CLEMatiS, cleMAHtis, cleMAYtis

[ANNE V. GILBERT]

Bob:

I grew up in the NC mountains, as did my mom who's an avid gardener.  She's
always said CLEMatis in reference to that flowering plant.  I imagine that
that's the same pronunciation she's heard in the local garden club.  In
addition, her BS was a double major in science and home economics.  I've
never asked her if she ran into clematis in the classroom or lab, but I'll
quiz her when she gets back from the beach.

Merriam-Webster Online features CLEMatis and cleMATis among four different
pronunciations.

Well, first off, I'll have to look in the friendly local dictionary .  I
shoulda thought of that in the first place, but I had too many other things
on my mind at the time. And second, I wonder if these pronunciations *are*
regionally mediated(as well as perhaps age-mediated.  I live in Seattle, and
as I said, I heard CLEMatis when I was growing up, but a lot of people have
moved into Seattle from all over the place since then and presumably brought
their pronunciations with them, so I'm
wondering. . . .
Anne G


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