@Thaminga Here it is:

"Xiara" was how Viv would spell it, because even though Mom and Dad came from Taiwan, the Chinese school where the'd sent her had used Pinyin. Hsyara, maybe, almost Sierra, but not quite.

@starkatt ah! this clears up a lot 💙

the "Hsyara" spelling along with the pinyin-based "Xiara" makes me suspect the first consonant is a simple ɕ as found in Mandarin (as <x>) - I'm less sure about the R out of context, but given that both Mandarin and English have an approximant for that and there's nothing to indicate it's a rolling R otherwise, my best guess for the pronunciation would be [ɕaɻa] or maybe [ɕaɻə]

@Thaminga ugh, the IPA for English page lists r as being the English consonant even though the full chart says r is rolled :/ :/

@starkatt this is a matter of narrow vs. broad transcription; in broad transcription, typically marked like /this/ you'll see words represented by their phonemes in the simplest way possible that is at least reasonably accurate, or in other words it only sets out to represent things within the phonology of the language itself - narrow transcription marked like [this] is meant to be an accurate representation of the sounds themselves~

@Thaminga I learned a thing!

@starkatt /ɔr ɪn ˈʌðər wɜrdz, ɪts ðə ˈdifrəns biˈtwiːn rɛpriˈsɛntɪŋ θɪŋz ɪn ə dʒɛnərəˈlɪstɪk sɛns laɪk jud siː ɪn ə ˈdɪkʃənɛəri.../

[... ænd ˈdu.ɨn soʊ ɨn ə moɚ stɹɪkt̚ ˈmænɚ ðæʔ ʃoʊz ɑːf ˈɛɹi wiɻd kʰwɝk of maə ˈmɛltɪn pʰɑː-ɾæs ˈæksənt, ɪɾ̃əˈnæʃənɤ ˈɪnfɫuənsəz ən ˈɛɹiθeŋ.]

@Thaminga @starkatt That took some effort to read, but i'm guessing: "Or in other words, it's the difference between representing things in a generalistic sense like you'd see in a dictionary, and doing so in a more strict manner that shows off every weird quirk of my melting (????) accent, international influences and everything"

@Felthry @starkatt "melting pot-ass", otherwise spot on!