Mispronounced Localities in NM (Albuquerque, Los Lunas: places, water, town)

[Pintada Kid]

In Northern N.M. there are two Spanish towns with almost similar names and very close to each other. It means Big Owl and Little Owl. Most people dont know which is which or even where they are located. pintada kid at webtv.net

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by jsc23

You may be right, but in Spanish, the next to last syllable of a word is stressed unless otherwise marked. I could be wrong, but I don't ever recall seeing the last syllable of "Santa" marked for stress... which would indicate stress on "San-"...

Depends. If the word ends in a vowel, n or s, the next to last syllable is stressed. Also, sometimes z, since the z and s sounds are the same.

Exceptions should carry an accent mark, but they very often don't.

Martínez, Gonzáles, Sánchez, Cancún, etc. should have a written accent on the next to last syllable/vowel, but they usually aren't written! The El Paso Times paper is one of the few that I have seen that gets it right, more often than not.

Santa has two syllables, and ends in a vowel, so the stress is on the first SAN; no mark needed.

[jecc]

Ha ha, you guys are all totally wrong about Ruidoso. The problem is that so many Texans with heavy twangs own property there and spend their summers there. They have their own colorful way of pronouncing things.

The closest I can spell the correct pronunciation is roo-ee-DOE-so. It has four distinct syllables, though in Spanish you would run the first two syllables together so fast that they would sound almost like one. You would also roll the R. The name means "noisy," which fits that town perfectly during much of the year.

As for Tularosa's nickname, the correct spelling is Tulie (not Tuli).

How do you guys say Belen? I've heard it pronounced in Spanish as beh-LENN and in gringo as buh-LEEN.

[nmguy]

I agree: Santa has no accent, because the stress falls naturally on the next-to-last syllable.

When combined with Fe, however, the stress falls naturally on the second word. Therefore, it should be pronounced Santa FE.

Below are some examples where the names of towns are pronounce with the stress falling on the second word. Seems to me it should be the same with Santa Fe.

Santa Ana
Santa Bárbara
Santa Cruz
Santa Clara

I love this kind of exchange.

Originally Posted by Cathy4017

Santa has two syllables, and ends in a vowel, so the stress is on the first SAN; no mark needed.

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by nmguy

I agree: Santa has no accent, because the stress falls naturally on the next-to-last syllable.

When combined with Fe, however, the stress falls naturally on the second word. Therefore, it should be pronounced Santa FE.

Below are some examples where the names of towns are pronounce with the stress falling on the second word. Seems to me it should be the same with Santa Fe.

Santa Ana
Santa Bárbara
Santa Cruz
Santa Clara

I love this kind of exchange.

Yes!! I have always pronounced it Santa FE, but it has been so long since I've noticed the common Anglo English pronunciation....I guess it would be it SANta Fe?

Like the aforementioned Doña Ana (correctly pronounced donyana), Santa Ana would be something like San-TAna.

[desert sun]

Originally Posted by jecc

Ha ha, you guys are all totally wrong about Ruidoso. The problem is that so many Texans with heavy twangs own property there and spend their summers there. They have their own colorful way of pronouncing things.

The closest I can spell the correct pronunciation is roo-ee-DOE-so. It has four distinct syllables, though in Spanish you would run the first two syllables together so fast that they would sound almost like one. You would also roll the R. The name means "noisy," which fits that town perfectly during much of the year.

As for Tularosa's nickname, the correct spelling is Tulie (not Tuli).

How do you guys say Belen? I've heard it pronounced in Spanish as beh-LENN and in gringo as buh-LEEN.

like I said I've never heard it pronounced different than-Ree-uh-doso, and yours may be the correct pronounciation but does anyone actually say it that way.

[jecc]

Originally Posted by desert sun

like I said I've never heard it pronounced different than-Ree-uh-doso, and yours may be the correct pronounciation but does anyone actually say it that way.

I say it that way, and I've heard many other people say it that way. The only time I hear Ree-uh-doso is when Texans say it. They also tend to say Ree-uh-dosa (with an a), probably because there is a Ruidosa in Texas.

[lisdol]

Well, on In Plain Sight the other week, the lead actress said something along the lines of Roo-ee-doso. I hear the weather guys say something similar.

As far as pronouncing Belen. I say "Buh-lin" not "Buh-LENN", but I have never even set foot there so my pronounciation is not official in any way.

[desert sun]

Originally Posted by lisdol

Well, on In Plain Sight the other week, the lead actress said something along the lines of Roo-ee-doso. I hear the weather guys say something similar.



As far as pronouncing Belen. I say "Buh-lin" not "Buh-LENN", but I have never even set foot there so my pronounciation is not official in any way.

thats 2 people there that arent from eastern NM and everyone Ive heard say it differently is from E. NM, although I must admit I never hear anyone around here in Abq talk about Ruidoso.



I say it Buh-lin also

[tecpatl]

Well, so far New Mexico doesn't have anything to compete with Natchitoches, LA.
(pronounced NACK-a-tush) Let's keep trying