The Pronunciation of Spanish Place Names in California

Abstract

ATIVE Californians, whether of the socially elite or on the skid road, have considerable pride in their 'correct' pronunciation of Spanish place names. They are greatly amused by the difficulties Easterners have with these names upon their arrival here. On an average of three times a year for the last twenty years I have heard the story of the ignorant Easterners who call San Jose 'San Joe-zy' and Vallejo 'Valley Joe,' and it was already a threadbare tale when I first heard it. The average Californian little realizes that his own pronunciation of the words in the above story, [sen ho'ze], [saena'ze], and [vael'e(o], probably are just as amusing to the Mexican who crosses the border for the first time. Until 1929, there was a constant influx of Mexican labor across the frontiers. This gave Californians some contact with those who spoke the language and helped preserve the Spanish pronunciation of place names. There has been since a constant decline in the Mexican population of the state. The later immigrant-the retired farmer from Kansas and Iowa, the migrant from the dust bowl-left caution behind when he left his farm, and he ploughs into the strange names as best he can. For many of them Bautista is the same as 'bought Easter,' Alamitos (the alders) has become 'Allah meet us,' and Melones is now just plain 'Maloney's.' They call San Felipe [sen fi'lipi], and Big Sur is 'Big Sewer.' No hint of this is given in the guide books on the pronunciation of Spanish place names in California, all of which were composed by writers who transcribed precisely according to the rules in their elementary grammar of Castilian Spanish. If one were to believe these guides, the native sons speak of [san fran'sisko] and [los 'aijheles], neither of which is ever heard except in the speech of recently arrived foreigners. As nearly any Californian knows something about Spanish-although his misinformation may be as great as his knowledge-when asked he will usually give a pronunciation as close to the Spanish as he knows. He will probably say that Alameda is pronounced [eba'meda], which is far from the Castilian or Mexican, but closer than the actual [ela'mida]. It is a theoretical pronunciation like [Ei] for the, not the one usually employed in every day conversation. In the following record, the writer's knowledge of California pronunciations from long familiarity with the greater portion of the state has