-stans

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

Perhaps American pronunciation of "Afghanistan" is partly influenced by our familiarity with "afghan" (type blanket/shawl/wrap).
 
Gerald Cohen

________________________________

Message from Benjamin Zimmer, Tue 3/31/2009 2:58 PM:

On Tue, Mar 31, 2009 at 3:13 PM, Charles Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:
>
>
> Have y'all noticed that President Obama (often, at least) pronounces "Pakistan" [pakIstan] while "
> Afghanistan" is [AfgAn at stAn]?  I've heard him use those pronunciations in the same sentence (well,
> maybe adjacent sentences).
>
> Is he being deferential to Pakistan, a precarious ally--whereas, since we own Afganistan (or hope to),
> the Americanized pronunciation is good enough?

Noted by Barbara Partee on Language Log here:

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1183


--Ben Zimmer

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

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