Legal Writing

Say it like a native: place name pronunciation

By Pam_Nelson

Staff writer Martha Quillin's story about the pronunciation of Lejeune reminds me of the peculiarities of place name pronunciation. Even if the name of the family was pronounced one way, the name of the Marine base has come to be pronounced another way.

Broadcast journalists tended to pronounce the name of the trail where Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina was reported to be hiking as Appa-LAY-chian. Most of us here in North Carolina rhyme that third syllable with "latch." Both pronunciations are recognized, but it appears the more people use the short a pronunciation. Merriam-Webster's online pronunciation guide does. Another page cites a well-known history of the region, which holds that the people who live in the Appalachian region can tell someone who comes from the outside if that person says Appa-LAY-chian instead of App-LATCH-an. Up north, Appa-LAY-chian dominates.

In the Catawba County community where I grew up, we had our own version of a great vowel debate. A nearby church and its surrounding community are known as Plat-TAW, even though it is spelled Plateau. The residents know that people aren't from around there if they pronounce it Plat-OH. Of course, those outsiders probably view the locals as hicks or foothillbillies. It is a plateau, though, and from the top of Hog Hill, another name for the community, you can see far and wide.

If you are from Lumberton, you know that you live in RAH-beson County, not ROH-beson. If you live in eastern Wake County, you know it's Wen-DELL. If you hang out in southern Wake or northern Harnett, you know Chalybeate (Ka-LIB-e-ate) Springs. If you're from Eastern North Carolina, you know how to say Ber-TEE County. And if you are from Beaufort, N.C., you are from BO-fert, not Byoo-fert. That's in South Carolina. 

If you want to hear some expert pronunciation of North Carolina place names, check out Talk Like a Tar Heel at the UNC Libraries site. I could listen to the pronunciation of Cerro Gordo, Chicamacomico, Potecasi and Tuckasegee over and
over.

Full post as published by Triangle Grammar Guide on June 27, 2009 (boomark / email).