Pronunciation of 'Wisconsin'

I myself pronounce "Wisconsin" as [wɨˈskãnt̆sɨ̃ːn] or [ˈwɨˈskãnt̆sn̩ː], and pronouncing such with aspiration is very unnatural to me (even though apparently there are some here in Wisconsin who do pronounce it that way). At least here in the Milwaukee area, /s/ always suppresses the aspiration of a following fortis plosive unless separated from it by a morpheme boundary.

Oddly, dictionary.com gives /...s"k.../ but m-w.com gives /..."sk.../. I think I used to prefer the former, but now I tend to use the latter (because I asked Travis about it a while ago). By the way, how do you say "discourse"? I say ["dIs%k_hO@`s].

I pronounce it with an aspirated /k/.

I myself pronounce "discourse" as [ˈdɪˌskɔʁsʲ]. One factor in this case is that while, strictly speaking, there is a morpheme boundary present, such can be probably be considered to be etymological rather than productive in nature, and hence is likely to not necessarily be considered to be a morpheme boundary from a phonological standpoint. Also, when I spoke of morpheme boundaries, I was particularly thinking of compound words; I am not sure if such is really applicable to affixes at this point.

I use something close to the m-w.com example. The thing I notice most is how people pronounce the "con". It seems to me that people who are not from the Great Lakes region prefer [kAn], [kQn], or even [kOn], but I have always used [kan]. I suppose this is just another example of how the NCVS has influenced the pronunciation. However, I do believe that you will find [kAn] and [kQn] in pockets of the northern and western areas of the state.

Unless you place the stress on the wrong syllable I fail to see any reason why you would mis-pronounce the name Wisconsin. Most of us here in the UK who have very little occasion occasion to refer to this American State name in conversation would place the stress on the second syllable....CON. As did Kris Marshall as the goofy guy in the film "Love Actually" who flew out to Wisconsin armed with a suitcase full of condoms in search of limitless sex with cute American girls....and found it. Now I suppose I'll be told this is wrong.....and that all the stress should be placed on SIN...... :-)

According to Wikipedia, it's IPA: /wɪsˈkɒnsɨn/, locally /wɪsˈkænsɨn/.
In Western General American, it's: /wɪsˈkɑnsɨn/.

>>/wɪsˈkɒnsɨn/<<

That's is probably a spelling pronunciation...

>>/wɪsˈkænsɨn/<<

I would have to say that that is inaccurate for most of Wisconsin; the shifting of historical /ɑː/ all the way to [æ] is emblematic of the very most extreme forms of the NCVS, which are far more typical of Chicago than of even southeastern Wisconsin. The norm here in southeastern Wisconsin is to use [a] not [æ] in that position for historical /ɑː/ (after the father-bother merger). (It should also be noted that more conservative speakers here may very well preserve [æ] for historical /æ/ or only slightly raise it as [æ̝] or very narrowly diphthongize it as [ɛ̞̯æ], and it is clear that the normal pronunciation of historical /ɑː/ does not get close to such.)

/wɪsˈkænsɨn/ would be a Buffalo/Rochester/Cleveland pronunciation.

Even in Chicago, it is usually [a]. I believe some younger women may use [æ], but as Travis pointed out, that depends entirely on the level of the NCVS.

I just hope we can all agree on the pronunciation of Illinois. If I hear anyone pronouncing the final s, I cringe and look for the nearest place to throw up.

To tell the truth, I don't think I've ever heard anyone pronounce Illinois with a final [z] except in jest. But then there's the pronunciation of "Chicago", which I think is more variable: I pronounce it with /ɑ:/ rather than /ɒ:/, but if I'm not mistaken, Chicagoans tend to use /ɒ:/.

>>I just hope we can all agree on the pronunciation of Illinois. If I hear anyone pronouncing the final s, I cringe and look for the nearest place to throw up.<<

Same here...

>>But then there's the pronunciation of "Chicago", which I think is more variable: I pronounce it with /ɑ:/ rather than /ɒ:/, but if I'm not mistaken, Chicagoans tend to use /ɒ:/.<<

I myself pronounce "Chicago" with [ʃɨˈkʰɒːgoː] and often hear the pronunciation [ʃɨˈkʰɑːgoː] from people to the south of Milwaukee, which is its analogue with the shift /ɒ/ > [ɑ]. It makes me cringe for some reason though when people pronounce "Chicago" as [ʃɨˈkʰaːgoː] or even [ʃɨˈkʰɑ̟ːgoː], as this "should" (to me at least) have the COUGHT vowel and not the FATHER/BOTHER vowel (and hence should have a very back [ɑ] when it has [ɑ] at all...) Of course, even the pronunciation with [ɑ] sounds vaguely "off" to me for whatever reason...

>>To tell the truth, I don't think I've ever heard anyone pronounce Illinois with a final [z] except in jest.<<

Around here at least, even if it were pronounced as ending with a sibilant, that'd really be [s] or [z̥], not [z], due to final devoicing (and, in less GA-like idiolects, final fortition).

In Chicago, I believe that [A] and [Q] are both accepted as standard, but whenever you have someone trying to emulate a thick Northern Cities Vowel Shifted Chicago accent, they tend to use [a] or even [{] for whatever reason. It seems to me that this method is also used when saying the word "SAUSAGE", which should clearly have the THOUGHT vowel, not the LOT vowel.

As for people using the final letter in Illinois, I myself have heard it in both the West and the South. Even after I have clearly said the name of the state, they have repeated it back to me with the dreaded s or z sound at the end.

We should make Detroit our next example, as it drives me mad when people put the emphasis on the first syllable instead of the second.

Here's a wee bit of a conundrum - do any of you Americans know exactly why the State name Kansas is pronounced the way it is, while that of Arkansas comes out as entirely different? Why does the addition of an "Ar" to Kansas alter it's pronunciation so radically?