quest for info/suggestions. re: dialects

[emckean at GERHARZ.COM]

On Tue, 5 Oct 1999, James Smith wrote:

>
> I usually pronounce the "c", but at times I drop it,
> especially in "Arctic Circle", which is not just a
> geographic designation but the name of a local
> fast-food chain.  It seems I hear others routinely
> pronounce the word with the "c" silent or weak, and
> when the "c" is pronounced, it is often stressed,
> almost a separate syllable.  Out of curiosity I
> referred to my 22-yr-old Webster's, which shows both
> pronunciations but with the pronounced "c" apparently
> preferred.
>
I just recorded a story for the Reading program of the big publishing
company I work for. It was about goose migration. I had to do *six* takes
of a sentence that included the words "Arctic and Antarctic", 'cause I'm a
habitual (not an habitual) c-dropper in these words.

I could *say* it fine, but the rest of the sentence sounded stilted and
unnatural around that phrase.

I don't think I have a future in voice-over, although I've been the
unofficial pronunciation answer person for this series. Mainly because I
know how to look things up in a dictionary! (Often more than
one dictionary, go figure.)

The result is that a bunch of five-year-olds will hear c-full "arctic" and
"antarctic," at least in this context. Us c-droppers might get shamed in a
few decades.

Erin McKean