"Business takes Vi[z]a"

[Doug_Harris]

Which was precisely my point in the first place: There _are_ differences
(even though several responders on this list said they'd never heard, or
heard of, Alicia being pronounced any way but A-LEE-Sha.
I was not claiming that A-LEE-CEE-A was _the_ CORRECT spelling, simply
that it is, in fact, an alternative -- one chosen, undoubtedly, by some
parents of kids with that name.
(Note I did _not_ say 'girls': Though I've never heard of a male Alicia,
who's to say there isn't one?)
dh


Arnold M. Zwicky
Sent: Monday, August 18, 2008 11:10 AM
Subject: Re: "Business takes Vi[z]a"

On Aug 18, 2008, at 7:30 AM, Doug Harris wrote:

> Joel --
> FYI:
> Here ya go:
> http://www.howjsay.com/index.php?word=alicia

... a site that apparently provides a single "correct" pronunciation
for each word.   in this case, a 4-syllable "conservative"
pronunciation (that sticks close to the spelling, giving one vowel for
each vowel letter; and with stressed [I] rather than [i], perhaps by
trisyllabic laxing).  the two 4-syllable pronunciations sound old-
fashioned or british to me, but maybe that's just because i don't hear
them very often.

in the real world, there are four pronunciations, distributed socially
and geographically i don't know how.  all four are phonologically well-
formed for just about everyone, so they're all available.  of course
you might want to take the usage of particular people named Alicia
into consideration.

arnold

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org