"Business takes Vi[z]a"

[Wilson Gray]

The influence of Spanish on English pronunciation is a lot less than
one might expect. For example, cf. the two versions of the old
rockabilly tune, Hot-Rod Lincoln, whose opening line contains the name
of a part of the Los Angeles Harbor District, San Pedro. The original
begins:

I left San _Peedro_ late one night

The remake begins:

I left San _Paydro_ late one night

The fully-anglicized "Peedro" is the Los Angeles standard. The
pswaydo-Spanish "Paydro" reveals the remake's singer as someone who's
never lived in "The Southland," as Southern California styles itself
among the anglorati.

In Texas, Antonio, Antonia and Federico, Federica, for example, fall
together as "anTONE-yuh" "feDREE-kuh," repectively, even among
Texicans. I have a Texican friend whose name is Noé "Noah." He
pronounces it "noy," as in (an)noy. In fact, he didn't even know that
his name in English was "Noah," till I showed him the relevant
passages in a Spanish-language Bible.

As it happens, Noé is a Harvardian who speaks completely-unremarkable
standard English without a trace of Latin or Texan in it. I recognized
him as a fellow-Texan only because he used to wear a letterman's
jacket with "Weslaco [Texas] High School" across the back. OTOH, his
wife is an Anglo [Come on! I don't *really* have to use "Angla," do
I?! Well, to quote Eric Frank Russell, "I won't! That's freedom, isn't
it?"] who speaks with a fully-entwanged Texas drawl.

-Wilson



On Sun, Aug 17, 2008 at 2:35 PM, James Harbeck <jharbeck at sympatico.ca> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       James Harbeck <jharbeck at SYMPATICO.CA>
> Subject:      Re: "Business takes Vi[z]a"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> In Canada, Vi[z]a is the standard everywhere, and it's always been a
> bit odd to my ear to hear Vi[s]a as I do when in the US (generally if
> I'm in the US I'm in the East, so I wasn't aware that it's [z] in
> some parts of the country). I had wondered whether this is due to the
> influence of French in Canada versus the influence of Spanish in the
> US, but perhaps it's not so.
>
> James Harbeck, who normally uses American Express (which is _not_
> Canadian Express in Canada!).
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



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All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Mark Twain

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