Pronouncing Wisconsin

Mircea Sauciuc msauciuc at GMAIL.COM
Thu Dec 21 19:00:20 UTC 2006


Oddly, I had a friend in high school (northwestern suburbs of
Chicago--about 45 minutes from Wisconsin) pronounce it "Win.scon.sin".
 She was the only person who I ever heard pronounce it this way.


On 12/21/06, Scot LaFaive <spiderrmonkey at hotmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Scot LaFaive <spiderrmonkey at HOTMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Pronouncing Wisconsin
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I can definitely hear the difference. Oddly enough, I think our last
> governor even pronounced it like that, so not only will we allow those who
> mispronounce the word (as the good Mr. Z might say, since my dialect is of
> course the correct one) into the state, but we might even elect you
> governor.
>
> Scot
>
>
> >From: Chris F Waigl <chris at LASCRIBE.NET>
> >Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >Subject: Re: Pronouncing Wisconsin
> >Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2006 18:10:38 +0000
> >
> >---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >-----------------------
> >Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >Poster:       Chris F Waigl <chris at LASCRIBE.NET>
> >Subject:      Re: Pronouncing Wisconsin
> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >Scot LaFaive wrote:
> >
> > > I've noticed lately that many commercials played in Wisconsin seem to
> >have
> > > people clearly pronouncing the /k/ sound in the second syllable, and it
> > > sounds odd to me. From what I gather from 31 years in Wisconsin, it
> >seems
> > > that natives generally don't clearly pronounce the /k/; I think we tend
> >to
> > > voice it as /g/, but I may be wrong in my analysis (my ears don't
> > > distinguish so well, the lazy fools). Just curious if anyone else has
> > > noticed this or can confirm or correct me.
> > >
> >
> >Asking as someone who only very occasionally hears "Wisconsin"
> >pronounced: Is this really a difference between /k/ and /g/ or between
> >[k(h)] (aspirated) and [k] (unaspirated)?
> >
> >Chris Waigl
> >
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--
Mircea C. Sauciuc
Department of Linguistics
University of Kansas

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