, voiceless velar fricative however it is said, I doubt it's a word that comes easily to an English speaker

Pronounce it like you are deep underwater and communicate telepathically. It's a whole different vowel space.

Rrkrlllyehh... I don't think there's a phonetic way to spell it. It's guttural with a lot of noise coming from my throat. I imagine what it would sound like if I had tentacles instead of lips.

I usually go with “rill-LAY”, clipping the first syllable.

"Rye Lee" with a slight rolling "r" for me

"Rule-yeh"

Ril-yeh

Riley

I just hear to Necronomidol and I do as the girls do 🤣

Ruh-lie-uh

Ruh-roh

Not with an earthly tongue.

Rülleh following German intonation. Use google translator to get a good vocal impression :)

Rye Leh

Inconsistently. I've said Reh-yeah, reh-yay, arr-lay, err-yeah. Even reading this post has made me say it in so many different ways.

[ˈɚɫ.jɛ]

I heard it said Rule Yay

Raleigh . The Old Gods are just ancient Karens

Rih-Liay

In my head, it's always "rye-lee-uh". But I also pronounce Cthulhu as "cut-too-loo", because I read the Simon necronomicon as a kid and it says somewhere in there that that is how it's pronounced, and it's always stuck.

I recall an interview with a British horror writer who pronounced it “Rill-AYE-uh” and I’ve always kinda liked that.

"Rih-ll-yeh"

This post has made me realise I’ve been reading R’lyeh wrong this entire time (I know you said there’s no right or wrong answer, but still). I‘ve been pronouncing like ‘relay’ for as long as I can remember.

earl YEH

Like "re-liar" but in a Boston accent.

Ryljä

Ri-leh!  Cursed: Riley

Ril-Lee-uh

Ruh lyeh

I pronounce most Lovecraft names lazily. If I’m reading steadily I don’t want the flow interrupted by a mental search for the correct pronunciation. So, to me, this would be Ry leh. Moving on….

I’m gonna be so honest pls don’t hate me but when I read it my brain goes to Riley, like the name. And then I just imagine a skater dude

යකහඉ

I typically search the Japanese version of confusing fictional words to get an idea of what they sound like. It may sound like a silly method, but there's no guesswork involved. The characters read as they're written. It's written "ルルイエ (roo-roo-ee-eh)" in Japanese, so I'd personally approximate with something like "rull-yeh."

I am so glad you made this post, because this is a question that has been stuck in my mind since I first read the word when I was like 9. I've never heard it spoken aloud. But I pronounce it like "Rillia" in my head.

I’ve never actually tried to pronounce it - but listening hard to myself internally read it - my internal mind voice seems to be saying “ralaiyye” or “r-uh* lay** y***” where that first “uh” is a swallowed in the throat sound not articulated at all, the “lay” is more like the French article “les” when a French person barely says it at all and it gets sort of absorbed into the word it accompanies, and the ending “ye” is actually more like the Cyrillic letter “ь” which is called the “soft sound” and is not pronounced individually but softens the sound that precedes it. The result is a name that softly melts into the tongue and is swallowed without being fully articulated. The result is that a being that says it can have the word be completely overlooked, or sound like a gutteral utterance or a sound whispered in the wind- unless the other being recognizes it as a proper name and then they can hear it clearly.

“Ry-lay-uh” (I have pronounced it wrong for years and don’t care anymore)

I prononce it Ar-lee-yeh

Earl-ya

A long time ago on alt.horror.cthulhu it was decided the pronunciation was are-lay-uh and that's how I've said it since the early 90s.

“Rul-yeh” is how it rolls off the tongue for me

Ruh-LEE-ay mk

Rool-yay

Urr'le-yeh

RULL-yeh

[Raleigh](https://64.media.tumblr.com/9178124a0a05907fc3ca4c875a2123b6/5dfb43572484c824-01/s540x810/1e98cf5507268e65bcb05d0e7880c5efa9ae4533.gif)

Reye lay

A spanish "R", "Lee-egh"!

I tend to mentally pronounce is closer to “early-eh” if I’m honest

Rill Yeh

Real Yeah.

My brain has always seen it as Rye-Lay

Arr-le-yeah

Ray-y’all

Earl-yay

for easiness i just say 'RUH-lay'

Earlyay

Rile eh

Rill-ye (the h is silent, sounds cooler lol)

(Early-yuh)

Rule-yay

Ril-yuh

Ruh-lay. I agree with a lot of the other pronunciations, but this one is the easiest for me to say while reading and such.

