Nicaragua

[Barbara Need]

I will admit to a comment about pretentiousness; however, I am not
responsible for the quote below which I am given credit for.

Barbara

>Barbara Need <nee1 at MIDWAY.UCHICAGO.EDU> writes:
>>>>
>
>The sound spelled "g" in Spanish somewhat resembles the sound spelled
>with the same letter in Dutch. Otherwise, the pronunciation of
>Nicaragua in English is only trivially distinct from its pronunciation
>in English. How does an English-speaker pronounce "Nicaragua" in such a
>way as to sound pretentious?
>
><<<
>
>In Latin American pronunciation the intervocalic /g/ is often fricativized,
>and /gw/ often becomes /w/. The first vowel in "Nicaragua" is [i:] in
>Spanish and [I] in English, the "a"s are [a] rather than schwa, and the /r/
>is a tap rather than a retroflex liquid.
>
>As for pretentious, see my previous e-mail.
>
>-- Mark A. Mandel
>[This text prepared with Dragon NaturallySpeaking.]