"New Orleans," pronunciation thereof

[Laurence Horn]

At 10:08 PM -0400 7/1/09, Mark Mandel wrote:
>On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 9:34 PM, Jonathan
>Lighter<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>  All my life I said "New Or-LEENs" (note the "r"). Then I met people from
>>  there who ridiculed me because they said "NAWlins" only. ? They were my age,
>>  so that pronunciation must have been standard in the 1950s if not before.
>
>"new or-LEENZ" is also my pronunciation. The "r" will be there by
>default for rhotic speakers like me (NYC area) and absent for
>non-rhotics (including N.O.), so that difference is automatic here.
>
>But I've also seen a pronunciation described as "N'yawlinz" (iirc),
>with a /y/. Anyone know more about that?

And not just from N'Yawkuhs who've moved to the Crescent City?

LH

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