HOW TO PRONOUNCE “NEWFOUNDLAND”
Since mispronouncing Newfoundland can apparently get people killed, the National Post asked Memorial University’s Philip Hiscock, an expert on the Newfoundland dialect, to outline the rainbow of methods by which to pronounce Canada’s 10th province.
“NOO-FN-LAND”
The standard pronunciation by any Newfoundlander born after the 1970s.
“NOOF’N-LAND”
After the province changed its name to the seven-syllable “Newfoundland and Labrador” in 2001, time-strapped locals began compressing the island’s name just to get through it.
“NYOO-FN-LAND”
This was the version preferred by Joey Smallwood, Newfoundland’s first premier. Pronouncing “new” this way was common across much of English-speaking North America in the early 20th century.
“NYOO-FOUND-LAND”
It’s hard to blame a tourist for reading “Newfoundland” on a map and pronouncing it as “new found land.” But this British-ized pronunciation could be commonly found on the island itself in the years before 1910.
“NOO-FN-LUND”
No self-respecting Newfoundlander anywhere, ever, has pronounced their homeland’s name with a dismissive “lund.” Small pockets of British Columbians still persist in getting it wrong.