Date:  Mon, 20 Mar 1995 09:25:48 -0800

From:  Peter McGraw <pmcgraw[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CALVIN.LINFIELD.EDU>

Subject: Re: Willamette Valley and Oregon



A few (quite a few) years ago there was a book of photos of Oregon by

Ellis Lucia titled "Don't Call It Or-ee-gawn."



I don't recall hearing the pronunciation with schwa in the second syllable

(OR[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]g[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]n) for a long time. I learned to substitute an /i/ for my /[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]/ in

that position when I moved here from California as a kid, and the /i/

pronunciation seems to be all one hears nowadays from those who live

here, even though the full vowel in the unstressed syllable seems to run

counter to English stress patterns.



A person from Oregon, and Portland's only daily newspaper, are pronounced

/or [AT SYMBOL GOES HERE] GO ni [AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]n/.



Peter McGraw

Linfield College

McMinnville, Orygun, the WilLAMette Valley