Interpretations:Oregon

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Wait--you pronounce it with only two syllables (like organ)?!? Having just completed an English linguistics degree, I find this very interesting. I also find it interesting that the controversy over the correct pronunciation of Oregon has made Westerners (I'm from the East, but I currently live in the West) so sensitive to vowel distinctions that they notice the relatively minor sound difference between "Or-i-gun" ("Or-gun"?) and "Or-i-ghin" ("Or-ghin"?). I'd venture to bet that, in most situations, the majority of American speakers wouldn't even notice the difference between those two vowel sounds (the u sound in bun, but unstressed, and the i sound in bin, but unstressed) in a word that wasn't socially marked/stigmatized. ~Drew

Indeed we do. I guess you could say the Pacific Northwest has its own accent, as I have noticed some of the points you made, too. But yes, we pronounce it or-ghin, same as the way we pronounce organ. And I notice a huge difference between gun and ghin. Huge.--tehbagel ( o ) 18:12, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

But my point is that you probably wouldn't notice a huge difference between those two vowel sounds if they were in unstressed syllables in words of three or more syllables that weren't socially marked. I'll try to think of an example for you later when I have more time.

The real problem, though, with this type of discussion is that most people have a picture/idea of how they talk, but their idea is often more like their formal/careful speech (like the language they use when giving a public address) than their more common, casual speech (like the language they use when speaking in a fast-paced, casual conversation with a friend). Similarly, when people are thinking of specific words and pronouncing them in isolation, they often pronounce them differently from the way they would pronounce them in conversation. But most people do not realize either of these facts if they have not studied linguistics (or maybe a foreign language, etc.). By saying this, I am in no way suggesting that people are unintelligent, just that for most people, speech is such a natural, common thing that they don't have to think about it, and so when they do think about it, they are often incorrect in their analyses and assumptions.

But okay, I thought of a word: how would you describe the way you pronounce each of the four vowel sounds in the word intelligence? (And please give me reference points, like "the first vowel sounds like the i in the word ____," etc.) ~Drew

The i is like how linnell says the "i" in "id" in the song A Self Called Nowhere. The e sound is like the first "e" in enemy or lend. The second "i" sounds like uh. The second "e" sounds like the e in tense. The last "e" is silent. In-tell-uh-gence.--tehbagel ( o ) 23:27, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

Okay, cool, thanks for responding. :) That's pretty much how I pronounce it as well. Now, if you were having a casual conversation with someone else who didn't seem to have an unusual accent of any sort, do you think you would notice if they pronounced the third vowel in intelligence as the i sound in id? Because the point that I was trying to make was that, unless someone's really scrutinizing another person's language, or unless the other person is using a word that is marked as "often pronounced wrong, etc," I don't think most people would notice that kind of difference. Let me know if you agree. ~Drew

Actually, I'm very sensitive to accents and pronounciation. So yes, I would notice something small like that. I often notice when people pronounce things differently, but Washingtonians tend to talk very similarly to each other, so I don't hear much of it.--tehbagel ( o ) 02:05, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

An Oregonian here. First, re: the difference between unstressed "uh" and "ih", it's very subtle and hard to notice in quick speech. For the intelligence example, I believe my third vowel is closer to ih, fwiw. But re: the pronunciation of Oregon, I can see where people are coming from when they say it's like organ, because in fast speech the second syllable almost disappears... But I certainly think there's a difference between Oregon and organ even in fast speech. The former has a lengthened "r" if you drop the second vowel. But I wouldn't say it's wrong to pronounce it with or without the second vowel like I would say it's wrong to pronounce the last vowel as an "ah". I always make it simple by saying the last syllable of Oregon is like the last syllable of dragon, not the last syllable of pentagon. ~Mallow 22:05, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

The Last Word with regards to the correct pronunciation of Oregon.[edit]

There are 607 or so dialects of the English Language within the U.S.A.. While culturally and within a given community the pronunciation and enunciation of any given word may be acceptable, preferred and most widely used locally, these mere factors dot NOT make it's usage correct; accepted and acceptable perhaps to those within that particular geographic community but, NOT correct.

Eliza Doolittle spoke English, yet by the end of the movie, "My Fair Lady" she was transformed by her impeccable English speech and elocution of the English Language in its BEST, most Pure and Most Perfectly Voiced Version. Those who would speak in any other manner than the Most Eloquent and Perfected format, must accept and find acceptable the consequences for doing so; just as Eliza did and just as i do in like manner with the way in which i choose and am educated or lacking therein, in which to write and in writing the English Language.

Oregon's Correct Enunciation and Pronunciation is,

Or e gon Where the emphasis is on the first syllable within the word and where Or is pronounced like the word "or" and where the e is a short e vowel sound as in egg; and the o is a short o vowel sound, in the last syllable of the word Oregon, as in the word, "on"; despite how Oregonian Natives have evolved and come to pronounce it over time.

Or·e·gon [or-e-gon,] Show IPA noun 1. a state in the NW United States, on the Pacific coast. 2,632,663; 96,981 sq. mi. (251,180 sq. km). Capital: Salem. Abbreviation: Oreg., Ore., OR (for use with zip code). 2. a city in NW Ohio. 18,675.

Rhymes with OREGON Abadan, Acheron, Ahriman, aileron, alençon, amazon, Amazon, amnion, and so on, antiphon, Aragon, autobahn, balmacaan, Bantustan, baryon, Basilan, bear down on, beat up on, betatron, biathlon, cabochon, call upon, calutron, carry-on, carry on, celadon, check up on, chorion, colophon, come upon, Culiacán, cyclotron, decagon, decathlon, demijohn, dine out on, early on, echelon, electron, elevon, enteron, epsilon, ethephon, etymon, fall back on, fermion, follow-on, Genghis Khan, get it on, go back on, going on, goings-on, gonfalon, Grand Teton, graviton, hanger-on, harijan, helicon, heptagon, hereupon, hexagon, hold out on, hopping John, Huascarán, hyperon, Isfahan, isochron, Kublai Khan, Kyrgyzstan, lay eyes on, Lebanon, leprechaun, liaison, Lipizzan, load up on, logion, looker-on, macédoine, marathon, Marathon, marzipan, mastodon, Mazatlán, Miquelon, miss out on, morion, move in on, myrmidon, nonagon, noumenon, nucleon, Oberon, octagon, off and on, omicron, organon, ostracon, Pakistan, Palawan, pantheon, paragon, Parmesan, parmigiana, Parthenon, peloton, pentagon, pentathlon, Percheron, Phlegethon, Phocion, pick up on, polygon, positron, Procyon, put-upon, Rajasthan, Ramadan, ride herd on, run low on, run out on, run upon, set eyes on, set foot on, set upon, silicon, sneak up on, Süleyman, tachyon, Taiyuan, talkathon, telamon, telethon, thereupon, tie one on, triathlon, Tucumán, upsilon, virion, walkathon, walk out on, whereupon, work upon, Yerevan, Xiangtan, Zahedan

http://www.50states.com/facts/oregon.htm

http://www.gooplusplus.com/western-states-for-dummies-how-to-pronounce-oregon-and-nevada/

Interpretations:Oregon

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The Last Word with regards to the correct pronunciation of Oregon.[edit]

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