the curious phonology of Wisconsin

Douglas G. Wilson douglas at NB.NET
Mon Nov 22 01:09:29 UTC 2004


>The syllable division
>of the state name is
>
>wI - skan - s at n
>
>not wIs - con - s at n
>
>as the rest of us have it.

I didn't notice anything odd when I moved to Wisconsin.

AFAIK, I've always said /wI skan s at n/, although I grew up in Detroit. Never
thought about it, though.

I say /dI sk at rIdZ/ and /dI skard/ too, I guess, but /mIs k&lkjulejt/.

I suppose if I read aloud the unfamiliar word "discalculate" I would say
/dIs k&lkjulejt/.

I say /mI stejk/ but /mIs trit/, I think.

The /I/ is more schwa-like when it doesn't have the following /s/ in the
same syllable, I think. I suppose my tendencies are quite conventional in
these things?

-- Doug Wilson



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