Pronunciation of 'papa' in PNW English

[Alan Hartley]

> On the map found at this link, I see at least one respondent used 'papa'
> (stress on last syllable) as their word for 'father.'  Any of several
> explanations might lie behind this, for example that the person came from
> a family of immigrants whose ancetral language contained such a word.
> Another interesting possibility is that the person spoke Chinook Jargon.

Or it's just plain old English: p@'pa: (@ = schwa, stress on 2d
syllable) is the standard British pronunciation and was a common
alternate pron. in the U.S. into the 20th century. Mencken, in The
American Language, ed. 4, 1937, says "The chief movement in American, in
truth, would seem to be toward throwing the accent upon the first
syllable. I recall mamma, papa, inquiry, centenary, ally, recess, idea,
alloy, deficit, and adult" [acute accents on all first vowels].

Alan