[Mesorah] shuruq pronounced like chiriq

[Mandel, Seth]

I know of no one who pronounces it "bawrikh."  Those (Polak, Galitzianer, Unterland Hungarians) who pronounce the last syllable as "ee/i" pronounce the first syllable as "oo," yielding "boorikh."
Aside from Tolkien's prodessed admiration for the Jews, the reference to the "ü" sound is important.  Oberland Hungarians pronounce the shuruq as "ü," and so the word is "burükh."
Linguistically, it is exceedingly probably that the "u" sound first became "ü," and the change from "ü" to "i" was a subsequent step.  The latter shift is well attested in Yiddish, where the Germanic "ü" switched to "i."  The entire shift (both stages) also occurred in English, where the plural of "book" used to be "beech, and Germanic "grun" (German "grün") became "green."

Seth Mandel

-----Original Message-----
From: mesorah-bounces at lists.aishdas.org [mailto:mesorah-bounces at lists.aishdas.org] On Behalf Of Poppers, Michael
Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2013 6:24 AM
To: 'Mesorah at Lists.AishDas.org'
Subject: [Mesorah] shuruq pronounced like chiriq

Many of us are familiar with those who pronounce the the first word of a b'racha as "bawrich."  In that regard, I thought the following JRRTolkien quote (just seen via http://torahmusings.com/2013/01/tolkien-and-the-jews/) would be of interest:
"In 1971 he explained the origins of his family name as (Letters, p. 410):
"'My name is Tolkien, anglicized from To(l)kiehn = tollkühn, and came from Saxony in the 18th century. It is not Jewish in origin, though I should consider it an honour if it were.'"

All the best from 
-- Michael Poppers via BB pager
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