the curious phonology of wisconsin

[Douglas G. Wilson]

 From Arnold Zwicky:

>....

>3.  the Oregon Effect: in very frequent, familiar words (like "Oregon"
>for Oregonians and "Wisconsin" for Wisconsinites), vowels with tertiary
>stress tend to lose it, with concomitant vowel reduction and (where
>appropriate) resyllabification; this is what gives the Wisconsinite
>pronunciation of "Wisconsin". ....

A very nice summary, thanks.

I confess to having used the furriners' pronunciation of "Oregon" (with
"-gon" like in "pentagon" etc.) in my youth. But I never used "Wiss-consin"
... or neither "Illinoise". I guess WI and IL were closer states and the
names were more familiar. I don't suppose that it is claimed that (e.g.)
residents of northern IL near the WI line universally use the outsiders'
version?

It is interesting that my RHUD gives the pronunciation /wIs kan s at n/ -- and
speaks it so -- while my MW3 shows /w@ skan(t) s at n/ (with no other choice
in either work).

-- Doug Wilson