Date:  Sat, 26 Feb 1994 07:12:43 -0600

From:  mftcf[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UXA.ECN.BGU.EDU

Subject: Re: local locality pronunciations



I went to bed last nite and forgot this one:



Gratiot, Wisconsin, locally = gra'chit



Of course, my home state has an initial /E/ for most of us, except for

opera singers hired to perform the state song who pronounce it with

an /I/. Some of us still give it a final /z/.



Near where I live is Bushnell. Locally the /U/ gets extremely tensed or

fronted. We also have a Sciota, named after Scioto River, Ohio, but for

once the schwa got into the spelling of the Illinois version.



Oh yeah, I had a speech teacher who insisted on Illinois with /I/.

That reminds me, has anyone ever had the experience of being in a church

or school choir and had some choir director who insists on weird

pronunciations, like aspirating final /t/?