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[Donald M Lance]

on 6/27/02 1:12 PM, Laurence Horn at laurence.horn at YALE.EDU wrote:

> At 10:53 PM -0400 6/26/02, Scott Sadowsky wrote:
>> On 6/26/2002 22:38, Dale Coye wrote the following:
>>
>>> Bible names maintain the schwa-- Solomon, Simeon, Gideon,  except for
>>> Lebanon (though Lebanon, NY in Madison Co. again shows schwa for older
>>> speakers).
>>
>> FWIW, Mt. Lebanon, PA is pronounced ['lEb at nIn] or ['lEb at n@n] by the
>> natives.  Anything else marks you as an out-of-towner.  The country of
>> Lebanon is pronounced canonically, as ['lEb at nan].
>>
>
> Two (and a half) questions:
>
> (1)  Are we positive that it's a question of maintaining the schwa in
> these words/names, as opposed to an [a] gradually weakening to a
> schwa?

Bingo!
>
> (2)a.  Is Lebanon, Indiana also pronounced with a schwa (or barred i)
> locally?  I don't know if Dale's statement implies that the Indiana
> town always has a full secondary-stressed [a].

I've heard Tennesseans say a schwa for the town in their state.  Would the
"-an speakers" maintain the "full vowel" when the name of the state follows
-- "Lebanon, Indiana"?

Or in "Lebanon is a pretty town"? as opposed to "I live in Labanon"?
Same for Oregon, Illinois.

> b.  Does anyone know if Americans in Lebanon (the country in the
> Levant), such as the ones at the American university in Beirut
> (either now, if it still exists, or back when it did, before the
> unpleasantness a while back) pronounce the country's name with a
> schwa?

As in this web site -- "Welcome to Banque du Liban"?
>
> Of course, the questions in (2) can equally be taken as asking
> whether the final syllable in these town names is unstressed locally.
>
> larry
>