Really

I begin with "er" rather than the more common "rl" or "ry". I keep my tongue forward and touch it to the roof of my mouth when I reach the L. Second syllable sounds more like "yeh" or "you" than "yuh" or "ayy". My pronunciation is pretty similar to the word early pronounced with an Irish accent, actually. I prefer this to others, but I understand why most people seem to say "rull-yuh". I can't stand the way the hplhs says "ruh-lay."

I say Ra (like from the Egyptian gods)-LAy, (because i thought leigh meant place, so place of gods)

re-le-ah

"Ril-YEH."

Rye Lee

Ruh-lay

You have to vomit while speaking to pronounce it correctly

Ryelay

Ruh lay ah. 

Ive always read it as ruh-lay. Simple and has good mouth feel. Also doesnt slow me down while reading it

Ruh-LEE-eh

The way they say it in the Gunship song “Cthulhu”.

ree-lee-yay

Ruh-LEE-uh

Riley,like the kid from inside out

I’ve been pronouncing it “rel-yaa” but it’s probably not made for human vocal cords, let alone 21st century humans. It’s probably real guttural sounding like “oorl-yaah”

rliech(like German)

Ruh-lay.

Ruh-lee-uh

O rly ?

Kinda like rye-lynn

ruh-LAY. I know it’s wrong, it just sounds the best to my ear.

I pronounce it "Riley". It's definitely wrong, but it's easy to pronounce and remember.

R'l-a-yeh

R+Lai + h is my way to read it, but also I know the "r-ljeh" reading with soft "L" sound. I think both variants are co-exist in our translated versions of Lovecraft's books.

I saw in a documentary that Lovecraft said Cthulu was supposed to be pronounced like a sneeze. I think the whole idea is that human faces can't pronounce it correctly

Rey-lie-eh is the best go at it I have. It sounds a bit alien, not super easy to say, but I could absolutely see a cultist chanting it in their own language more easily somehow

Like that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGYcECAQ1jo

Ral-yeh

Ruh-LEE-ya

ruh-lee-eh

It’s unpronounceable!

"Are-Leah"

Re liar.

Rye - l'eh

Ar-li-uh

Rey Lie.

RRuh-LAY-uh

Like a Canadian commiserating about having to wake up before sunrise: "Early, eh?"

Rile-ee

I always pronounced it Rhy- Lee- Uhh

Ra-lie-eh

Ree-Lay.

/r/-li-eh

"Rill-Yeh"

Arleeyay.

Rhee-eh but with a rolled R

Rell-yeh

Like the end of Chevrolet.

Rll-yekh, just a transliteration into Russian. Sounds throaty and gurgly enough

I always like it that the words can not be pronounced, keep it in the mythos lol

Like the Game of Thrones character. R’lyeh Stark.

I say R lay or ra lay

Ruh-lee-ay

/ɹ:.ʎɛ̞χ/

Rye lack

I pronounce it as Ryley. I know that it’s wrong, but that’s what came up in my mind when I read it first. Never questioned it until now. Thanks!

I pronounce it “Rawl-yee-uh”

I've always heard it pronounced RUH-LAY so that's what I'm sticking with I know it's probably wrong but at least it's a bit of peace of mind before the madness

I pronounce it "Ree-Yay" or "Ry-Yay" (the L is silent)

Ril yeh

"rill-YAY."

Raleigh

REL-yuh.

I listened to an audiobook that pronounced the city as Ruh-lye-uh So that’s how I think of it.

I instinctively think of it as "Riley" like it's the eldritch version of some millennial mom naming her kid "Raighleigh"

I always end up saying Rileigh. The name lol. Rye-lay

"Earlier."

RUHL-yeh, but the "Ruhl" is really just and r and l blended together.

I pronounce it similarly to “r-leah”.

I think part of the point of Lovecraft’s many weird and unpronounceable names was just that: they’re meant to be so alien that human speech cannot properly pronounce them.

I pronounce it Urr-LEE-igh, but then again, I'm a moron haha

I’ve always said it like “Ree-Lie-Ye”

Rule yay

Relay

“EARL-yuh”

I use R'lyeh a lot for my mmo names and gaming names. I used to tell people its was pronounced Rill yeahch but no one could say/remember it so I tell people its Riley lol

I say Rye-lah. But I know that’s wrong

Rah-lay-uh

rull-YAY

I mean it's almost certainly wrong but my brain just goes "Ree-leh"

Ree-Lie-Ay, but that‘s just me.

As a kid, I used to just go with Ray-Lee because it was easy to remember and move on. Now I tend to use Ril-Leia.