Pronunciation
Pronunciation
Like politics, pronunciation is always local
In the English-speaking world, words like Mycenaean, Aegean, and Canaan dwell chiefly on the pages of books. Thus, on the rare occasions when they pass through human lips, we should not be surprised when they are spoken in a wide variety of ways. (In the course of screening a handful of videos, I heard the first word of the list pronounced as my-SEE-nee-an, my-see-NAY-an, and my-KEY-nay-an; the second as ah-GEE-an (with a hard “g”) and ah-JEE-an (with a soft “g”); the third as KAY-nahn and kah-NAHN. (In each example, the emphasis lies upon the syllable spelled out in capital letters.)
Folks who learned about the aforementioned places in school will usually speak their names in much the same way as their teachers did. Moreover, unless they have the good sense to read Extra Muros, they will be tempted to look down upon people who employ different pronunciations.
This is a mistake. A person with a different way of speaking an infrequently spoken word may have learned it from a podcast or an online documentary. Alternatively, he may have devised his own way of pronouncing a word that he found between the pages of a book. In either case, the use of an unfamiliar enunciation bears witness to self-tuition, and that is a very good thing.
Good case for mispronunciation as covert prestige. Watch out, though, the cool kids might catch on if they start to notice
I like to pronounce Arkansas as Are-Kansas. When questioned, I say, "Well, you don't pronounce Kansas as "Can-saw" do you?
It is pointless, but fun.