Raleigh, N.C. -- awesome or aw-dropping?

[Joel S. Berson]

At 2/12/2014 08:47 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>I suspect I've gone back and forth on Raleigh (North Carolina, Sir
>Walter, cigarettes, whatever), between Rollie (which I pronounce
>with an [a], or really script a, vowel as in the first name of the
>ex-A's/Brewers' relief pitcher Fingers) and Rawley.  I think I might
>be more likely to use the open-o for Sir Walter Raleigh because of
>the rounding in his first name, more so than in the snow- and
>ice-bound N.C. city.   It's hard for me to be sure exactly how I
>tend to pronounce these unselfconsciously, though. (

I find that I react (recoil?) when I *hear* a pronunciation that's
not mine, but like LH am unsure about my own pronunciation when I
deliberately think about it or speak it out.  I've begun to trust my
first reaction and discount my experiments.

Joel


>(No danger of "awe"-extinction for me, though--I would never merge
>the pronunciation of "Cawley" (as in the late Jim McCawley) and
>"collie", for example.)
>
>LH
>
>On Feb 12, 2014, at 7:10 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>
> > Raleigh, North Carolina, is much in the news this moment for its
> > proximity to North Carolinians of stupidity (to paraphrase its
> > governor).  I hear announcers saying "Rollie" (almost "Rah-lee", but
> > not quite?).  I learned "Raw-lee".  Is that because I'm an effete
> > (North-)* Easterner?  Or did I learn it from hearing pre-modern announcers?
> >
> > * South-Easterners' methods may differ.
> >
> > Joel
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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