quest for info/suggestions. re: dialects

[Beverly Flanigan]

Interestingly, someone in my Sociolinguistics class the past hour asked how
you would ask for the right local pronunciation--esp. if you first attempt
the "bookish" form and get a funny look (the opposite of what Linda's
citing, except that in this case the NATIVES are appalled!). I said "just
be tactful and ask for the correct form"; in other words, the right to
correct is now THEIRS!  Besides the various Versailles, Lancaster, etc.
examples, we have a town called Chauncey, and newcomers invariably
pronounce it the "British" way, with /OH/=backward C (an
over-generalization, of course, since Northern England uses /ae/).  Again,
I assert the right of Chaunceyites to use /ae/ if they please, and they do!


At 11:16 AM 10/4/99 -0400, you wrote:
>Speaking of Americanizations, Atlanta's Ponce de Leon avenue is pronounced by
>locals PONS duh LEEun.  Newcomers to the city who have any background at all
>in Spanish are inevitably appalled.
>
>Linda Tucker
>Kennesaw State University
>