Cold Mountain

[Natalie Maynor]

> -Hey, Miss Ada Monroe, a voice called softly.
>  Both names were pronounced in the ways that her father had hated. He had
> never tired of setting people right on the matter: Broad initial A in Ada;
> accented second syllable in Monroe, he would say. But over the summer, Ada
> had given up trying to enforce her name against everyone's natural leaning,
> and she was learning to be the Ada Monroe that the voice called. Long A,
> heavy Mon.
>
> I understand the accent on 'roe' and 'Mon,' but this broad A is confusing.

I assume that her father wanted her name to be pronounced ah-da monROE
but that it was regularly pronounced ay-da [eda] MONroe.

> And does the 'Long A" (sorry for the caps) mean [e]?

That's my guess -- the lay usage of "length" -- the one from elementary
school.

>I'm hoping some
> natives from the respective regions can shed light on this.

I'm not from either SC or NC (though many of my ancestors were).  I don't
think I've ever heard Ada pronounced ah-da.  Probably I have heard monROE
pronounced MONroe, though I've heard the former far more often.
   --Natalie Maynor (maynor at ra.msstate.edu)
     Mississippian