Local pronunciations

[FRITZ JUENGLING]

Well, here in Oregon, we have Lebanon, not to be confused with the country, which is Lebanon. What's the diff, you ask? Well, the stress--the city's last syllable is pronounced exactly as the last syllable in the name of the state as pronounced by a Webfoot--Orygun (more or less), hence
 LEB uh nun (more or less).  If anyone here ever said Leb uh NON, I'd know they were some furriner--probably would say Yaki muh and probably even soda.
Detroit has two local pronunciations- De TROIT and DEE troit.  Don't really know which the inhabitants (there aren't many of 'em) or even most Oregonians say.
I had a Hoosier friend who told me it was PEE ru (Peru) Indiana.  Never been there. Can anyone verify this pronunciation?
Fritz J

>>> hwgray at GMAIL.COM 10/25/05 02:04PM >>>
On  TV today, there were some people from New Madrid, MO. Needless to
say, "Madrid" is not pronounced as in Spain. Rather, it's MAD drid. In
like manner, Hayti, MO, is pronounced HAY tie. Unfortunately, I've
never heard the local pronunciation of Houston, the county seat of
Texas County, MO. In East and, perhaps in all of Texas, people say
"YEW st at n." I say HYEW st at n, myself. But, when I talk to my mother,
I'm reminded of the "correct" pronunciation.

FWIW, my wife, who's from Northeast PA, shares some  pronunciations
with my mother

YEW st at n  YEW b at t ?^mpfrI / YEW b at rt ?^mpfri  YEW (= Hugh  hue)  etc.

How do professional dialectologists deal with this kind of thing? It
must really grow hair on your chest!

-Wilson Gray