Date:  Mon, 4 Dec 1995 21:14:21 -0600

From:  Charles F Juengling <juen0001[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]GOLD.TC.UMN.EDU>

Subject: Re: On Wisconsin!



Like, Peter, I am also a west-coaster who has been in the Midwest (Still

there). I was very surprised the first time I heard Wi-skan-s[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]n, not

really believing my ears that the syllables could be divided in that

fashion. But this division is alive and well in the Upper Midwest.

Also, the vowel in the 2nd syllable, as Peter stated, is fronted and

nasalised.

FWIW, My wife's name is Holly and she complains that Minnesotans call her

[haeli]. A bit of an exageration, but not too far off. This fronted,

nasalised pronunciation seems to be age graded (with younger people

seeming to have the more fronted/nasalised version) and, I believe,

urban, altho I have not made enough tapes (I did a small study of this

feature in the summer of '94) of ruralites to make any conclusive statement.

 Fritz Juengling