How to Pronounce Appalachian?
#22
Join Date: Feb 2005
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Accent on the second syllable? That's one I've never heard.
"Worcester" is "Wustah," as everyone in Newingland knows.
"Caribbean" is harder -- by custom, the "i" before two consonants (the double "b") should be short, so it would be Cah-RIB-be-an. But it's named for, more or less, the Caribes, and so you'd expect the "i" to be pronounced "ee" -- leaving you to choose which syllable on which to put the emphasis.
Seems to me it's worth trying to pronounce a place name the way the inhabitants do -- so up north you can refer to the Green and White Mts. as part of the "Appullay-chen" chain, and further south you can say "Appul-atchen." What you ought NOT to do is correct locals on their pronunciation of their own place names.
"Worcester" is "Wustah," as everyone in Newingland knows.
"Caribbean" is harder -- by custom, the "i" before two consonants (the double "b") should be short, so it would be Cah-RIB-be-an. But it's named for, more or less, the Caribes, and so you'd expect the "i" to be pronounced "ee" -- leaving you to choose which syllable on which to put the emphasis.
Seems to me it's worth trying to pronounce a place name the way the inhabitants do -- so up north you can refer to the Green and White Mts. as part of the "Appullay-chen" chain, and further south you can say "Appul-atchen." What you ought NOT to do is correct locals on their pronunciation of their own place names.